How high to make the fence?

[CurvyCoop]

Hello all!
I've just finished my coop and run and already I'm looking at ways to improve and add on to my setup
At the moment my chickens have full access of the garden and while I love seeing them scratch around they do have the tendency to poop all over my patio and I actually enjoy not having to worry about stepping in poop, who knew?
Their run is plenty big enough for them to be in, but I feel like they've gotten used to having more space and I just like to spoil my babies so I'm thinking of extending a part of the run, basically making the new area L-shaped if you get what I mean. This way I would be able to keep my garden poop free while still being able to give my chickens the extra room I want them to have. My current run is fully predator proof, the worst thing we have here are stoats and they're nocturnal. My current run is also completely covered. The area I want to enclose has some bushes in it so I wanna leave it uncovered.

I'm kinda going back and forth between building the extension the same way as the current run (meaning 2m tall poles and fully enclosed with hardware cloth) or just sort of enclosing it with a lower fence, up to chest height at the highest, and leaving the rest open. The latter is definitely less work and we don't really have daytime predators to worry about so fully enclosed is not really necessary, but would it do the job of keeping the chickens in? Or would they jump out the moment they see something tasty on the other side?

 

[Ridgerunner]

There is no one answer to your question. Chickens are capable of flying much higher than many people realize, but if they don't want to fly that high, they won't. As an example, I use 4' high (1.2M) electric netting to give mine a place to forage that is protected against ground-based predators. My roosts are 5' high (1.5M). They could easily fly up to roost higher if they wanted to. So mine could fly out of the netting if they wanted to but they generally don't.

One exception is when I have immature cockerels in there. If one gets trapped against the netting when losing a skirmish it may go vertical to get away. It can easily land on the wrong side of the netting. In that case it wants to fly higher, so it does.

In another set-up I had my chickens in a run with 5' high (1.5M) fences. Three hens learned they could escape by flying out. I think one went vertical to escape an amorous rooster and learned she could get out, then she taught a couple of her buddies. That was a relatively small run, 12' (4M) x 32' (10M), and without a bit of green in it. Those three wanted to fly out so they did. The rest didn't.

Some things I've learned about keeping them in without a top on the run. With the netting it helps to have corners flatter than 90 degrees. 90 degrees is OK but any sharper they tend to get caught in there and are more likely to go vertical. Also long narrow stretches with the netting is not good. They can't walk past one another without getting too close if they aren't settled enough in the pecking order. This is about those immature cockerels, not mature chickens.

Chickens like to perch. If the top of your fence looks like a good place to land they may want to fly up there just because they like to perch. Who knows which side they will fly down on? If the top of your fence is a rail, that looks like a good place to perch. A post sticking up above the wiring looks like a good place to perch. If the top of your fence is wire, that is not a good place to land.

I don't know how tall your fence may need to be to keep them in. 5' (1.5M) would probably work, depending on how it is built. 6' (1.8M) would be even better.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

we don't really have daytime predators to worry about

Everywhere I know of has daytime chicken predators.. whether we see them or not.

https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2021/...ands-farm-rooster-and-goat-come-to-the-rescue

It could be covered in wire to accommodate the bushes.. just do it right now and don't deal with birds pooping on your patio or a hawk getting in your otherwise secure run.

My EE hen easily clears 10 feet to get on the roof. Fatter birds like Orpington or Brahma may be less likely. Wing clipping is always an easy option to remove lift if needed for escape artists.

 

[KyCoop]

I have leghorns so we built their play yard with a 7 ft fence of wood post and plastic fencing. We also have string weaved across the entire yard. We did 7 ft so A. The leghorns did not spook and accidentally go over and B. We would not catch our heads on the string whenever we mowed grass and such.

 

[Chicken poppy]

This is a good question, it really depends. For example. Lets take a look at bantam cochins & japanese bantams

Japanese bantams can fly amazingly high, and straight up, to! Japanese bantams are amazing fliers, infact, you might just mistake them for your average backyard flying bird.
(I say flying, its considered coasting, but their so good at it it resembles flying)

Bantam cochins? Not so much. A key factor in this is breed, weight & tail. Japanese bantams, seramas, and sebrights all have a sailor boat tail and are lightweight. Bantam cochins are lighter then most breeds, but not as light, have like, no tail.

I hope this helps! I speak this all out of pure experience to. I own 5 Japanese bantams and 1 bantam cochin. I could literally go on forever about how coordinated and wonderful at coasting Japanese bantams are.

 

[CurvyCoop]

This is a good question, it really depends. For example. Lets take a look at bantam cochins & japanese bantams

Japanese bantams can fly amazingly high, and straight up, to! Japanese bantams are amazing fliers, infact, you might just mistake them for your average backyard flying bird.
(I say flying, its considered coasting, but their so good at it it resembles flying)

Bantam cochins? Not so much. A key factor in this is breed, weight & tail. Japanese bantams, seramas, and sebrights all have a sailor boat tail and are lightweight. Bantam cochins are lighter then most breeds, but not as light, have like, no tail.

I hope this helps! I speak this all out of pure experience to. I own 5 Japanese bantams and 1 bantam cochin. I could literally go on forever about how coordinated and wonderful at coasting Japanese bantams are.

I have two dutch booted bantams, two english araucanas, one buff orpington, one black copper marans and one swedish isbar.
Your japanese bantams sound really cool though! My chickens just flap around like little weirdos hahaha!