Keeping the blighters in!

[Corris]

Mine have a large run, although it's now dirt not grass.... but have been having free rein outside during the day.

Unfortunately things will have to change. I only have a small flower garden, despite being three fences away it got trashed yesterday by them. And they keep disappearing into the neighbours.

Now their gate is 5ft wooden, and the fencing is 6ft chainlink - but at least three can get over that - they easily use posts to fly across the four foot chainlink into the main garden...

We have clipped wings (one on each chicken, not both).

What am I doing wrong please?

[Suechooks]

The grass is always greener applies to chooks as much as humans I'm afraid! Can you get some pheasant netting or even the sort of bird netting you use on fruit bushes to keep the birds off. If you stretch that across the top of the run that'll keep them in.
I have chicken wire on the top of my runs and I "sew" it together with thin wire.

[frias]

I would be just as worried about something getting in the run as the chooks getting out. It's quite possible for a fox to climb over a 6ft fence. I have my run covered and an electric fence around the lawn to keep them safe when I'm not around. I have found that it's only the new girls that try to escape and don't bother at all once establised in the flock.

[RichmondHens]

Try clipping the secondary feathers as well as the primaries (same side of course). This may stop them, depending on the size of the birds although saying this I have four persistent Houdini bantams who have virtually no wing feathers left on one side and they still get over a 5' fence! They are going to be real pains in the Spring as I know they are going to go off and sit on a clutch somewhere and I'll only discover it when the eggs have hatched and I have another 20 bantams ......... aaargh!

As the others have said, if you can't stop them flying or pushing under (another trick they employ) then the only answer is to cover the run, if it's possible. Make sure there is plenty of entertainment within the run (log piles and so on - a large hollow log is particularly good if you can get one as they can use it to go inside and find insects plus shelter from the rain). Young chickens in particular do like to perch and some of mine just get on the fence so they can sit up high, they are not bothered about actually escaping.

[Corris]

Mine have been known to perch on the fence too - I left it baggy, assuming it would put them off, they don't care.

They are proper chicken size, not the little ones.

And they have managed to find a bit of chainlink into my main garden which has 'gapped' and they squeeze through that somehow! One was trying to force itself between the bars on the gate yesterday, a lot of squawking but no progress.

Idiot birds.

[Hilary B]

If you have houdini-hens, you will have to really work at it! remember they have all day to search for the weak-point in your defences, you only have the odd hour here-and-there to find the gaps first!