Golden comet chicken2/18/2023 Of course, if you want to raise pastured birds who have continuous access to fresh grass, this can be prohibitive.Ī good solution is to raise your chickens in chicken tractors. This will completely eliminate the ability of your birds to take flight and escape. If you have super flighty birds, you might want to consider completely covering the run. It’s not a bad idea to bury part of the fence to protect against digging predators, as well as to line the top with barbed wire to deter climbing carnivores. If you don’t already have fences in place, build some! Make sure you erect fences that are several feet tall to prevent chickens – even non-flighty breeds – from simply hopping over them.Ī tall fence is important not just to keep your flightier birds in, but also to protect against predators. The first – and perhaps most obvious – step you can take in handling your flighty chickens is to build systems that keep them in place. Build Preventative Fences and Housing Photo: Rebekah PierceĬhicken tractors can be moved each day for fresh pasture and help keep curious chickens contained. Any chicken keeper who has ever attempted to wrangle an anxious escaped chicken back into the coop probably already knows this – if you spook a bird, it’s going to be more likely to try to fly away from you. They may also fly the coop, so to speak, if they feel threatened in any way. The grass is always greener on the other side, and that’s particularly true if your neighbors have a gorgeous lawn, a vegetable garden, or other areas with plenty of tasty treats for your chickens to sample. After all, isn’t it better to treat the cause rather than the symptom?Ĭhickens are flighty for two different reasons: determination and curiosity, with curiosity often paramount.Ĭhickens will often take a short flight over to the neighbor’s yard out of sheer curiosity. The best way to eliminate flighty behavior is to first understand the root of the problem. Provide plenty of food and water stations to keep your chickens happy. Understand the Reasons for Flightiness Photo: Rebekah Pierce Here are some of the best recommendations for eliminating (or at least controlling the effects of) flighty behavior in your flock. The exceptions to this are Silkie and Polish bantams – for whatever reason, these chickens aren’t prone to flightiness. Bantam chickens are especially skilled at flight because they are so tiny. Some other flighty breeds to be aware of include Spitzhaubens (a Swiss breed), Red Rangers, and any bantam breed. They will roost in trees if given the chance – something that can be a real pain when you’re trying to get your chickens locked into the coop at night. These birds are not only capable of taking flight due to their light bodyweight, but they absolutely love doing it. Often, these chickens are the ones raised as pets or for egg production.įlighty breeds include Anconas, Leghorns, Fayoumis, and Araucanas. The breeds you really need to worry about are lighter breeds – typically, those from the Mediterranean region. Their wings are simply too underpowered to handle the weight of their bodies. Common broiler species like Cornish Crosses and Jersey Giants are so heavy that they can usually only get about a foot off the ground. If you’re raising meat birds, you won’t have to worry too much about it taking flight. The real escape artists are lighter breeds. You don’t usually need to worry about large, heavy breeds like Orpingtons or Wyandottes flying too much. What you have is what you have!īut if you’re new to raising chickens and want to prevent flighty behavior before it becomes a problem, think carefully about the breed of chicken you select. If you’re reading this article and already have a flock of chickens, there’s not much you can do to change the breed disposition toward flightiness. New Hampshire Reds and Golden Comets, pictured here, aren’t known to be the flightiest breeds – but they do occasionally take flight! Be Aware of These Most Flighty Chicken Breeds Photo: Rebekah Pierce The chickens were, in fact, putting themselves in harm’s way by ignoring the barriers we had built!Īs a result, we had to do some work to figure out how to nip this flighty, escapist behavior in the bud. We have raised flighty chickens in the past and had trouble with them leaping over the fences we’ve built to keep out predators. There’s really no problem with raising a flighty chicken – unless you have concerns about keeping it contained. All chickens have the innate ability to fly, but very few will actually be good at it. A flighty chicken is simply one that has a greater inclination to fly than others.
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