Whole pasture runs?

[kirstie]

Ok so I have 35 birds in a huge fenced in pasture. We have about 5 brown leghorns that WILL NOT stay in the pasture they fly or climb the fence (their wings are clipped). It's only the leghorns the amerauncanas and rhode islands stay in just fine. It is 5' fencing. They keep getting into my garden and they are about to become dinner if they don't stay in. Anyone have any advice on how to keep them in?

 

[tobit]

Make their run more appealing eg plants, or make the fence a few feet higher?

 

[debbieore]

I have tried many times with this, even though their run is plenty big they still want a way out. I would agree that adding things for them to do in their run might help, put down some straw for them to scratch through.

 

[aart]

Either fence them out of the garden....or put a 1 to 2 foot floppy section along the top of the fence, sometimes if you make the top of the fence unstable(if they pause on top of fence) that can keep them off it and inside.

 

[tobit]

Yes that's what I found with mine, if it's a wooden fence they can perch on the top of, they are more likely to try it, maybe just have a section of chicken wire allon the top (no harp edges of course) which they can't sit on?

 

[kirstie]

Thank you all! Yes they perch on the top of the fence at night! All the others go in the hen house but they stay out. And they are SO fast once they're out it's practically impossible to catch them! We used to have a small covered coop but now we are in it for production so we turned one of our pastures into a pen and it's been wonderful and a pain at the same time.

 

[aart]

Thank you all! Yes they perch on the top of the fence at night! All the others go in the hen house but they stay out. And they are SO fast once they're out it's practically impossible to catch them! We used to have a small covered coop but now we are in it for production so we turned one of our pastures into a pen and it's been wonderful and a pain at the same time.

Well, that might take care of it eventually, something will eat them!

Seriously, put them in the coop at night, grab them off the fence after dark and put them in to roost to keep them safe and home them.
Maybe you need to build a bigger coop?
Then put something floppy, or a couple strands of wire, on top of fence so they can't roost there at all.

What is your climate/location? You can put it in your profile, can help folks make better suggestions.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Put a hot wire at the top of the fence.

 

[aart]

Put a hot wire at the top of the fence.

That a great idea, take care of predators and the chicken escapes, especially if it's a metal fence that can be grounded.

 

[kirstie]

We seriously can't grab them off the fence. They see us coming even at night. If we get within 5 ft of them they take off. Our 3 year old calls them the road runners if that gives you an idea lol! We have been setting critter traps to catch them to put them back in the pasture. I like the hot wire idea. We are in north eastern California in the sierras. During the winter it only drops to freezing a few times maybe and summers are between 80 and 100. And our hen house is about 12x14. It was our old horse shelter and we converted it to a hen house a few months ago.