How high can chickens jump/fly?

[hoovert]

How high can a chicken jump on average? I ask this in case I will be needing a fence for my vegetable garden. I read that clipping their flight feathers can help?

 

[mdbokc]

4' is easy; 6' is a bit tougher and I have not seen any go over 7'. jmh observation

ETA - I have trained mine to stay out of the garden with 2' chicken wire around it. They learned boundaries.

 

[carrlr]

From my personal experience a chicken can easily Jump/Fly over a four foot fence. However, I believe once they are fully grown they are not able to go quite as high. I installed a five foot fence and no more problems. If you go with wing clipping, it's only necessary to clip one wing for each bird. If you search wing clipping you should find some examples in addition to this good one.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=446634

 

[hoovert]

If I do decide to clip wings, would they still be able to jump a 4ft fence?

 

[mdbokc]

Yes. Choice of breeds affects it, I am sure. Little birds with little wings and standard birds that are stronger than people think.

They can usually be trained to not go over if you are right on top of it when it starts to happen.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I think if you clip the wing a 4 ft fence should be fine. My Old English game could fly and roost on a branch 7 ft up, but they really didn't bother trying to get over the 4 ft fence around my garden.

 

[carrlr]

Quote:
Mine did not. It may have been because clipping one wing made them feel off-balanced. They've never had problems roosting or other normal activities. Although when their feathers grew back they could. I decided I didn't want to keep clipping their wings so I put up a 5 foot and haven't had a problem since.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

My orpingtons would have a tough time getting over a 4 ft fence even without any feather clipping

 

[mdbokc]

My Golden Comets can go virtually any place they want. Not nearly as heavy as the orps. That said, they have all learned to respect fences except for the one that separates them from the house and pool area. Used my 7' fence design for that. Took care of it. My 7' invisible fence... https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=35063-fences-visible-invisible

 

[lleighmay]

I've got 6 foot fences (dog panels) around my current run, and adding additional 4 ft fences elsewhere for the dogs, bird pasture, garden, etc. My chickens are all LF- only my rooster (some kind of buff orp cross) can get up on the 6 ft fence- he likes to survey his kingdom and crow. I used to have an EE that could do it but none of my current birds even try. They all can easily jump up on a 4 ft fence. The thing I have discovered is that if there is no top bar on the fence they don't seem to be able to judge distance or height as well and don't try to get over it (so far). I don't want to clip their wings in case they have to make a fast getaway from something.