Need to keep hens from jumping fence

[oella]

My 20-week-old hens have figured out how to get over the five-foot fence that keeps them from ranging into trouble. I need to keep them from doing that, and would prefer not to have to wait until I can completely cage them in to let them out of the coop/run. I was thinking that judicious trimming of feathers would do the trick, and wanted some advice on that.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I'm no expert, but you could start here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-wingclipping.html


My girls were flying over the fence too, so I made sure they were happy with good food and drink on my side of the fence and also clipped their right wings.

Clipping the wing of one of my new girls also kept her from roosting in the tree at night. She couldn't fly high enough to get to the branches anymore, but could fly enough to get into the coop and on a roost.

Anybody willing / able to take a video of wing clipping to put on the site?

 

[BeckyLa]

I just clip the flight feathers on one wing so when they try to fly it throws them off balance making it much more difficult to get height. If you need instruction on how to do this go to the BYC Home page to the learning center then the how-to's. I checked and it's there. hth.

 

[BeckyLa]

That's funny! We posted at the same time!

 

[eggchel]

Just dont clip wings on any birds that you plan to show. It disqualifies them, I think.


chel

 

[ChrisnTiff]

We've clipped wings to no avail. We still get fly overs. Really we think the only way to keep your birds in is to raise buff orpingtons or another heavy breed. Our white leghorn has no problem going over our fence no matter if we clip her wings or not. We tried just clipping one side, it didn't work. So we clipped the other side and it still didn't work. We did follow the instructions on the BYC website and it is fairly easy to do with two people and a very sharp pair of scissors or Kitchen shears. Good luck,

Chris

 

[eggchel]

LOL, I did see one of my Leghorns.... with clipped wings... literally flap her wings and run up the side of a fence and over the top. Good thing it wasnt the fence that has a dog on the other side.

Putting netting over the top will keep them in. You can get bird netting in the garden department at Lowes or HomeDepot. It is the kind meant to keep birds from eating the fruit off your trees and is pretty cheap. It isnt strong enough to keep a predator out but will keep flying chickens in their pen.

chel

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

As a side note: It may just be me and my hens, but it seems like even when I use chicken wire that they can fly over, they don't. It almost seems like since they can't really see / demarcate where the fence starts and ends that they don't try to fly over it. I've seen my girls hop on top of a 5 foot fence, but they won't jump over 3' of chicken wire. Could be something totally different, but that's my guess.

 

[Chicken Manicac]

I would clip their wings, i have to do that as well. My dogs almost killed on of my hens that jumped the fence last thursday.

 

[Chickengal505]

I have no clue about clipping wings?... my chickys stay in a closed coop...to many predaters to take chances with them roming free... they don't mind though