How Tall Does A Garden Fence Need To Be To Keep Out Heavy Chickens

[NeilV]

I have gardened in the past, but moved to a new house last and got chickens. I'm starting a new garden at this property next spring.

I have Black Australorps and RIR. They spend most of the time in an enclosed run, but I also like them to get out and roam around and have fun. In the summer, they may be out from 3:00 pm until dark. They have plenty of time to get into everything.

I know that I will need to fence in the garden if I am going to have chickens running loose. However, I'm not sure how tall I need to make the garden fence. They have proven that they can, if sufficiently bored and antsy, fly over a 6 foot fence on occassion. OTOH, they seem to be less inclined to go over fence to get into things once they are out. It seems like if they have other options for roaming, fences deter them even though they can go over if they really want to. For example, we planted some lettuce in a flowerbed and a 2 foot fence did the trick. They could see the lettuce, but they just did not bother to jump the fence. (Instead, they ate the potted plants on the patio.)

I figure a whole garden may be pretty tempting though, and and I need to figure out how tall the fence around the garden needs to be.

Any suggestion on height?

Any suggestions on fast, cheap DIY fencing for the garden?

Thanks so much for any help you can give.

Neil

 

[HorizonSon]

Our RIR rooster perches up on our four foot fence quite often; and he's a big boy! That being said; a four foot high fence that does NOT have a top runner on it would probably work. You could probably get away with a nicely finished 2~3ft high fence if you ran some sort of line about six inches above the top of the fence.

 

[woodmort]

I keep them out with a 6' fence unless they can find a hole to go through. Also my 6' fence keeps them in the chicken yard once they reach adult size.

 

[X2Farm]

I'm having the same dilema... the garden got demolished by the chickens this fall

This year, raised beds surrounded by that green plastic netting at Home Depot. Its 40" tall, so I'm hoping that'll suffice!

 

[Carols Clucks]

We have one dedicated EE hen, she has no trouble clearing chainlink gates with scroll work on the top (6' gates)

Thankfully, she really just likes the chard and kale and leaves the rest pretty much alone.

 

[FarmGirl01]

I had a 4 ft woven wire fence with 2 strands of barbed wire on top. It kept most of them in. Every once in a while, one would fly over. If I had to do it again, I would go 6 ft.

 

[Chick Charm]

I personally have RIR and Barred Rocks along wtih Red sex links. They have all demonstrated the ability to fly over my six foot fence and have also found themselves on my roof. None of wich I have a problem with. My birds are a little on the bigger size for their breeds.

So, your best solution may be to clip their wings. A 6' fence with clipped wings should keep them out. Cheap fencing can be 10' tree stakes (there is usually someone wanting to get rid of them or $3 stake at the lumber yard) sunk into the ground a couple of feet with 6' wire fencing attatched to the outside. Additional height can be gained by stringing rope or twine or whatever from post to post above your wire fencing. In addition plant are your vining veggies along the fence to promote that upward growth. Just remember the chickens love veggies too.

 

[FarmGirl01]

I've clipped wings also. It a good thing to do to keep them from flying out. The only problem I've had with this is they can't fly up onto a roost. They need a ladder type roost so they can climb up.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I gave up and fenced the garden in! 10x10x6ft dog kennel with a wire roof!