keep my chickens in one place?!?

[Mrs H]

My chickens free range everywere, all round the garden, in the paddock and under the gate onto the road!! I really want to fence them into one place as, quite frankly they shit everywhere and the kids walk it indoors!! I have to use what we have and we only have stock fencing, I can overlap it do as they don't come threw it but how can I stop them coming over?

[oldjerry]

If you clip their wings,quick,easy painless,ask if you dont know how,but I,m sure you do,they will struggle to jump 3ft.Long term think about Chicken tractors,better for them AND you! Best Wishes.

[Millymollymandy]

Erm Old Jerry there are lots of people who have posted that their chooks can still jump over fences with one or both wings clipped. Apparently it doesn't make any difference to a determined chook. Fencing them in is the way to go and with ours when we found that 1 metre high chicken wire wasn't enough (even with a clipped wing) we doubled it up to 2 metres and now they stay in place - although I did have one neurotic newbie who literally climbed up and over it - but luckily that was inside the run cos it's divided into various sections to stop it from getting too scratched up bare. If it had been the outer fence to the farmer's field we'd have been stuffed!

[thesunflowergal]

I am one of of those that MMM mentioned, we had to double the hight of our fencing to 6ft to stop our ladies. They all had one wing clipped. In one area we have had to make a roof out of fruit netting, to stop one of my little darlings from buggering off.

Good luck Sue

[oldjerry]

Hmm.. maybe it was cutting their legs off that did the trick then! I'm really surprised,(do I cut them further down?) whatever,if it don't workfor you,then it don't work,sorry 'bout that.

[Mrs H]

I'll let u know Oj!! Stated fencing there new area today so goin to clip their wings when I move them in and kepp my fingers crossed!! Xx

[Thomzo]

Hmm.. maybe it was cutting their legs off that did the trick then! I'm really surprised,(do I cut them further down?) whatever,if it don't workfor you,then it don't work,sorry 'bout that.

I think that some breeds can fly/jump better than others. My neighbour's white sussex bantam flew up onto my roof, but the pekins would walk round a matchstick rather than try jumping over it.

My current rhode Island red crosses can just about jump over the metre high surround to their run when they're spooked but it's clearly an effort.

Good luck with the run.

Zoe

[Big Al]

If you clip their wings,quick,easy painless,ask if you dont know how,but I,m sure you do,they will struggle to jump 3ft.Long term think about Chicken tractors,better for them AND you! Best Wishes.

I'm with OJ on this one as I have a goldline and an evil looking chicken that looks as if it was crossed with a kestral from it's appearance. Howver I did have the wing of one clipped and both of the evil one's cliped but the sly sods still managed to get onto the garage roof....... all 10 ft of it.

They soon realised that they couldn't fly more than 3 ft or so but this didn't bother mine as they learnt to "step up" on things. I watched with a remote camera one day and they went from floor to tin collection box then to an old chest of draws then the wheely bin then a rung of a step ladder then onto the roof. All in jumps, skips and hops of 2 ft or so.

If you want to stop overhead problems its best to use a solid roof as this helps stop H1N1 from getting into your flock via a sick bird randomly flying over your coup.

[oldjerry]

If it dont work,it dont work,tell you what though,I wouldn't have a 3ft fence,not cos it wouldn't keep them in,but for what it wouldn't KEEP OUT!

[Big Al]

If it dont work,it dont work,tell you what though,I wouldn't have a 3ft fence,not cos it wouldn't keep them in,but for what it wouldn't KEEP OUT!

So true. My coup run will be 1/2" x 1" mesh and be as large as I can afford. The mesh will go into concrete dug into the earth to help stop the rats getting in.

One thing that may surprise folk is that to call your birds "free range" you only have to provide 1sq m for every 6 birds. ( organic birds need less space in so much as you can have 9 birds per sq m.)

[MKG]

I have images of chickens with one wing clipped flapping around in ever-increasing circles until they manage to get beyond the boundary. Or, a la Chicken Run, pairing up so that two of 'em can make a straight flight route to escape. Damned devious, these chickens.

You could try six-inch nails.

Mike

[oldjerry]

If it dont work,it dont work,tell you what though,I wouldn't have a 3ft fence,not cos it wouldn't keep them in,but for what it wouldn't KEEP OUT!

So true. My coup run will be 1/2" x 1" mesh and be as large as I can afford. The mesh will go into concrete dug into the earth to help stop the rats getting in.

One thing that may surprise folk is that to call your birds "free range" you only have to provide 1sq m for every 6 birds. ( organic birds need less space in so much as you can have 9 birds per sq m.)

Well ,I don't know waht the official areas are viz space,but ,for me 8'by4' by5' high (ish all round) one piece house and runwith the last 3 ft as a mezzanine enclosed house plus nesting box,is perfect for half a dozen or so hens.2 poles out the end a la sedan chair(better than wheels) .move it every day or two.They get plenty of fresh ground (organised people can stick them on deep beds and move them to cleared space),and they're controlled and 100% (ish) safe.My FR flock was far too big for this,but I used to have a passion for breeding Indian Game birds,and they did really well in this system(give or take the odd badger attack).

[Mrs H]

If it dont work,it dont work,tell you what though,I wouldn't have a 3ft fence,not cos it wouldn't keep them in,but for what it wouldn't KEEP OUT!

We're quite lucky on the whole keeping out problem as r dogs run with the girls which keeps foxy loxy at bay. We also lamp every other night so keeps foxy in check. We also own 8 cats who are great ratters so keeps that problem at bay. We have such a weird set up, its not unusual to see the big dog, a cat and a chicken sharing a dish!!! And people say they can't live happily together!!! Lol xx

[oldjerry]

Couple of years ago,one of my many P/T jobs,I was delivering FR birds all over the place(mostly wales,and other far-out places the reg drivers didn't fancy going to).Well Itook a couple of hundred up to this big spread for their farm shop,and they(and I kid you not)had.. a bloody great ostrich running with the FR birds!........strangely enough ,they didn't get any problem with foxes either!

[Arwel]

I have a similar problem. I love seeing them milling about but the neighbours aren't so keen when they stray into a prized veg patch. I do remember seeing a fella who bred cocks who tethered them when they were in musk or heat or the chicken equivelant of horny, and i've been thinkin of tryin the same. This guy seemed to have taped a bit of string to one of the cock's legs and it worked much like a tethered goat . i've no idea if this'll be practical or even work but i'm gonna give it a try - does anyone have experience of tethering cocks/chickens? i'll let you know how it turns out...