Suggestions on fence

[wayneh]

after nearly loosing one of our girls, thier freedom will be taken away. we are planning on building a large fence, 50x25. we are not planning on putting a top on the pen. we have RIR's and Whiteleghorns. we have then in a dog pen that is 5 feet high. its just 12x12 and they show no interest in flying out. my question, I know that one may fly out every now and then but do y'all think 6 feet will be ok? we hate haveing to pen them, they loved the forraging, and we liked watching them, but a dog put an end to that. we will have a varmit barrier arround the fence to keep the diggers out. they will be locked each night, and we think they are too big for our hawks. anyway they have been freeranging since they were 8 weeks.

 

[bryan99705]

you should be good as long as the fencing holes are chicken proof. That's a nice thing about stray, loose dogs problems .... they chase other critters away too

I'm running a 6' fence plus a 2' skirt all the way around and the RIR & Leghorn roo love it. Never had a flight issue (I threatened to clip a wing if they did

). I did pile some branches for overhead cover plus they have a sunshade for when a hawk or raven tries for them. Also my rooster is becoming a battle veteran and keeps one eye on his girls and one eye on the sky all the time although he does occationally walk into things

(last weekend he tripped over a root

)

 

[Ema]

well my dogs are not anywhere near my chickens and they are fenced in behind 8 feet of steel fencing, lol. I would think 6 feet is plenty, I am only going 4 feet myself, I have been facing the same issue, so I plan on having a run that is fenced in for when I am not home and allowing them to free range around the 4 foot high enclosure which will be about an acre when its all done. I am not too worried about hawks while I am out there , and when I am not well they will be penned up anyhow. better for them and my piece of mind

Ema

 

[Cindy in PA]

Since they are used to being out, 6 feet may not be enough. I had many chickens (Barred Rocks, EEs & sex-linked) that could regularly fly out of a 6 foot fence, before I covered it. I even had a BR that would fly back over and put herself in at night.