To fence or not...

[Ridgerunner]

This is getting away from my personal experience because I've never had this problem. Some people on this forum have had trouble with chickens going into the coop to go to bed when the coop is really dark. It gets so dark inside the coop that the chickens can't see to go to bed, although it is still fairly light outside. I think sometimes street lights and security lights that keep it light outside contributes to this problem. These people report that when they put a dim light in there or a window so they can see well enough to go to bed, this problem goes away.

I don't leave lights on, but I have a window. My parents did not leave a light on, but they left the door open and had some small windows high up. You don't have to have lights, but a window so you can see to work in there and they can see a bit is a good idea.

Something I have seen and this has nothing to do with lights. When I let brooder raised chicks first free range, they don't all necessarily go back into the coop when it gets dark. Most do and most of the time they all do, but I have had some go to sleep outside the coop in the run. They are real easy for me to physically catch and put in the coop and they usually catch on pretty quickly. I never have this problem with broody raised chicks and this only happens when they have not yet started to roost. I think part of this it is because their instincts tell them to find a low spot kind of hidden, like a corner in the coop or run, where they can huddle together if they are not yet roosting. To these , I think the ground outside my raised grow-out coop looks cozier than inside the raised coop. Since most of them go inside and they all go inside after a little training, I don't think it's a light problem.

Something else I've seen when I first let them outside the coop. Although they may have gone in and out of a gate or door several times during the day, when it comes to bedtime and before it is too dark to see, they don't know how to get into the coop. They want to real bad, but they have no concept of gate or door. They may wind up on the opposite side of my run away from the gate and don't know to walk around to the gate. Or instead of flying up to the door of my raised grow-out coop or climbing the tree limb I use as a ladder, they try to fly up to the window or into the sides of the coop. The first two or three nights when I first let them out to roam, I'm always there so I can help them find their way back to the coop. It usually only takes a couple of times for even the really slow ones to catch on, and they want to get into the coop real bad. This does not happen to all of them and a lot of times, it does not happen to any of them, but it happens often enough.

 

[Tarheel2288]

That's interesting...The coop I built has an entire wall (12'x5') or so that is open, ie. just chicken wire. That, along with a window on the coop, a security light and my back porch light that is on at night, should provide enough light to get into the coop. Anyone else have any experience with this?

I have also heard that when they're ready to leave the brooder, keeping them in the coop for a week or two 24/7 before letting them range kinda gets them used to the concept of the coop being home/bedroom.

 

[FarmTillURdead]

I'd fence. We have mutt chickens, I understand your breed isn't suppose to be real active. I have seen them on Amish farms and they look kinda still. We didn't fence the first year and things were ok for the first month but they eventually got braver and braver and wondered farther and farther in little groups. When my chicks are a few days old I withhold feed for 4 hours a day then make a call when I feed them. It trains them to come for food. So they would come running and flying to the coop in the evening to be put up at night from 150 yards away. (with 80 birds now this is a riot!)
I figured it couldn't hurt and the free food was awesome! Then the hawks came... then bobcats... then falcons... (i guess).
I slowly lost 42 birds and never saw a predator.

Lost a whole season of food.
Two chickens did make it to town a tenth of a mile away and tried to move into the feed store.
We fenced this year and didn't lose one bird from wondering out to predator land.

 

[Tarheel2288]

As a side note, as far as fencing goes, I was picturing 36" chicken wire (or welded wire) across the bottom with a couple strands of barbed wire across the top. Any thoughts?

 

[FarmTillURdead]

If you keep the wings clipped you don't need the barb wire. If a predator wants to climb a fence the barbs won't stop it. I have had problems with the welded wire rusting and falling appart in a year leaving huge gaps. Perhaps it was just the couple of rolls I got... but it happened. Chicken wire is fool proof if your putting them up at night.
I use 36 inch goat fence with 4 inch welds. But I spend 2 months checking the fence perimiter 6 times a day rounding stragglers back in. (Thank God for Border Collies!) They eventually get big enough to stay on one side.

 

[bantyhen'sfriend]

If you plan on keeping them, you'd better fence an area for them. Daytime predators include dogs, some foxes, hawks, and sometimes the odd coyote. Nighttime predators such as raccoons, foxes, coyotes, skunks or minks won't be deterred by a perimeter fence, and chicken wire won't keep anything out or in except chickens. It's just too darn thin and flimsy, and it rusts through in a short period of time, which renders it more than useless.

I strongly recommend covering the chicken wire side of your coop with welded wire fencing that has 2"x4" gaps, and put a strip of plywood across the bottom at chicken height (18-24"). Not only will the plywood keep the bedding in, but it will keep raccoons from pulling a chicken to the edge of the wire and biting/clawing out chunks of your bird (which happened rather frequently with my shed until I added the plywood). Leaving the chicken wire in might also help deter predators from reaching in, but you must be able to reach it easily to replace it when it gets rusty.

The area they run in doesn't need to be very large, and you can make it with cattle panels and t-posts to change the shape more easily. Cattle panels will also keep out most dogs, or dog-sized predators that don't climb. But that is for the Fort Knox of all meat bird pens, which I need because of the number of predators around here.

 

[Ridgerunner]

As a side note, as far as fencing goes, I was picturing 36" chicken wire (or welded wire) across the bottom with a couple strands of barbed wire across the top. Any thoughts?

My thoughts? What benefit do you expect to get from the barbed wire? I can think of a few large domestic animals like horses or cows barbed wire can help control, but I can't think of any predator that would influence at all. I'd expect the three feet fence to keep the Cornish X in. The barbed wire will have no effect on them or any other chicken.

I just can't envision a 3' fence with two strands of barbed wire over it that would stop any predator. They will either climb through or jump over. Maybe someone has a different experience? Now, if you change that barbed wire to electric wire....................

The 3' fence may deter casual predators, but it will not stop a determined one. Well, maybe some toy dogs that can't jump it. A 4' fence will provide a much better barrier than a 3' fence during daytime because it is harder for some animals, mainly dogs, to get over. Of course, 5' is even better. But nothing will work at night. There are just too many climbing things and you are not there to see them, plus most of them are more active at night.

We are talking Cornish X here, not dual purpose, egg layers, or bantams. I really don't think there is a real concern with keeping them in. They won't go that far anyway and certainly not over even a fairly low barrier. The concern would be in keeping predators out. And I honestly don't know how big a threat the different predators are in your specific situation. For some of us, some sort of protective barrier is mandatory. Some people can get away without one, at least most of the time. I was fine for years, then twice this past year, somebody abandoned dogs in the country. You are always at risk, even when things are going well, but you never know when things can change.

I like the flexibility of being able to close them off if I have need. But often knowing I have that need comes from having losses.

 

[Tarheel2288]

The idea of the barbed wire on top was to deter jumping or climbing it.

I might as well stop trying to get fancy and just use some smaller gapped welded wire. My worry about that is having chickens get through the gaps.

 

[FarmTillURdead]

Getting fancy is half the fun! I think folks are just trying to save you a few bucks. You might get an escapee now and then but they sick close to the herd and it stops after they make a little size and can't squeeze out anymore. It's great your asking and collecting ideas... It would have saved me some bucks (and chickens) when I got started!

 

[cafarmgirl]

The idea of the barbed wire on top was to deter jumping or climbing it.

I might as well stop trying to get fancy and just use some smaller gapped welded wire. My worry about that is having chickens get through the gaps.

If you want to discourage jumping or climbing over of predators run a hot wire along the very top as Ridgerunner suggested. Barbed wire won't stop them. For our fence we used 48" goat fence, it is welded wire with a 4 inch square opening. Standard hen won't fit but my one tiny bantam can do it if she's determined. Ran a hot wire around the inside to keep the goats off and one along the top as well so the fence ended up about 5 foot tall. If you want to discourage digging from the outside you can run one along the outside of the fence, a few inches off the ground. Very effective, not expensive unless your doing a huge area, and long lasting. You just need do a little maintenance occasionally to keep brush and so forth from growing up around the wire. My husband just goes around once in a while and keeps a strip by the fence sprayed with Round Up to keep it all clean.