how high of a fence?

[sheeshshe]

How high can a chicken jump with clipped wings? how high should a fence be to contain chickens in the backyard? Thank yoU!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

My girls dont have clipped wings. They can fly right over my 4ft fences. They can NOT fly over my 6ft. fences. Unsure about what happens at 5 feet!

 

[consdrs]

I think it depends on how determined your chickens are! i have a 3 ft. plastic temp fence they free range in. if they ever do escape I start to look for holes in the fence to fix cause they don't fly out of my 3 ft fence.

Connie

 

[gritsar]

Our fence is 4ft. high in some areas, 5 ft. in others.
When I want to keep my rooster out of the yard I close the gate. The girls can fit thru the squares in the gate, but he can't. Still he does not like being seperated that way, so he jumps on the propane tank (approx. 4 ft. high) and then over the fence. Where there's a will, there's a way.

 

[wombat]

It depdends on the breed of chicken. Some can get 15' up into trees ... and some meat breeds can't run, let alone fly!

Typical dual-purpose / large breed types seem to top out at about 4'-5' though ... none of ours are ever on our 5' fence, and don't have much interest in getting that far from their run anyway.

 

[scubaforlife]

I have one bird with one clipped wing that I am sure can fly over 8 feet high. 4 feet is a joke to her. My others see the 4 foot fence as a 30 foot wall, but this one can go right over it.

 

[chik magnet]

Two of my RIRs can fly 6ft easy.

 

[al6517]

Just because you have never seen them jump very high you may be very surprised at how high they actually can if cornered or while trying to catch them, or if they are in some kind of trouble when your not watching.

AL

 

[ChikeeMomma]

I have a Black Australorp mix hen who flies herself out and then back in of the run as she feels. It is six feet tall. I have had one of my EE pullets fly out once after seeing the BA mix. They free range some of the day so when they are just out in the run the BA decides to let herself out. I have 16 chickens and she's really the ony one who gets out all the time. I don't clip there wings because they do free range and I figured it may help if they were ever in trouble.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It depends on breed, age and motivation. With some of the heavy breeds, juveniles can fly better than a fully grown bird. With fully grown dual purpose breeds, I'd expect 5 to 6 feet to be sufficient if the flight feathers on only one wing are clipped. If you clip both wings, they are balanced again and they can go higher.

Motivation can be from a real or perceived threat or some chickens don't take confinement well, especially certain breeds, and just have to roam.