How high does a chicken run fence need to be?

[dynomitegirl]

I love the idea of free range chickens, but it ends with the idea. With 2 acres of land my chickens are driving me and my neighbors crazy. They have a thing for ripping up anything planted and pooping on porches. My solution was to build a chicken run. Give them plenty of space to scratch, and do their thing. I spent a week working on this thing. Finally finished last night. Opening day of the chicken run, and do you know where my chickens are.....on my back porch. The fence is 5 ft tall. I know chickens can fly but how high do I need to make this run to keep my chickens in?

 

[dynomitegirl]

I need to add that the chicken run is about a half acre...too big to cover.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You can clip a wing so they can't fly over your fence.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-clip-trim-the-wings-of-your-chicken-to-prevent-flight

If one wing doesn't work do both.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I know chickens can fly but how high do I need to make this run to keep my chickens in?

My run is about 4 ft high. If you clip the feathers on one wing of each bird it will help.

Make sure there is no blood in the shaft of the feather before you clip or your bird may bleed to death.

On some birds you may even have to clip a few secondary flight feathers.

One wing throws the bird off balance and is more effective than trimming equal amounts off both wings.