Keeping chickens where you want them can sometimes be a challenge. Chickens like to be out and about free ranging and they like to fly. And they REALLY love worms.
A close up of the cement block filled with dirt that hold the hoop in.
In spite of the four feet high fence, our chickens have a habit of flying out of the chicken run. Yes, we could clip their wings so they could not fly but if they ever seriously needed to escape a predator (or our labrador Retriever Sassy) they would be minced meat. So I don’t clip their wings.
Gene working on the connection point of the two hoops.
Chickens are smarter than you might think too. Ours have learned that if they fly up on top of the bale of straw they can fly up, out and over the tall fencing designed to keep them in their run. They have also learned that the worms are in the vegetable garden under the bark chips. Destination worms!
The overview of our chicken condo complex.
That leaves them flying out of the run and into the vegetable garden where they scratch up the back chips of the low raised beds. This is not a good thing for me because it meant a lot more work rebuilding and spreading more bark chips and leaves!
Greenhouse hoops new held in place in cement blocks.
Our assignment was to find a way to keep them from flying out and to do it without spending any significant money. This was going to be quite a challenge.
The chickens also like to fly up to the tarp top and fly over from there.
It’s not fancy or perfect, but we came up with the idea of using the last two leftover stainless steel greenhouse hoops and poles along with the left over bird netting and tie wraps. The only out-of-pocket costs to us were $4.00 for four cement clocks to hold the hoops.
Problem solved. Now to determine if it works…
Small House homesteader and chicken keeper, Donna
Small House Big Sky Homestead 