Flying over 6 ft fence at 6-8 weeks?

[Hokum Coco]

What is the minimum age to clip? Age is not the ruling factor. I was checking out their wings and I can see where to cut approximately but it does look like there is brown in the cartilage hat goes to the tip of the feather but that is closer to the body. Does that count as blood in the shaft? I am not sure so I would hesitate clipping until you are positive that there is no blood in the shaft (sounds like the feathers are still developing). I would wait until the straw like portion of the feather is hollow and clear .

 

[4 the Birds]

So my coop is 6X8 (well smaller since I have enclosed them with an interior door for added security and ease of feeding and watering) and I have just built a new run which is 16 X 16 with cattle panels on the bottom and 1 X 2" welded wire along the bottom 3-4 ft and chicken wire along the top 3-4 ft so it totals 6 ft and overlaps a bit. I have to make it impenetrable for the dogs who murdered my entire flock in the Great Chicken Massacre of 2010. So I attached the cattle panels to the posts with U nails and covered that with a 2X4 so the dogs shouldn't be able to pull it loose. I also buried the cattle panels 3-4 inches to hopefully discourage digging under by the dogs. Being that it is so wide at 16 ft, it is hard to cover easily. I have no other supports except for the landscaping posts at the corners and the posts put in around every 8 ft for extra support for the cattle panel. I ran 2 X 4's along the top and stapled the chicken wire to it and hoped to attach some kind of netting or wire but toyed with the idea of clipping wings when they get old enough. They are fully feathered now but are still smaller so i guess 6-8 weeks old. Can I clip wings now? I had one escape yesterday the first day in the new run. The bottom seems to be tight so I think she flew over the 6ft fence. She tempted her fate but managed to go undetected by the murderous canines. When I observed them flying they only seemed to be getting 3 ft or less off the ground. Do you think she actually flew over it? How could I cover it? Would deer netting work?

Also I am wanting to enter said coop and run as little as possible so I have a homemade feeder inside the coop (which can be reached by just opening the second door in the coop) and want to do a nipple watering system that will be fed by a 5 gallon bucket perched upon cinder blocks and using the nipples and PVC hopefully they will fully drink from that and I can fill the bucket from the supply area I made when I put that second door in. There are 7 chickens, hopefully all hens, and I have made 2 nesting boxes that I can access from outside the coop. Would they need water available in the run as well or just the nipple system inside the coop will be sufficient with the 4 nipples? They will have access to the coop at all times. Right now there is a temporary roost made from a closet rod set only about a foot off the ground but would a couple of 2 X 4's staggered in height make better roosts?

I also have a chicken tractor rigged up but it is only going to comfortably house 2-3 full grown chickens but I could let them in it somehow (gotta figure out the how of that as well) and move a few to another area to graze. They would have to walk along with the tractor though as I move it.

Clipped wings creates an imbalance with the chickens flight but it will not guarantee that the birds will not still escape from a fenced area. Clipping also has to be done on a regular basis as the feather grow back. Our free ranging flock stays within a 4 ft high fence but often fly up over 7 ft high to sit on the coop roof. The run should be predator proof and enclosed on the top so I would recommend deer netting as a quick and easy way to keep them in the run. The best solution would be to add a center ridge board in the run and slope some tin sheets or panels for a run cover. This will keep the run shaded and also keep out rains and snow (if you are in a cold region).

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think you are right that the chick flew up to the top of that fence just to perch, then hopped down on the wrong side. That’s pretty common when you have a solid rail on top. They can fly quite well if they are properly motivated. For chicks the age of yours, 6’ is not much of a challenge. My full sized adults easily fly up to my 5’ high roosts. I’m sure they could go much higher if they really wanted to.

I see three options for you. One is wing clipping, but since I don’t do that I can’t speak from experience.

You can put a top on it. At 16 feet wide that will present challenges as you mentioned. Whether it is some type of solid roof or just bird or deer netting, you want to be able to walk in there without hitting the top even if you don’t go in there much. Netting will sag. You need it strong enough for snow/ice load and maybe even wind if it is solid and maybe snow/ice for netting. You can put in longer posts and put a ridgepole down the center of that maybe 2’ higher than the 6’ sides and use that to raise the netting or make the solid roof drain. A flat solid roof will provide shade but will leak. You need enough slope for the water to run off. And it needs to be pretty strong with even an 8 span. Don’t even think of spanning the entire 16’ with a solid roof. Lumber heavy enough to span that would be too heavy to handle, especially at height, and very expensive.

Something I’ve done is extend the wire up the sides so it is above the solid rail. If they don’t see something solid to land on, they won’t fly up. Cattle panels should be 52” tall. You buried them a few inches so let’s say they are just under 4’ tall. Get some 2” x 4” welded wire fencing 5’ tall. Other stiff 5’ tall fencing will work. Attach that to the top of your cattle panel maybe with hog rings, then roll it up and attach it to your top rail at 6’. It will stand up under its own stiffness and give you just under an additional 3’ of fencing height. There will be no top rail so they should not try to fly up there.

An added bonus, if a predator like a raccoon tries to climb it, the fence should bend back under the weight of the animal making it real hard for it to get over the top and into the run. They will still be able to get in over your coop and maybe the gate so it is not perfect, but it’s a help.

The gate will be a bit of a challenge. I’d suggest attaching 2x4’s to the posts to extend them up higher and fencing in above the gate. I’d attach a horizontal at the bottom of the gate posts just above the gate but not at the top. That gives you something to attach the bottom of the wire to so it doesn’t get in the way of your opening the gate, but I see a potential problem down the road.

I don’t concrete posts in either but when I tamp them in, I use rocks firmly tamped in with a 5’ iron bar made for that purpose. If you firmly tamp in rocks at the bottom, fill the middle with dirt also tamped in, then firmly tamp in rocks at the top, that post is not going anywhere, just like concrete. There is a bit of a learning curve but I have no shortage of rocks and Dad made sure I went through that learning curve growing up. But you said you used dirt, not rocks. With the weight of that gate, I expect that post to lean over time. If you can attach a horizontal just above the gate to the posts on those extensions you can brace it to help stop that leaning. It looks like you could run that horizontal on over and attach it to the coop also for added strength. Taking out a bit of dirt and tamping in rocks at the top can help even now. Just get the rocks tight.

I think you did a good job on that. I like the way you used cinder blocks under the gate to make a sill. That will help keep predators out and chickens in. Gates are often the weak spot in the run.

Good luck with it.