My chickens keep flying into the dog pen

[eggsontoast]

My husband and I went to a lot of trouble building a fenced area for the chickens...and they just fly right over it. Now they're flying over the larger fence (about 4' tall) into the dog pen. When I first saw them there a few days ago, I nearly had a heart attack. I was SURE that my dogs (2 retrievers) would kill the chickens if given a chance. But the chickens were alive and well! I couldn't believe it!!! I still don't want them in there, but it seems like I can't really do anything about it now. As I type this, all three of them are running around in the heavy rain even though I opened the door to my greenhouse and put some food in there so they'd have shelter besides their coop. I guess they're not bothered by getting wet?

 

[dewey]

They can roost pretty high when left to themselves, so a 4' tall fence would be pretty easy for most to get over....if you can't build a taller fence maybe you could clip their wings.

 

[jomoncon]

Does your fence have a solid top - something sturdy like a board or a pipe? If so, the chickens may be flying to the top & then flying down into the dog pen. Try stringing some thin wire or string loosely above the top of the fence. When they realize that there's nothing solid for them to land on, they may stop flying up there.

 

[Okie Amazon]

I wouldn't clip wings, if a predator.dog gets after them flying away is the only shot they have. Sounds like you are just going to have to a topper on the chicken run.

 

[dewey]

Just in case, here's the BYC wing clipping tutorial: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-wingclipping.html