Clipping wings

Our new hens will soon be behind an electric mesh fence (we have ordered 50 metres of it).  Is there any need to clip their wings? ie can they fly over it? At present they are in a coup and run but we would like them to have more space whilst keeping them away from the local fox
Thanks Daisy
ps I have seen a video on You tube re wing clipping is it as easy as it looks?

thanks will take a look

It's easy to do and if you do you should only clip one wing to unbalance them but unless you have particularly flighty birds it's almost always unecessary. It hinders their ability to escape preditors and can be disfiguring.  Chickens usually respect natural boundaries and you will find they will stay within the net even when they can fly over.  Clipping their wings unless done fairly severely often doesn't prevent them flying the short hop over a fence anyway.  In over ten years keeping chx I've only ever clipped a couple of flighty individuals.

A big mistake often made by those starting out is to regard confinement as imprisonment.  Chx unlike caged birds don't want to escape at the first opportunity.  They quickly become "homed" to a house and ranging area where they are secure and have food and water and companions they won't want to leave and if they get out by mistake they stalk up and down the fence trying to get back in.

HF

That is very interesting. Ours are very flighty, and I can not stand cutting their wings. It's funny as we have 4 girls, and the newer two did not fly until they copied the older two, who came from an open paddock with trees they used to roost in!!! They now have a net over them so they can't fly, as even with a clipped wing, they could still get over a metre high fence!