Keeping chickens from eating house? How to discourage chickens from certain areas

[lysmandor]

What about a fine metal mesh/screening cut and attached around the base of the house - would still allow expansion/contraction of the concrete but would prevent (?) pecking. At least successful pecking.

Can attest that, once they get a taste for it, they're going to find it unless it's covered.

The pictured culprit is extremely cute.

She's teaching my two new BOs her styrofoam pecking ways, unfortunately! They have a whole acre of things to peck, but clearly eating the house is more fun. At least it's just insulation foam and not structural or anything, I guess.

I thought about this, but would even hardware cloth be small enough mesh to keep them from just reaching through the holes and eating it anyway?

 

[chrissynemetz]

That was my thought, maybe wire window screen?

 

[lysmandor]

If only there was some sort of taste deterrent for styrofoam or something! Why in the world do they think it's so tasty???

 

[lysmandor]

I'd cut some 2x2s/1x3s, mount those to the Styrofoam about every 4 feet, and then screw the screen into the wood with 1" screws. In fact, you might even be able to get away with hardware cloth doing that, since the material would be an inch or two away from the house.

Though, if your girls are determined - and the ringleader looks determined - you might come out to find beaks stuck in the grid to get at that delicious, delicious styro.

We've got a piece of pink styro under a big kiddie pool we set out for the summer. Couldn't believe it the day they found it - I came out and the yard is covered in little pink bits. Every time we let them out to free range, off they run to eat some more literal garbage.

As to the house - never heard of it! But I feel like every house has a couple things where you walk around going, "ok, why'd they do *that*?"

I would like to stress again that I'm not a builder or a contractor - just suggesting what I'd try if it were me! Good luck - they are tenacious little beasts.

I'm actually not sure I can screw anything into the styrofoam - should be a block of concrete under there, not sure if they literally glued the sheet styrofoam to the concrete.

Maybe I just put the world's shortest 4 inch fence all the way around my house with chopstick fence posts??

 

[BDutch]

What about brick slip cladding? It gives the house a better look too. I used it to cover the concrete base under the wood of a shed.

https://brickslips.co.uk/news/external-brick-slip-cladding-wall-brick-bond/

 

[RojoMarz]

Lol. I must have some relatives of your chickens. Our workshop has styrofoam as part of the foundation walls. Because of the slope of the land, we have quite a lot styrofoam showing.

I will post picture tomorrow, of what our chickens have done...When I free range them, I "lead" them to an area away from the shop. Otherwise, they immediately run over and start snacking on the foundation.

I'm not currently free ranging them. But have tried to block the area off with a downed pine tree limb. Also considered spraying it with something that taste bad or using those little white fence panels that are used as edging.

 

[Willow2253]

I had a problem with my free range chickens jumping on my deck and eating my succulents and nesting in my fern. My son decided to bring the hose with spray nozzle on the deck stationed near by. The first time they came on the deck they got sprayed. A week later they tried again and were sprayed. They have not been back since.

Have you tried the garden hose on a soft spray setting. My birds hate getting wet.

A hose won’t keep determined chickens away from a tasty snack forever. Mine have destroyed my mom’s marigolds, even though they’re already fenced in, and I’ve sprayed them several times but they keep coming back. And if you don’t catch it every time they won’t learn.

 

[illinoishiker]

There's a cat proof screen available. Used for window and door screens that cats tear up. That might stand up to chicken pecking.

 

[ringaring]

I realize the obvious answer to this is fencing a dedicated chicken run, but I'm wondering if anyone has any other ideas.

The concrete foundation of my house is covered with sheet styrofoam insulation, painted over with a concrete-like coating. Unfortunately, the chickens have realized that it is obviously a fun source of their favorite food - styrofoam.

They are currently allowed to free range most of the day over our fenced acre property - our house is located in the center of the property, so to keep the chickens away from the house would involve either fencing them in a dedicated chicken run, or fencing the entire perimeter of the house. We enjoy having the chickens out in the yard, and the dogs run around with them for a good portion of the day and (hopefully) deter predators. We have 4 pullets at the moment.

The problem started when there were some chips in the grey concrete coating, exposing the tasty blue styrofoam. I've tried recoating the foam, but they pull off the paint to get at the foam now that they know it's there.

Ideas to deter them from this area? It's about a 4 inch border around the base of the house, some bordering dirt, some bordering concrete.

A layer of 1/4" hardware cloth covered by a layer of lattice, leaving enough space between layers so their little beaks can't reach the styrofoam. Personally, I love the look of lattice along the base of a house - very gardeny.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I am wondering, as I see the damage is up under the shingles, iif the chickens are eating bugs, not styrofoam. I am noticing that much of the damage is in the top area. The styrofoam is soft, so it gets damaged in the process.

Chickens are known for loving styrofoam, so even if it started with them chasing bugs, they're probably also loving the styrofoam itself.