Will I be able to keep chickens from jumping my fence?

[Bill Matthews]

Good looking place.....Great to see a post from NZ....Actually 3 feet is not high for medium and light weight chickens(Chooks).....Wyandottes, Brahmas, Giants, Cornish X's, would be ok...But the hybrids you mentioned need a higher fence......I had a Buff Orpington from McMurray(Hatchery Type and smaller than heritage) that flew onto the barn roof and made a nest there ....Only noticed it when the eggs started to roll off.....Take Care......

 

[mcmarsh]

Thanks Bill. That is what I feared! well we shall see how they go for the next few weeks as they settle in more, hopefully the two cats on the other side staring at them will deter them for a little while.

 

[AmericanMom]

Lol, I have heavy breeds, buffs, jerseys etc and several times a day its the jerseys that hop the 4foot fence, they have 1/3 acre to themselves but insist on being the rebels.... we spent an hour last night capturing and clipping the wings of all the chickens, I need my tomatoes and these girls were so greedy I haven't gotten even one!!! you can give them a slice of heaven to live and for some it still ain't good enough!

 

[johnfarr]

I read through a lot of the replies on here and they seem to miss the mark. The issue is not as much the height of the fence, but the type of fence. Chickens will go up and over even a 6 foot high fence if they can see the top of the fence. A 40 inch wire mesh fence with no top-rail will probably keep them fairly well contained, provided they have enough space, however if there is a top-rail or the fence is solid, they will eventually hop up on it and perch for a little bit, then hop down on the other side. If they can see through the fence but don't see a place to perch on top of it, they will just pace back and forth but will rarely if ever go over it.

mcmarsh is having that problem with his gate. If they can see something solid they will get up on it. From the picture he posted and what he said his 40-48" fence was working just fine other than the gate.