Free ranging near busy road

[alwaystj9]

Thirty years next to a road that keeps getting busier! I have a good fence but every now and then a chicken will figure that it's fun to play in the ditch. Often it will be a leghorn, they seem to be the most prone to escape. I have never had one go out on the road. Usually they run back in when they see me. The flock seems to have a route they travel most days as they roam but they do walk almost the whole fenceline every morning, then a group siesta, then they all have different things they want to do - this is when a fence jumper will go out. Honestly, it's never been a problem for me (except when well-meaning people decide to try to herd them back in or sit in my driveway, honking for me to come get it).

 

[Fishychix]

Ugh... maybe we can put some cheap fencing up to deter their chickens from coming this direction. We just don’t have a lot of extra money to spend on things like that at the moment. Our homeowners’ policy also covers livestock thankfully. Also, all of our neighbors (including the new neighbors with the free ranging chickens) know that we do NOT free range any animals specifically because of the road, so I guess we would have witnesses that the birds aren’t ours if anything happened.

Thank you so much for your answers! I just don’t feel like I know enough about this... I have never free ranged any of my chickens on any property!

Well, the fence shouldn’t be too expensive, but the posts to put it in the ground with will likely at least double your bill.
Unfortunately ours have discovered the grass is greener on the other side. They used to just overshoot their fence when they got over excited, so we put in another one around their original one. It’s taller and there are about 4-5 feet of space between them, but for some reason they’ve dcided to get over both now and have even been in the neighbors yard. We’re now working on building an enclosed run but leaving the bigger fence for supervised play time. This is not an expense I’d planned on! In the meantime I grabbed some PVC and chicken wire we had laying around and made a temporary enclosed run, but it’s really small. Just 5x7, but with only 6 girls I figure it should be all right, at least for now. I plan on securing it into the ground using landscape staples. Gotta find them first though.

 

[Bweis13]

Thankfully our property is fenced but the driveway gate is usually open. Our hens haven’t ventured into the road yet and have never shown any interest in escape. Our neighbors across the street have dozens of chickens, ducks, geese, etc. and no fence. The chickens and ducks mostly stay away from the road but every now and then a few get run over.

I just can’t free range them, for the people driving and for their own sakes! I’ve just seen too many dead animals on this road... wild ones and stray or outdoor cats. You are so lucky to have a fenced property. I really wish we had the money to do that. We have a pretty big, sturdy run though, so I feel good about that.

 

[Aquira]

I pass by a place everyday that has free range chickens. It's on a 50mph road but obviously people want to go above that. We have seen a dead chicken or two by that property along the road so I wouldn't recommend free ranging right next to a busy road.

 

[Bweis13]

I pass by a place everyday that has free range chickens. It's on a 50mph road but obviously people want to go above that. We have seen a dead chicken or two by that property along the road so I wouldn't recommend free ranging right next to a busy road.

Our road is 45 mph, and people definitely go over that sometimes. The neighbors are actually on a court behind our yard, so their front yard is very safe and calm. I wonder if they could encourage the chickens to go that way somehow.