Your chickens of those breeds should have no problems flying over that fence if they want to. My chickens of similar size have no problems flying up to my 5' high roosts. The secret is in the "want to".Hi. The chickens will have their own predator “proof” run but it is inside a yard with a 4’ fence. On nice days when I’m home to supervise I’d like to let them out in this yard. Rhode Island reds and barred rocks, I assume they can easily fly over that? Are my only options going to be totally enclosing the top or using electric wire? I was wondering about pvc roller bars that people use to prevent dogs and coyotes jumping over. Or do they not land on it first and just fly straight over?
Thanks!
What does the top of your fence look like? Is it solid where they can fly up and perch? Chickens often like to perch, then you never know which side they will hop or fly down on. That's a real common way for them to escape, even with a relatively high fence.
I use a 4 ft high electric netting. Since the top is not a good perch they don't fly up there. The only time I see any escape is when I have a bunch of cockerels that get into fights. One gets trapped against the fence and goes vertical to get away. Sometimes they come down on the wrong side. I have had hens trying to get away from an amorous rooster do the same thing but that is pretty rare. With my electric netting there are a lot fewer escapes if there are no really narrow areas or tight corners. With your back yard how big is it and do you have tight corners?
I had three full sized fowl hens flying out of my 5 ft high main run whenever they wanted to, which was every day. They learned how. I used 5' wide welded wire to raise the fence. I overlapped the bottom 18" to attach it and left 3-1/2 ft sticking up. I also ate the ringleader, not sure that was necessary but I did. With that extra height and no place to land on top they stopped going out.
Fox can climb really well. A coyote can jump over a 4' high fence. Raccoon, possum, bobcat, many dogs, and other predators can get over that fence. If it becomes a problem having wire sticking up another 3-1/2 feet could help a lot.