Any suggestions on how to keep your chickens home? My chickens, namely Nutmegs babies, think they can free range up to 4 houses away from us. That's close to a quarter mile! I can't get them to stay home. I can't keep them penned up bc they fly out & I can't put a net over the entire acre back yard. They won't stay in the back yard. I am hesitant to clip feathers so they can't fly.. bc i do have stray dogs & that just seems cruel. Clip their wings & keep them home where the strays can run them to the ground & take off with them or let them fly, be safer & run the neighborhood! I think my only option is clipping the babies wings & putting them in the back yard as soon as the coop is finished so they can't fly over the fence. but i'm open to other options. Please help.
Chickens wander too far
When I am raising pastured chickens in the spring and summer, I use plastic fencing on the bottom (I think it's 3 or 4 feet high) Then I add banboo plant stakes to the posts and put lightweight netting used for birds or deer (If it's too tall, cut it in half). This raises the total fencing to at least 6 feet or more and the chickens don't fly out. With T posts you can put this up in a couple of hours and make it any size, you can also move it around when you need to.
You need something, as soon as thoes chickens are out of your yard, they are fair game for any one and anything. Not only that, chickens can do a lot of damage scratching in flower beds and that could really upset someone.
I've talked to teh neighbors.. its some elderly couples with no flower beds.. they enjoy seeing the chickens. so no problems there. unfortunately my chickens must be on steroids.. bc they can fly about 20 ft up into the trees so a 6 ft fence wouldn't do much. Nutmegs babies at 6 weeks could fly up on the house. That's near 12 ft high. Thats why i'm afraid clipping wings is the only option. I wish a taller fence would help i really do.
If you clip the wings, try just doing one to unbalance the bird and see if that helps. It often does. Otherwise, if they're still flying, you can clip the other one too.
We use a similar method to Jyl's but we drape the deer fencing over the run so they don't fly. I think if you do that when they're young they don't get a taste of flying. Ours stay where they're supposed to.
There little buggers have been flying at some idea of that concept since they were a 2 weeks old. They'd get a ways back in the cage & fly about 3 inches off the floor as far as they could. by 3 weeks they were flying so high they were bouncing off the top of the cage which was 2 ft high. it was hilarious then.. now its obnoxious. We clipped wings tonight. It kills me to do it bc i know they are now fair game to all wild creatures around here but idk how else to keep them inside the fence. My MG hen flew about 30 ft up into the tree today to get away from the neighbors dog that had gotten out. I never considered they could fly like that. My RIR's never got off the ground.