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

[thepick4uchicks]

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?

I have seen some very small gauged hardware but if you don’t get it situated far enough away from the styrofoam I don’t think it would be small enough even to prevent their tiny little finagling beaks from getting through there to do their dirty little damaging work!

 

[lysmandor]

My chickens discovered there is styrofoam insulation under the vinyl siding on my house and they decided to begin devouring it. Fortunately they only free range in the backyard so I put plastic mesh fencing at the base in the backyard area of my house so they can’t reach the insulation. I think the styrofoam taste similar to meal worms. Good luck with that.

Apparently it's the best treat in the world! Unfortunately our yard surrounds our house on all sides, so it's either fence the whole house (including under all the doors), fence in the chickens, or keep them from eating apparently the best food in the world.

 

[lysmandor]

I have seen some very small gauged hardware but if you don’t get it situated far enough away from the styrofoam I don’t think it would be small enough even to prevent their tiny little finagling beaks from getting through there to do their dirty little damaging work!

Those beaks are surprisingly dextrous!

 

[3KillerBs]

You said it's about 4 inches tall?

About the size of a brick? Or the kind of blocks used for garden edging?

You probably wouldn't even need to mortar them in place.

A lot of garden edge images here: https://www.google.com/search?q=gar...UNVN8KHWJxAKcQ_AUoAnoECBAQBA&biw=1600&bih=786

 

[rosemarythyme]

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?

1/4" hwc should do. I have a similar/not similar problem in that my chickens were picking paint off their coop. After repainting the damaged sections, I surrounded the bottom 16" of the coop with heavy duty bird netting. In my case I was able to screw it to the coop itself (you'd need to use supports to install it, most likely).

 

[Weeg]

You can try this! if you type chickens into the questions and answers column, below, its said it works to keep chickens out of areas! It might be worth a try!
https://www.amazon.com/RODENT-SHERIFF-Pest-Control-Spray/dp/B01HEHE28W/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=bird+repellent+spray&qid=1600197979&sr=8-2-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFSNkYwSk5FU1o3TVUmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA3NTg0NjczQVFSTE5FTjBNNlczJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAxMzk2MjJVOE81UFlDUTFFWkQmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&th=1

 

[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/

 

[lysmandor]

You said it's about 4 inches tall?

About the size of a brick? Or the kind of blocks used for garden edging?

You probably wouldn't even need to mortar them in place.

A lot of garden edge images here: https://www.google.com/search?q=gar...UNVN8KHWJxAKcQ_AUoAnoECBAQBA&biw=1600&bih=786

Sadly that would be a LOT of bricks! I calculated I need about 160ft of coverage around the edge of the house. And the house is on a hill, so some places the gap is 4 inches, other places more like 6-8".

 

[lysmandor]

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/

Thank you! That would be a great longer term solution. Kind of hoping for something relatively cheap for now. Also not sure it would mount well over the styrofoam.

 

[Thesa]

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.