How tall should my fence be

jmoss

Hatching
6 Years
Jan 9, 2014
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I am starting a new project in urban America, with 4 hens in a space about 12' by 10' open area. How tall should my fence be in order to keep the birds in?
 
What breed of chicken? Some can fly better than others. What type of predators do you have? I have a net over my run to keep the hawks out. So if hawks are going to be a problem & you need to net the run, you may want to make it tall enough to walk in.

Welcome by the way.
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Oh yeah, this, should really be in coop & run design but I don't know how you would move it. Just a heads up!
 
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We are in the city and there could be a problem with cats. Not sure about big birds here. The coup is 4x4 plus a 10x12 open area. Thanks for the advice.
 
We are in the city and there could be a problem with cats. Not sure about big birds here. The coup is 4x4 plus a 10x12 open area. Thanks for the advice.

Trust me, you don't want a covered run you can't stand up in. Life will cure you of that when you need to crawl on hands and knees thru poop to retrieve a bird. Been there, done that. Roof your run with some kind of wire. Chicken wire works. You only need 10 sq. ft. per large fowl in the yard. Your yard is 3 x larger than it needs to be. It is large enough for 12 large fowl. Maybe make the run 8 ft. wide to make it easier to roof? The coop, on the other hand is just right. 4 sq. ft. per large fowl bird inside. 1/2 ll these measurements for bantam fowl.
Best,
Karen in western PA
 
I would recommend making the run as spacious as possible. -better for the birds to have plenty of room. As far as fencing goes, 6 ft. tall should keep "most" in. -would cover with netting, wire, etc. if you do have any hawks or raptors.
 
I would recommend making the run as spacious as possible. -better for the birds to have plenty of room. As far as fencing goes, 6 ft. tall should keep "most" in. -would cover with netting, wire, etc. if you do have any hawks or raptors.
X2. There are less pecking problems with larger area. Also you do want it tall enough for you to move about in easily. You do need protection overhead against hawks and such.
 
I have a 100 foot by 40 foot welded wire pen around my coop and run that's 5 feet tall. I had a 3 foot fence and they were out more than they were in. I've only had one occasion where a bird got out of the 5 foot fence and I believe that's because I left a chair in there that they could get up on and give them a 2 to 3 foot advantage for clearing the new fence. I took the chair out and have had no more problems. If you're keeping the larger breeds, I doubt if cats will be a problem except for chicks. I ran monofilament fishing line back and forth across my pen to keep the hawks out. They're spaced about 4 feet apart and it's just enough that they can see it and don't bother then chickens anymore.
 
I have a mixed flock of about 50. My fence is 5' high. I recently added 8 English Game Hens they soar like eagles! The good thing is that they realy don't want to be out and away from the flock. When they fly out they can't wait to get back in. To answer your question the heavy birds can be restrained in a 3' fence. If you get Game Hens like mine 15' only slows them down. LOL
 

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