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sheik

Advice to stop chickens jumping up?

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We have two potential "chicken escape points" from our garden. One is the compost bin, which I built up against the wall before we got our chickens, and now realise is a perfect platform to get out. The other is a "barrel" water butt that they could again use as a platform.

 

Fencing these areas off would be impractical, so I'm after a solution that will mean they won't jump up in the first place. You can buy "anti-pigeon" prickler strips for window ledges etc that have plastic needles that make it uncomfortable for pigeons to land on, but otherwise don't harm them (as far as I know anyway). I'm thinking of a similar thing, but taller, so that the chickens won't trust it as a solid surface to jump up on.

Something like vertical willow sticks all along the edges I'm trying to protect, but thinner and bendier (I know from experience that chickens will perch on top of willow trellis long enough to get over!)

 

Any ideas?

 

/\dam

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They will use the trellis as a step to get over, we tried it on our vegetable patch ! :)

 

It needs to be something firm enough to act as a barrier, but unstable enough that they won't feel safe putting their weight on it. Chicken wire is all I can think of at the moment though!

 

/\dam

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can they jump that high? My girls show no interest in the water butt, wheelie bins or 3 ft fence. Perhaps it is because at 18months old they have eater enough that they can no longer be as 'flighty' as when I first got them!!

 

PS random info - I took my girls to the Church House vets in St Neots last year when they had a louse problem and they were really good with them and helpful - just in case you need a vet local to you

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@meezers - thanks a lot, that could be perfect!

 

@ Chicken Licken - thanks for that. We used White House Clinic in Eaton Ford and they were very good when one of our chickens had a cough.

 

Regarding how high they can jump, our water butt is about the same height as our garden chair backs, which is definitely fair game as a perch.

 

When chickens are startled they can fly surprisingly high too. A cat was chasing ours once and one fled to our garden gate. When I went to get her she panicked and jumped up a good five and a half feet and escaped through a hole (I hadn't chicken wired up that high, thinking there was no point). This was quite funny, as I was padlocked in while she disappeared down the road - I eventually caught her with corn in a neighbours front garden :).

 

/\dam

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