There are exceptions some light breeds can fly extremely well leghorns for example are very flighty but the average hen can be kept behind a waist high fence and the odd escapee can have a wing clipped.
How high should a chicken fence be.
Fencing is extremely important especially with free range chickens because it provides a perimeter for your property and garden landscape.
I am fencing off a corner of the garden to keep chickens.
Choosing your chickens fencing is not to be taken lightly.
This is made of thin galvanized wires that are woven together to form 1 inch hexagonal openings.
How to fence chickens.
Poultry netting is available in plastic stainless steel wire galvanised wire or high quality low carbon steel wire.
But that said a picket fence is probably not going to help you very much for a few reasons.
A regular picket fence if the pickets are close will do to keep many adult large fowl chickens enclosed.
It should last for a long time and protect your chickens from wandering and the many predators in the outside world that is your yard.
A low picket fence won t work for some breeds some backyard breeds like leghorns or hamburgs are pretty good fliers and will jump fences like.
The reason why chicken wire fence is so popular now is perhaps due to its cost effectiveness and easy.
Most foxes can only jump around 5 feet so it is safe to suggest that you mark your chicken wire fence at the six feet mark to at least deter them.
When you select your chicken fencing there are a few things you should take into consideration to make sure your new fence is serving its purpose.
The good old fashioned way is to use galvanised chicken netting or rabbit wire as it is called in the trade.
I ve tried our local mitre10 and bunnings in christchurch but the highest size available is 0 9m high before jumping up to 2m high fencing which is just overkill and expensive.
The most inexpensive option for a rabbit fence is a product known as chicken wire or poultry netting.
Separating chickens ducks or geese usually only needs low fencing.
At the moment there is 1 2m high wire fencing around most of it with just a 25m wide gap to fill.
Chicken wire fence is absolutely an ideal product for fencing poultry like rabbits and chickens.
Fencing is a deterrent to predators but it isn t always foolproof.
This needs to be at least 6 foot high and i say this because i have seen a fox leap up and scramble over the top of a 5 foot high chicken run fence when i found him inside one of my runs one morning.