fence high enough?

[UGAchick]

I built a chicken tractor, and then got addicted to chicks and bought too many. I have five chicks and 7 eggs in the incubator. My tractor hen house is about 5' x 4' and the run part is about 5' x 4'. So, I was thinking that I could let them free range in my fenced in back yard, but the fence is only 4' tall. Is this tall enough or will my chickens fly over? BTW, my back yard is about 1/2 acre.

Thanks!!

 

[chicmom]

We have a four foot fence that contains our chickens nicely. My chicken coop has an attached fully covered chicken run, but sometimes I let the chickens in the backyard when I'm gardening, and they will stay in there just fine.

I think it depends on what type of chickens you have....certain breeds are flyers, that like to roost in trees.

 

[UGAchick]

Oh, I didn't think about that. We live in the woods with trees inside and outside our fence. I have SLWs, GLWs, a golden comet, with barred rock and speckled sussex in the incubator. Are those "flyers"?

 

[jennh]

My speckled sussex can fly, but not over 4 ft .

Jen

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Just answered this question in a post yesterday. I had one hen who could get over an 8ft fence with no problems.

 

[Kittymomma]

Mine go over a 10' with ease--Not the br though, she's kinda chunky. In any case you're going to need to make your coop/run larger. There's going to be times that you can't let them out and even a few hours stuck in that set up with (potentially ) 12 chooks is going to cause problems. There is a fair amount of wiggle room in the 4' inside and 10 outside per chook rule depending on the individual birds temperment, but you're not even close to what you need to be space wise so please think about doing some more building.

You can clip wing(s) to solve the 4' fence problem, but you'll still need to worry about predators getting in. Best of luck with your new fuzzy butts! When are your eggs due?

 

[jab91864]

In the past many of my flock would easily go over the 4 ft fencing. Had a couple that could go over the 6 ft area.

 

[UGAchick]

Thank you all so much! I think that I will finish the tractor as planned, construct a new traditional coop, and clip wings. I can make a run for the coop, or potentially let them free range. We are just putting in our fence and will have plenty of leftover materials, so making a designated coop run should be no problem. I am not sure how I will decide who goes where, but I can figure that out based on temperament.

Thanks for the advice!

P.S. my eggs are due the 8th. This is my first hatch in a homemade incubator. I am optimistic but reserved. I got the eggs from a friend so they came directly from under the hen and into my incubator. Hope that makes a difference!