How to keep people away from our chickens?!

[MyFrancesca]

We are city chicken owners. We have a double lot. We have the lot our house is in which has a 4 foot chain link fenced in back yard. The second lot is directly behind our backyard, connected by a gate doorway (can only access the 2nd yard by going thru our back yard connected to the house) and is also fenced in by 4 foot chain link. We have been struggling to keep our chickens in this bacl area, as they have found ways to sneak out. The past 3 months have been a trial and error process of blocking off more ways they have found to get out.
Our house sits a good 40 feet off the sidewalk. Our chickens have decided they like our front porch and if they can find their secret way to get out, they go right up front to the porch and scrounge through the flower beds. This doesn't bother me at all...they aren't in danger, they have never gone near the road and I am not scared they would attempt to go near the road. They walk along the house and back around to the other side of the yard, which is still our property and no where near the sidewalk or road.
With all that said...we have had numerous people make the 40 foot walk up into our yard to chase our chickens. Over and over...day after day...different people walking down the sidewalk see our chickens and then come into our yard to chase them...follow them...try to capture them...I have no idea what they are thinking or why they're doing it. I don't understand the concept myself. If I saw a cat on someone's porch, I would not assume it is okay or appropriate for me to enter their yard and go after it. Same goes for chickens. If I saw a chicken in someone's yard, minding its own business, near the house...I would not think to myself, "I think that is a wild chicken and it needs captured." I would not once consider trespassing into the yard to follow it...I would not ever decide it's appropriate for me to enter this property and try to catch it.
Today I put a note on our door that reads: "Yes, they are our chickens. Yes, we know they get out sometimes. No, we don't need you to put them back. Please leave them alone for their safety." I have now added 3 more no trespassing signs to hidden areas in our yard that you can only see once you enter our yard and not from the road (we live in a snooty-ish neighborhood so we don't want them out for the world to see).
Anyone else have any ideas on how to keep our chickens safe from the public? I suggested making a run but since we have a fourth of an acre fenced in, we'd really like them to be able to utilize the entire space. We love that they get to play outside in the grass and bushes all day. We continue to build up the chain link when we find areas they are using to get out, one area we thought we had blocked off but the weasles found a way out anyway so that is on the agenda for tonight.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would start by putting a sign on a post at the sidewalk saying to keep out.

 

[MyFrancesca]

We have 3...the signs are sort of hidden, as mentioned above...so people can't see it when driving by but once you're in the yard, you can see them because they're sort of placed behind the flowers so the city can't see the tacky signs.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Besides signs Can you fence in or do some sort of ornamental fence in the front yard so people are either less likely to come in or so they think it is fenced? Something like those loopy wire things they just stick in the ground?

 

[MyFrancesca]

:/ errr...I don't know. I'm not sure it would really look right to put something like that up in the yard. I'm thinking about trying to find a company that makes signs and have them make one that says "Please don't touch the chickens" and make them decorative in our flower bed...

 

[akelley]

Can you keep them in a run and then let them out only when you're home? That way if they escape and people decide to chase them, you can go outside and inform the trespassers that they are not welcome to chase your chickens.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Make the signs too decorative and people won't "see" them, and of course there is the problem that half the people will think they don't apply to them anyhow. Do you have any idea who these people are? I do think that you are going to either have to be pretty obvious with the "Leave The Chickens Alone" sign, or do something boundary wise that will make the people who want to come up to the house think twice. I am now envisioning a flock of chicken shaped signs that all say something about leaving the chickens alone ... sort of like a high class version of the pink flamingos...
There is also the thought that as the chickens get braver they will probably start wandering more anyhow and you won't be able to leave them out front unsupervised or they will start going out of your yard.

 

[MyFrancesca]

We have no idea who these people are...with the exception of one person who we had befriended but have now unfriended due to his desire to "save" our chickens. Yes, he was trying to do us a favor and assumed he was helping by chasing the chickens through our yard...but as I pointed out, they weren't near the road and the only danger caused to them was by him chasing them around. I think he was more embarrassed in the end when I asked him to please not do it again. He told me at that time the security guards from the professional business next door were also chasing them the day prior...because they were over by our cars, the farthest into our yard possible...when the guards saw them and didn't know where they came from.
Yesterday it was 3 - 20 some year old adults but they were more fascinated by them so they knocked on our door to advise us of the chickens and when we didn't answer the door (husband upstairs, I was gone) they hung out in our front yard watching the chicken. This morning it was a jogger running by...saw them...stopped...came into the yard...and before you know it there you are following the chicken around through our front yard. When my husband comes out and says, "Can I help you?" You advise there is a chicken in the yard. Yes...it is a chicken in OUR yard...where YOU are now...trespassing.
I really think it's some type of mysterious mezmerizing issue. It's like people are fascinated because they see a chicken in the city so they want to come closer...and then the chicken runs...so the person runs to get closer and before you know it, you're chasing a chicken in a front yard...
Maybe I should start video taping it and sell it on ebay for entertainment purposes.
It is only the ISA browns...one in particular who came up missing for 2 days and we now assume it must've been a passerby who tried to take it home or chased her so far away it took her 2 days to find the path home.
Our long term goal is to have the backyard fenced in to the point they can't get out.
I have also considered doing something like putting small stakes in the ground and stretching fishing line across with little yellow flags tied on as a little mini-fence. But from the road could look like the gas line people stakes or invisible fence boundaries. Just until we can finally block off ALL areas these chickens are getting out from. I wish the ISA's were more well behaved. They just love us so much they actually come knock on the garage door.

 

[browning6]

I think it is the nature of the beast to see something new and want to catch it or look closer at it. I would guess that your neighbors are just curious. It may wear off if your neighbors see them enough. I wouldn't want people chasing my chickens either but i think you might have to choose to have good neighbor relations or happy hens.

 

[enola]

Allowing your chickens to roam free is your mistake. I realize the chickens are yours and the property is yours. However in a populated area they would be considered an attractive nuisance. I realize how aggravating this can be....... I have had to put a lock on my chicken house door to keep my eggs from going home with the neighbors