Flying into hardware cloth...

[Panhandler80]

I may have an inherent design flaw in my run. On occasion the flock will be startled by something and will take flight. Many times this isn't a problem. Every so often, however, one or two will fly into the hardware cloth. This happens when they are all near, at, or under the coop, and they'll fly towards where I was standing when the attached picture was taken. The section that they fly into is the area inside the red square.

Anyway, I guess there's not much I can do about it. You all think I have some stupid chickens, or what? I really don't want to wind up with a broken bone.

 

[azygous]

I ran into this exact problem right after building my new enclosed run. There is a nice people door on one side, but at the time, no entrance on the opposite side.

One day a hawk dive-bombed the chickens as they were outside on the side without an entrance. They all flew right into the wire fencing, repeatedly, one hen injuring a foot painfully.

The problem with chicken brain wiring is that they are strictly linear thinkers. If they need to make a detour to get from point A to point B, forget it. They will try to go through an immovable object to try to get there, especially if panicked.

So I wasted no time. I got out my tools and cut a pop hole in that side of the run. Yes, your problem wall is high up, but if you do not accommodate your chickens and their limited brain power, someday you may lose a chicken or end up having to treat a badly injured one.

Realistically, there is no practical downside to having as many chicken entrances as they need. You just need to be sure you remember where they all are and close them up at night.

 

[Panhandler80]

I ran into this exact problem right after building my new enclosed run. There is a nice people door on one side, but at the time, no entrance on the opposite side.

One day a hawk dive-bombed the chickens as they were outside on the side without an entrance. They all flew right into the wire fencing, repeatedly, one hen injuring a foot painfully.

The problem with chicken brain wiring is that they are strictly linear thinkers. If they need to make a detour to get from point A to point B, forget it. They will try to go through an immovable object to try to get there, especially if panicked.

So I wasted no time. I got out my tools and cut a pop hole in that side of the run. Yes, your problem wall is high up, but if you do not accommodate your chickens and their limited brain power, someday you may lose a chicken or end up having to treat a badly injured one.

Realistically, there is no practical downside to having as many chicken entrances as they need. You just need to be sure you remember where they all are and close them up at night.

"As many chicken entrances as they need"....

I'm not following. They are already inside the run when this happens. I have a people door, and that little door you see in the picture, but the doors existence (or lack thereof if you want to look at it that way) are irrelevant with regards to the issue.

Access to the coop is 24-7 if that's what you're talking about, and that door is pretty darn big.

 

[NatJ]

Obviously, the chickens think they can fly through that area.

Maybe you can make it look solid, or at least look like something to watch out for.

You could put a piece of tarp or wood over it (looks solid, blocks wind and rain and sun).

You could put a piece of burlap or other fabric over it (looks solid, but allows some air/sun through.)

You could get some colored ribbon and weave it in and out of the hardware cloth until it no longer looks like open space (time consuming, but might be a fun project for someone who likes crafts. Probably lets air/light through better than any other idea I've yet thought of.)

 

[Panhandler80]

Obviously, the chickens think they can fly through that area.

Maybe you can make it look solid, or at least look like something to watch out for.

You could put a piece of tarp or wood over it (looks solid, blocks wind and rain and sun).

You could put a piece of burlap or other fabric over it (looks solid, but allows some air/sun through.)

You could get some colored ribbon and weave it in and out of the hardware cloth until it no longer looks like open space (time consuming, but might be a fun project for someone who likes crafts. Probably lets air/light through better than any other idea I've yet thought of.)

Duh... not sure why I didn't think about that. Maybe some surveyor tape, or something like that.

 

[azygous]

I was wrong to assume the chickens were outside the coop when they panicked, but it wasn't clear from your initial post where they were.

@NatJ has come close to addressing the solution. What I will supply is the chicken psychology behind the chickens' behavior. In short, your chickens lack sufficient cover to retreat under when they feel threatened.

Here's another one of my stories to illustrate what your chickens are thinking when they fly at the upper screening. I have a wing coming off my main run that looks a lot like your long portion. It's open on three sides and the only cover is the coop at the opposite end. The run has a solid roof, but that isn't the kind of cover they need when a land predator arrives.

The story starts with two renegade hens that I segregated in this coop and run due to behavior problems. The coop is raised but I had blocked off the underside to keep these hens separate from the rest of the flock in the adjoining run.

One day a bobcat happened by. It recognized chicken dinner when he saw these two, and he began rushing the chickens to get them to panic, hoping to flush them out where he could grab them. I witnessed most of this.

The hens were frantic to get out of the run, but they were too panicked to simply go into their coop. Instead they flung themselves against the sides of the run, and as "luck" would have it, I had forgotten to latch the door, and one hen managed to get out. She quickly became lunch.

If I had not blocked off the underside of the coop, the hens would have run under cover, huddled in a far dark corner, and waited the attack out instead of frantically trying to get out of a run where they felt completely exposed with no place to hide.

As I see it, your solution is to design some sort of cover. The chickens need to know they can hide some place when they feel threatened.