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

[Backyard Hencam]

I don't think that 3-4 foot fence is high enough to contain hens. Sorry. My hens are in an enclosed area but they can "hop" up onto a ladder that is 5' high. I've heard that clipping their wings will discourage wandering but it also prevents them from getting away when flight is needed. If you release the hens for only a few hours a day, and they have plenty to eat and scratch around in, they may be fine. Good luck! I hope it works out.

 

[smk2010]

Our hens annoyingly hop over our 3 1/2 - 4 foot garden fence all the time and they have 19 acres to roam. I suggest keeping a close eye on them and maybe consider using a chicken tractor if they start roaming abroad.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
This being the first of the 2 posts, I'll post here, too. Takes a while to get the hang of it!

I have to backtrack a bit, because I'm one of those weird people who thinks about weird stuff.

You say you are in suburbia - first, make sure you are legal for chickens! From county down to HOA level. It's heartbreaking when a neighbor complains and you have to get rid of them. Second, make sure the neighbors are okay with it. Hens can be pretty noisy when they wake up and when they lay an egg. They all have to get in on it, too. After 20 years, I am still surprised at the bragging that goes on!

Third, your fence is unlikely to keep them in all the time, and really unlikely to keep loose dogs, foxes, raccoons and hawks out. Sadly, chickens are targets for all kinds of predators. Hopefully you can work through all that and have a happy flock. I had all that and more when I got chickens, it ended with all the neighbors getting hens, too.

 

[cobrien]

I have heavy breeds and several sections of fence that are 3.5' and they don't go over it. I don't clip their wings. I suspect if they got really hungry or bored and weren't finding good things on my side of the fence, they would go over the fence. Even though my city yard is pretty small (7000 s.f.), there is plenty to keep them occupied on my side. Like spreading my mulch all over the place

. I think they also know that the other side of the fence could be dangerous (dogs).

I think you should go for it since you are only letting them out for a few hours a day, which sounds like you'll only let them out when you are around. There is a small chance things won't work out but if they are all young hens, they would be easy to find a good new home, OR you could keep them confined unless you are directly supervising. You can also consider a chicken tractor / chicken play pen / pasture pen that you can move around to your yard to let them scratch on new ground - it is the next best thing to free ranging. That is what I'm planning on doing, as I am planting more and more stuff in my small yard that they want to destroy and I currently have plastic netting around a lot of stuff to keep them out.

I have found young hens <8 months or so to be much more adventurous, and they also fly better when <4-5months as they are lighter.

 

[kira782]

Thank you everyone, you're making me feel like we could do this free range thing without our neighbors hating us! We do have a big back yard filled with a lush lawn filled with all kids of yummy bugs. I wish we could just run some taller fencing along our permanent fencing but I don't think our neighbors would be thrilled by that, we all have pretty open views into each others yards. And the breeds I ordered last nigh (so excited!!!) are heavy breeds. Hopefully between our little fence, our appetizing yard, clipped wings and the hope of yummy treats being tossed about they'll have no desire to roam!

 

[karlamaria]

We have clipped our girls wings. It's easy and does not hurt them. That being said we let our girls free roam all over the yard and ours do not go far. We are putting a fence up across the back yard so they have there own erea until july when we put up a new run which will be covered for shade and winter months. Our girls love to stay with us lol, there happy to follow us around.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

my girls have never hopped the 3 foot fence

 

[Buff-Island-Australorp]

Maybe a dumb question here, but my birds are 8 weeks old. I have a 4ft high chain link fence around approximately 3/4 of an acre with nothing but a coyote infested field to the south of us, and nothing but country from there on back. I've been wondering about wing clipping, but I'm wondering how my birds would then get up to their roost in the coop at night. They usually fly up to the poop board, then up to the 2x4 roost which is about 5 1/2 feet from the coop floor. They jump up now, but still use their wings to help guide them on up.....would they have problems if I clipped their wings? I have Black Australorps, RIR's, and Buff O's.

 

[snowflake]

I have a 4ft. fence and heavy breeds and 2 of my birds insist on flying over the fence as many times a day as they can. I'm sure it has become a game with them. I am thinking of cutting their wings cause I want to fertilize the front yard, can't do that till I can keep them in. 1/2 acre in the back isn't enough for those 2 brats

I would give it a try on a day when you are home. Get a fishing net of some kind so if they go over you can catch them easy.

 

[mcmarsh]

I thought I would resurrect an old post. We've just cornered off a 1000 ft2 spot in our backyard for our brown shaver chickens, and even though they've had one wing clipped they're jumping up and over our 3 foot GATE. We have a 3 ft chicken wire fence without a top edge and I don't think they're getting up and over that, but they've worked out they can jump up onto the solid gate and hop down.

Any suggestions on what we could do for the gate? would attaching something to the top deter them from jumping up? Or will it just encourage them attempt the fence? Anyone had their chooks jump over a "loose" 3' ft fence where they can't land on the top edge and would have to jump right over?

It's not a big deal if they get out, but we got the chooks on our property on the condition they were contained a little and wouldn't create too much mess on the patio etc.

Thanks in advance.