New chicken run

I moved from my urban homestead in Oakland out to a farm in Winters last month. I had trouble getting their run set up in the new space, so the chickens stayed in temporary housing that was secure enough but mostly concrete and without proper nesting boxes. Wednesday night, shortly before sundown, I finally got the fence up and moved them in.

On Thursday morning, 5 chickens were inside the run and happily scratching in the weeds and dirt. The Red Sex Link had flown the coop. Two sides of the run were made out of 4 foot cattle panels, so I wasn't surprised. I found her foraging with the farm's free-range rooster keeping a close eye on her. At one point she disappeared from my view, but a few minutes later he led her back to the area next to the other girls.

I used to dislike the rooster, but he just gained a lot of points with me.

I set to work extending the height of the cattle panels with floppy chicken wire. This keeps them inside in two ways: 1) the extra height means they are much less likely to fly up to it, and 2) chickens rarely fly up and right over a fence - they perch at the top first, and if it's a floppy wire that won't support their weight, they won't get  out.

I spotted the errant hen foraging in a corner of another pen, and was able to catch her. The rooster started screeching and posturing at me, but thankfully backed down after a few seconds. (It probably helped that once I had a good hold on the hen, she was quiet and calm.) I popped her back into the secured run. All 6 hens are staying inside for now.

The rooster continues to patrol the outside of their run.