My ex-battery hens have settled in well so I want to start free ranging them in the yard... how high does the fance need to be to stop them escaping? And if I can't clip their wings (they are not at all keen on the idea and won't let me near them) - is it even possible to build a fence high enough??
You need to be a member of ooooby3 to add comments!
Kristen Morse > Ricardo Oscar MarquesApril 25, 2011 at 11:19am
The easiest and cheapest way is rolls of plastic netting with bamboo stakes threaded down and jammed in the ground. This allows you to test the size and shape of the enclosure before committing to a more permanent solution, or as we have on occasion fence them in or out of an area temporarily. It only comes in 900mm high though so we have to take note of who is escaping for the first couple of days and trim thier wing, the rest seem content to wander back and forth constantly looking for another way to escape and miss the 'going over the top thing'. Having a movable pen allows you to shift things too, if the grass gets eaten out in the pen, you'll be surprised how much grass chooks will eat.
Thanks guys - I think I'll try 1.5m at the lowest- and like you say try a quiet day first - I live on a corner so that makes things tricky - definately don't want them to get out if I can help it - but I figure they've spent way to much of their lives in a cage already!!
Yep they do seem to work out where home is, but an open gate is always tempting. I have found 1.5m is a good height and have that around our garden plots. We discovered early on you cant free range your veg if you free range your chooks. Our boundary fences are 2 m high and if so inclined they will walk along the tops of those and look out. Clip one wing only and do it at night by torch light if needed after they have gone to roost they will be a lot easier to handle. Not having small sheds, coops or piles of junk against the fence helps too as they will happily investigate to the highest point and then decide how intrepid they are feeling if the view looks good. Most battery hens wont know they can jump over fences - they never learned in their little cage. I have the most problems with pullets just in the lay, still flighty and trying it on - teenagers eh. Once they have been laying for a few months they fill out in the body and stop trying to escape. Sage nodding from all the middle aged housewives out there ;-)
Kristen Morse > Kristen MorseOctober 19, 2010 at 11:18pm
Just watched my 4 yr old Arucana hen fly to the top of the gate of their enclosure - 2m high, and out on to the lawn. Now shes not a flighty pullet and one wing is clipped. Thought she'd try the aerial route out today as going under the gate is a bit wet after last nights rain. Small birds can be a pest. At least she lays well!
We keep our chooks in town. I free range them in the back half of our section, as they know where home and the best food is they havent even tried to fly over the fences that are only 1.5m high. As it stands miss fatty brown shaver cant even get a meter off the ground anyway, and the bantams are content scratching around under the fruit trees and finding the best garden to have a dust bath in! each chook is different though so you may have to wait and see...
I've found that keeping hens in isn't really an issue, it's more keeping dogs out! I've got 3 brownshavers and one pseudo bantam (Austalorp I think). All of the chooks are more than capable of flying over the fences, but they never really bother. As long as they know where home is and where they get fed, they seem to stay put in our back yard.
We did have to make our back fences rather high to keep out dogs. Around 5 feet tall in the highest portions. The front gates are only about 1.5 meters talls and the chickens never bother flying over. So funny considering I've seen my bantam fly over my head.
Replies
We did have to make our back fences rather high to keep out dogs. Around 5 feet tall in the highest portions. The front gates are only about 1.5 meters talls and the chickens never bother flying over. So funny considering I've seen my bantam fly over my head.