Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: TeaPots on December 05, 2010, 11:59
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I dont know why people seem to think that if they are not completely contained, that chickens will fly over the fence and leave home. I think the opposite is true! There is only a 3ft fence separating my free-rangers from next-door and 'freedom'. Apart from Marge, who likes to go and lay her daily egg for my elderly neighbour, then hurries back again, none of my lot attempt to 'Escape'. Chickens in general like to stay in their own territory if they are happy. They hop over the fence to greet me when I get home from work (corn time ::) )
Fencing is to keep predators out, not keep the chooks in. I do clip a wing of new girls, as I worry they will explore and then get lost, but once they know where home is, they dont even try to leave.
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I don't clip the wings off mine (although I did clip the old guinea fowls as one kept going over the beck to my neighbours place and waking everybody up at 4am calling to his mate on our side :mad:). My chickens venture into the fields and down the bridleway but always come home to roost - unless they are sitting on a clutch of eggs :)
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I know for sure that if i wish to keep any veg a 3ft fence is not enough. :D
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thats true - mine had the sweetcorn, cauli, cabbages, tomatoes and raspberries I tried growing the other year :lol:
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My girls ravaged my lovely strawberry plants this weekend too Joyful, but generally they spend their time in the neighbours fields and on the lane. They completely do their own thing which I love. That said as soon as they hear me coming home or calling them, they are back in minutes! 8)
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I am delighted to hear your confidence in chooks not wandering, TeaPots!
I went on a 'backyard chook tour' recently and took a look at various back yard setups in preparation for building my own. It seemed a very common story that out of four or five hens, all but one would happily stay in their own space. But there was always one that wanted to get out and explore!
In my situation it is vitally important that the birds stay on my property. If they go over the fence even once, there is a high chance that they will end up as someone (human or animal)'s dinner.
That's why I have taken several steps to make sure it doesn't happen. I have selected heavy, docile breeds, I am building 6-ft fencing around the chook run, and when I first get my pullets I intend to clip their wings until I can be sure they are not miniature Houdinis.
I am also clearing a buffer zone inside the run so there are no trees the hens can use as a launching pad to jump over the fence.
If you hear a small voice crying all the way from New Zealand you will know the chooks have still outsmarted me after all my efforts! ???
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3 ft! Ours would just take it in their stride. One bantam can get over a 6 ft. We're lucky that it isn't a problem. They get up, feed, are let out to wander the farmer's field (she doesn't mind), return until mid afternoon when they repeat their patrol of the field.
On a practical note, I'd be worried about a fence which was not high enough to keep them in, but could prevent them getting to safety. In a panic, they're likely to run up to the fence and be too close to fly over.
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mine stay within the confines of the fence, except the aforementioned Marge. My point is more that chickens, although they like to explore, are not desparate to run away and leave home.
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mine stay within the confines of the fence, except the aforementioned Marge. My point is more that chickens, although they like to explore, are not desparate to run away and leave home.
If the feathered darlings visit the next-door neighbour and tear their pristine flower borders to shreds it may be you that is desperate to run away. :D
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I was wondering wether to re clip my lou's wings she was clipped when we got her but has moulted since and has made no atempt to escape (yet) so I might let them be . hope I'm not making a mistake
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if you do decide to re-clip then do the opposite wing to last time to even up the chest muscles.
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I dont know why people seem to think that if they are not completely contained, that chickens will fly over the fence and leave home. ... Fencing is to keep predators out, not keep the chooks in.... but once they know where home is, they dont even try to leave.
Could you get your girls to speak with mine? They could put Harry Houdini to shame.
Please.
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I like the sound of your hens Pertelotta, they sound like fun.
Lindeggs, I have one that hops over the fence while I'm at work and hops back in by the time I'm home. I know she does because I've seen the poo and the eaten veg. I know which one because I watched her do it when I was at home. She's such a character and it winds the others up no end. She also comes up to inspect my work when I clean the coop out.
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They all so love to help with the digging :D
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One of my marans sits on the top bar of the fruit cage (7'+)
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But only so she can watch what everyone is doing (she hasnt got a net curtain to peep behind), not so she can escape and fly away to pastures new.
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Still not clipped my lou she has been feathered again now for weeks and hasn't flew over the fence ( if she has not why I've been watching ;) I do belive she is planning something though I can see it in her eyes
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Still not clipped my lou she has been feathered again now for weeks and hasn't flew over the fence ( if she has not why I've been watching ;) I do belive she is planning something though I can see it in her eyes
Hmmm... That's got me thinking. If you clip a hen's flight feathers I know you have to do it again each time she moults, as she grows new feathers. But will she have learned by then that she can't fly over the fence, and therefore stop trying? Or will she give it another go once she has grown her new feathers? I wonder what experiences people can share?
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The reasons I have decided to leave her are
1 if I had the ability to fly and somebody took it away from my I would be majorly anoyed
2 I am hoping like you say that she may have forgottn she can and stop trying but I doubt that she is getting more adventerous
3 my girls are never locked up except at night I prefer to risk a fox that keep them cooped up. and if the fox does come I hope now she has a bit more of a chance being able to fly if she can remember but I recon instinct will kick in
I hope I'm not being foolish they all seem happy in my yard at present and with all the food we give them why would the want to fly away. ????
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The reasons I have decided to leave her are
1 if I had the ability to fly and somebody took it away from my I would be majorly anoyed
2 I am hoping like you say that she may have forgottn she can and stop trying but I doubt that she is getting more adventerous
3 my girls are never locked up except at night I prefer to risk a fox that keep them cooped up. and if the fox does come I hope now she has a bit more of a chance being able to fly if she can remember but I recon instinct will kick in
I hope I'm not being foolish they all seem happy in my yard at present and with all the food we give them why would the want to fly away. ????
A-ha! That's what I thought! The good bugs (and next door's vegetable patch) will be calling.
However, I must say I'm with you re clipping, if only because it gives them a bit more of a chance against Mr F.
Good Luck with your girls, though.
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One of my marans sits on the top bar of the fruit cage (7'+)
But only so she can watch what everyone is doing (she hasnt got a net curtain to peep behind), not so she can escape and fly away to pastures new.
actuallyI think she manages to get up there thinking of the fruit, then decideds she's too high and can't get down, waits for me to find her at bedtime :)
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I built a pen and a chicken house back in the summer ready for my four new pullets. My neighbour recomended that i make the pen six foot tall with netting on the top to stop wild birds. This is what i did. But i have to laugh as when you go into my neighbours garden and look at her pens, they are all three foot tall with no netting on the top. Do the pens all contain their own breeding trios etc... Oh no, there are chickens, ducks, guinefowl, cats, dogs, ponies, all over the garden!! I think she needs to follow her own advice! My pen has been great, only a small problem has arrisen with this bad weather and that is that the snow has weighed down the netting on the pen over night and riped. But im not worried about my girls excaping as they will not set foot on the scary white stuff!!
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Hmmm... That's got me thinking. If you clip a hen's flight feathers I know you have to do it again each time she moults, as she grows new feathers. But will she have learned by then that she can't fly over the fence, and therefore stop trying? Or will she give it another go once she has grown her new feathers? I wonder what experiences people can share?
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If I buy any poultry I would clip their wings, then after they moult only if there is a problem, it amuses me to see the call ducks circling round, one day they'll get the hang of landing as well ??? :lol: