Out of the run?

[bouvier bernois]

Hello,
I'm all new to this and right now I have 4 Bovan Brown and I live in a residential area all fenced up. I'm tempted to let my girls roam in my yard but I'm afraid that they might fly over the fence onto my neighbors yard. I have the birds only since a couple of weeks (2-3). They do have a nice covered run. Should I wait a bit more or only let them out in the run?

 

[ChickenGoesRuff]

If you want to let them run, but want to avoid flying over fences, I would try clipping wings. However, before you do something to fix that problem, see if it is a problem. I would let them roam with supervision first and see if it is a problem. I would suggest lots of treats in the yard so they aren't searching other yards.

 

[azygous]

Your chickens are too new to their new home to be interested in wandering over fences, not that it couldn't prove to be a problem sometime in future.

As long as there are interesting plants to eat, plenty of grass, and at least one good dirt bathing station, your chickens will be content to hang in their own yard. Let them out and watch them. If you have any fence fliers, you'll soon know.

 

[aart]

How tall and what kind of fence?

 

[bouvier bernois]

Hi,
Wood planks 6'

 

[aart]

Hi,
Wood planks 6'

Wood planks they can't see thru?
Not seeing the other side can help...as is 6' high.
OTOH solid fence is easy to land on top of.....but there are several ways to make it hard to land up there if need be.

 

[bouvier bernois]

Just to let everyone know, I've let them loose once in a while and everything is A1. No issues at all. One even follows me up the deck when i need to go inside. Downside is that they poop alot. I just hose everything down after. Cheers!

 

[MrsCIAbbott]

This is my first year raising hens in my back yard. I have two Welsummers, and two Silver laced wyandottes. Half of our yard is 6' wood fence, and the other half is about 4'. At about 20 weeks they started jumping over the 4' fence, so that's when we bought supplies to build a 6' fence out of chicken wire around their coop. they learned to jump on their coop and then loved perching on the new fence. We couldn't have them getting out as our house is right at an intersection, so we clipped one side of their feathers, but not short enough! They kept getting up on the fence, so we went back and clipped the Welsummers hen that gets everyone in trouble 'Mama', and that helped, but the wyandottes kept staying put too late, and it was too dark for them to see back into their coop, so they began to fly up to the fence to sleep,for safety I guess. At about 22 weeks, they began laying eggs and none of them even care about trying to fly up the fence anymore. Not sure if that helps, but clipping was a super easy two person job, we just used regular scissors we had! Just make sure to have a reference picture with you so you cut short enough the first time!