good morning all,
i have an ongoing problem with a couple of the girls, they are flying over the fence and laying eggs where i cant find them..i have clipped wings, and i dont know what else to do..the fence is 4 ft high, but it sure isnt stopping them..i put rubber bands on the one, but she got them off and took off again..i am about ready to feed them to the coyotes..
if anyone has any suggestions, i am willing to try anything at this point!
thanks
cindy
flying over the fence
Do you clip one wing or both? You're supposed to clip only one, and then it unbalances them, but DH does both anyway. One suggestion is to see if there's anything they can hop up on to give them that extra boost over the fence. We were stymied by one or two escape artists for a bit, and then we realized that the waterer was close enough to the fence that they could use it for a launching pad, even with clipped wings. Once we moved it they stayed put.
Never heard of rubber bands - how are they applied and what are they supposed to do?
Leslie
We've never had anybody fly over the fence, but to keep our hens cooler this summer we put an old greenhouse shade cloth over the run. They won't fly through that. Ask around, someone might have one laying around.
We covered our greenhouses for years with other peoples discarded plastic.
Bernie
Bernie, we couldn't cover our chicken yard - it's too big. We do have a covered smaller pen for the young pullets before we integrate them with the rest of the flock, but for a cover we use deer fencing net. It's cheap and available everywhere.
Perhaps your escapee needs to go live with the pullets.
It's not MY escapee, it's Cindy's. All of mine stay put these days. The deer netting is to protect the pullets from hawks. The geese seem to deter them in the larger area.
i only clipped one wing, and it didnt deter her..i put the rubber bands on the wings to hold them together so she couldnt stretch them out to fly..it worked til she got them off..
and my enclosure is way too big to even think of covering it..in the 10+ years that i have raised chickens i have never had so much trouble with fly overs..these are new breeds of chickens to me..i will go back to my golden comets next batch..the ones that are flying over are the dekalb amberlinks and the americaunas..never had this kind before.. but its only one of the amberlinks. there are no things near for them to climb on, they just fly real good..
any help is appreciated..
cindy
We have Gold Star layers. They won't even jump up to nest boxes 3 ft off the floor.
Americanas fly real good, don't even want to talk about Leghorns!
I stick with the heavier breeds - reduces my concerns about hawks and they seldom try to fly. I do have a few Ameraucanas but mine don't fly - just imitating the others, I guess.
Maybe just a cheeply built chicken tractor, you could put the flyers in there.....until they become fryers that is ;~'. I can't eat chickens I've raised--I know I'm being a city girl but I just can't--I can eat the chickens raised by the neighbor. But we must find some way to keep them safe until we can come up with something else!
My Brahmas seem to stick to the ground pretty well. I would let them loose during the day, but we have lots of hawks and owls.
well i have come up with an idea i think will work. i'm going to town and buy a couple pair of newborn socks and put them over the wings..she has been out everyday, and i have to search for the eggs. i'm going to try it, if it doesnt work then she will become a fryer!! my golden comets dont care about leaving the yard unless i let them roam in the grass..they are the same thing as the golden star..they are great chickens..
thanks all!!
cindy
Let us know if that works! Otherwise you can invite us all for a chicken dinner.
w/ dumplin's?
I have banties that can do a vertical 10 ft.
Sometime I have to lock them up for a week to break the habit.
yup with dumplings!! i got the socks today, so tonight DH will help and we will see what happens..oh yea and of course i will take pics!! LOL
cindy
I can't wait to see a picture of a hen in socks!
the knitting people will be getting new ideas =D!