keeping my chicken from jumping the fence

[julie 3]

She is a leg horn, and I clipped one of her wings, but she still can make it to the top of the 6 foot fence. I thought of tying a weight to her leg. Has anyone tried this or have some other sugestion on keeping her on the ground. I have only had chickens for 1 year now.

 

[BrendaJ]

You might want to try trimming the wing shorter. Its makes them off balanced & she shouldn't be able to get up that high. Does she have places to perch in the coop/run? I wouldn't recommend tying anything to the legs - you might end up with worse issues.

 

[The Chickeneer]

Sometimes with chickens like that, I will clip both wings short or just clip the primary flight feathers off one wing, then clip all of them on the other wing so it's off balance. I wouldn't tie weights to the legs, it could end in walking issues.

 

[julie 3]

Thank you I will give it a try.

 

[aart]

Does she land on top of the fence before going over?
If so, you can put a foot or so of floppy chicken wire along top of the fence, the instability throws them off.

 

[RedfogsFlock]

I have leghorns. Instead og ttying to keep them down what I did was goto lowes & buy some fencing with the 2 inch wide by 4 inch tall squares. I cut it in half long ways. I then added it to the top of my chainlink fence, bending it inwards a little at the top. So when I do choose to coop, no one gets out.

 

[ErikaSmit]

Our flyers got primary flight feathers clipped on both sides. Haven't been an issues since, but we've also added things for them to jump and climb on...

 

[Eggcessive]

Chickens can still fly when you clip their wings, but maybe not well enough to escape a predator. A leghorn could probably fly straight up on top of a barn. I do not cut wings anymore. If they can't stand on top of the fence they usually won't go over it. That is why poultry netting works so well.

 

[bassplayer5]

Clipping the wings didn't work. This sounds funny, but it worked! I put up some colored reflective party steamers on the posts and along the top of the fence, and it has been one week and no escapes since! It was happening on a daily basis, so I am 100% convinced!

 

[Jane Boone]

I am sure going to try your suggestion. I've only got 5 hens, but 2 of them are determined to get over the fence several times a day.