Wandering chickens

[AMSpsg18]

I'm not quite sure if this fits here or not but I'm going to try it out anyway. I live on a 14 acre area but the coop is closer to the front half near the road. It's not right on the road but I have the fear they will wander off that way if given the chance. We also have some neighbors that live up the hill from us and I don't want the chickens bothering them if they do choose to wander. Now I have heard of the plastic owl that you can place where you don't want them to be but I would need quite a few in order to keep them in their area. Is there another way of maybe scenting the places you don't want them to be or should I just build a really big fenced in area for them to stay?

I don't want to fence them in all the time so they can have fun but I don't want them getting into mischief. Any ideas?

 

[azelgin]

In a year of free ranging, the farthest ours have ventured from their copp is about 200'. I have hauled them farther away to see what they do and they run straight home to their safety zone. How far are they from the road? If, it's more than a couple of hundred feet, they'll probably take a few months to explore that far out and you'll have time to deal with it before then. It has taken our 40+ chickens that long to reach 200'.

 

[spook]

Oh heavens, ours will be 2 acres away when I go after them, its not only the busy road, but its also the neighbors and although they don't mind, I do.
So DH put up some of the inexpensive Walmart plastic mesh, the kind you can get 3' or 4'x 50' rolls and just inexpensive steaks or the metal ones. He used 5 of them in our back yard which is not as large of an area as you, but this 1/2 acre is enough so the girls do not bother flying over, or even going under.
Unfortunately, we are unable to use the area, the eagle and hawks have found these lovely girls.
Good luck and I swear my girls have ADD ADHD, once they look over one area, they are off for the next and never happy unless a small boundary fence.

 

[gritsar]

My girls must be related to spook's. They headed to the pond one day, more than 5 acres away. They wander everywhere. Only way I know to restrain them is some sort of fence.

 

[azelgin]

Quote:
You guys must have much more interesting territory than I do. I stand corrected. I guess the OP better put up a fence. Our, how about a ball and chain?

 

[AMSpsg18]

We have a really long dirt driveway so that should be okay, but the next door neighbors are going to be really close to the coop. There really isn't a lot of, I want to say places or things to put mesh around. Any other ideas that won't upset my neighbors? I can take pictures tomorrow so you can have a better idea of the area.

 

[spook]

Well, sounds like you have 2 choices, upset the neighbors or keep them in.
Not much in the way of decision making.

 

[AMSpsg18]

Quote:
Well The neighbors are going to hate me then

 

[cmom]

I have my birds fenced in not because they were wandering. I did it to protect my gardens as they were scratching up everything I planted. My birds got into my compost piles and spread them out. I was constantly raking them back into piles. Also they were scratching up the newly planted plants. I start everything from seed so it was becoming a pain to keep planting. I still consider it free ranging in their fenced in part. I do move the fenced area to give them new territory to range in. There are pictures on my BYC Page.

 

[AMSpsg18]

Quote:
I really like this idea! I literally said, "OOOhh" this would be perfect! Thanks so much Cmom and everyone else for your help.