Will chickens fly out of a large run?

[HippieWolf]

If you give chickens a large enough run to forage in will they still fly out? I have a bad pest problem in my area so I've had to stop free ranging but i want to give them as much room as possible. While at the same time make it easier for me to herd them back in at night.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Yes they will fly over if the fence isn't high enough.

Heavy brown egglayers are generally kept in OK with a 5 foot high fence. They still jump up to the bar across the gate though, so I have had to extend that up by about a foot.

Ligher breeds though will fly over 5 feet. What are your breeds and how tall is your fence?

 

[HippieWolf]

Im building a new coop and run so currently don't have a fence. Wanted to find out how tall it needed to be first. The chicks that will be going into the new coop are rhode island reds and barred rocks. Currently have them in a tiny pen with a wire cover till they get bigger.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Im building a new coop and run so currently don't have a fence. Wanted to find out how tall it needed to be first. The chicks that will be going into the new coop are rhode island reds and barred rocks. Currently have them in a tiny pen with a wire cover till they get bigger.

OK I have not had those breeds before. The closest to those breeds that I have had are Dominiques and Red Sex Link (RIR cross) hens. They did stay inside a 5 foot fence (but the Doms could easily fly over if they got in the mood to do so- they are lighter than a Barred Rock though.

I am guessing that 5 feet high would be enough for you but there is always the risk that it won't be. You can always go with heavy knotted netting over the pen if need be too. Think snow load if you hang that up though. I hang it only on the posts and not the fencing or it pulls my fencing over.

You should not have to herd them in at night. They will go to the coop on their own.

 

[JackE]

I think it depends on what you consider a large run. I have my coop surrounded with 650' of electrified poultry net. The netting/fence is 4' high. My chickens, including 4 BRs, are perfectly content to stay in their area. They once freeranged all over the place. But the resident foxes discovered them, and they have to be fenced in for their own protection. When I first got the fence, I had one chicken (An EE) out of over twenty, go over the fence the first day it was up. I clipped one of her wings, and that fixed that. The fence has been up going on 4yrs.

 

[CrazyTalk]

It definitely depends on the birds (and of course, your definition of 'large').

One thing I've noticed is that wire fence does a lot better job than more solid types of fencing. A 4 ft wire fence may keep the birds in and a 6ft wood fence may not. They're much more comfortable jumping up onto something and then hopping down than they are flying over something.

My birds will run a couple hundred feet to use the solid fence to escape rather than just jumping over the wire.