Help/Advice chicken escapes yard every day to lay an egg

[joestahl]

Hi there,
This is my first post here, and I was hoping to find an answer. Our chicken Caroline started escaping by squeezing through the rungs in our deck, so she can go lay an egg in some high grass by the driveway. A few days ago, I put up some chicken wire around the deck. The next day, my daughter Zoe wanted to film Caroline's reaction to not being able to get out, and this is what happened.

Not sure what to do now. If we let her lay her egg and then retrieve her, she won't try to escape the rest of the day. Our other 5 chickens are content with staying in the yard, and don't try to get out.

(If you can't watch the video, here is a brief synopsis - she jumped up on our barbecue grill and over the deck railing, and then jumped down to the driveway, probably about 10 feet)

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[thebanthams]

Not sure how to help ! You probably need a higher fencing, whats her nest box like? maybe put the grass in the box. It could be sometime other hens are bullies, and she just want to stay away from them.

 

[joestahl]

We have a coop with 6 nest boxes. 3 of our chickens lay in the same box, the one all the way to the left, one lays all the way to the right. We have one chicken that has a hiding spot in the yard she likes to use if she can hold it long enough until we let them out of their run. We have a 6 foot fence all the way around the yard, the small deck off the side of the house is the only place that is lower, about 4 feet. Is there any way to train her to lay somewhere else? What if we don't let them out into the yard for a day or two? They get quite noisy if we don't let them out.

 

[joestahl]

No ideas?

 

[JanetS]

Wow! That's a tough one. None of my chickens have ever gone over the fence like that. I have one white leghorn that while out free ranging sometimes will start looking for a spot to lay her egg. We know what she's doing so we put her back in the run and close the door. She usually goes right up the ramp into the nesting boxes than. If we didn't do that I have no doubt she would lay her egg in the yard somewhere. Don't know if that helps any. Good luck.

 

[OldGuy43]

I have a couple of suggestions;

1. Take away anything that she can use to jump out.
2. We've had a couple of chickens and one duck that we used to find outside the run in the mornings. We solved the problem by putting a piece of 1/4" plywood that adds 12" to the top of the 4' fence.across the top. Apparently, they don't like the fact that they can't see over the top, or they don't like landing on that narrow a piece of wood.
   

 

[seventreesfarm]

We keep our pullets' wings clipped until they get too heavy to fly. Just had a gal jumping the gate to lay in the hay mow, so we knew it was time for a barber visit

 

[joestahl]

Thanks for the ideas everyone. She actually didn't try to get out today, I'm not sure why. Maybe she doesn't like the extra 4 feet added to the drop. Hopefully she won't try anymore.

 

[MamaRudey]

All of mine jump the fence and will wait until they can to lay. They will not lay in the nesting boxes or run no matter how long we make them stay in there. We even clipped their wings. They are happy as clams to go back in just as soon as they're done.

 

[seventreesfarm]

All of mine jump the fence and will wait until they can to lay. They will not lay in the nesting boxes or run no matter how long we make them stay in there. We even clipped their wings. They are happy as clams to go back in just as soon as they're done.

If we get hardcore escape artists like that we usually band them then cull them if they don't quit. We have a lot of crops planted and can't have hens running amok where they aren't supposed to.