How high a fence will I need

[tberggren]

If I want to run a fence around my garden or front yard to keep the chickens out of the road will a 24" fence be high enough?

 

[Flufnstuffs~FluffySilkies]

Depends on what kind of chickens you have???

My silkies will not go over anything higher that 14 inches

But heck I don't need a fence at all My silkies won't wander more than 10 feet all day long. LOL

 

[Ga Chicken Mom]

We have 9 standard pullets and they will go over a 2 ft fence. We used a 4ft fence for our garden last year and it worked great. Remember to make the fence longer and wider than the plants will grow or the chickens will do a lot of trimming on whatever greenery sticks out of the fence.

 

[kayri]

I've seen my chickens gleefully daily fly over my 3 and 1/2 ft fence to both get in and out of my garden. Bad chickens.

 

[newchickowner]

I have several hens that climb up and over an 8 foot chain link fence like a parrot does in a cage!

If I had a camera to catch them in the act, I'd post it for you to see.


edited to add, no they aren't gracefull doing it either! They flap their wings to help them and a lot of times they fall back down, but that doesn't deter them from trying again! They've gotten pretty good at it now.

 

[Betsy]

Depends on the breed, but even with the heavier birds that don't fly so well I wouldn't have anything lower than 4ft. With smaller and flighty birds I wouldn't have anything lower than 6ft. I've had hamburg and buttercup hens fly to the top of my henhouse which I'm guessing is about 8 ft tall at the peak.

 

[chickflick]

Yeah, lots of my hens jump the six ft. fence around their run. They actually laugh at the four ft. fence around the yard.

 

[arlee453]

My heavy breed full grown birds could clear a 4' fence with a running start. My full grown campines can easily fly (almost gracefully) to the top of the coop which is 6' high.

If you have standards, you're going to need a lot more than a 2' fence to keep them out of the garden.

 

[Wildsky]

I'm putting up a 4ft fence

 

[tberggren]

Quote:
I will have mainly Blue and Buff Orps, with some JG, SS and Black Australorps (I'd like to also get a few New Hampshire Reds but haven't located a breeder yet) all are standard size.

I really appreciate everyone's feedback. I had no idea that chickens could get so high in the air, only ever seen them on the ground. LOL