How to Stop Chickens Coming into Our Yard?

Hi OzB community,

Looking for advice to stop chickens coming into our yard (humanely) please.

  • I have a wire boundary fence that I’ve covered in chicken wire, they just go around it and come up the driveway (not practical to fence the driveway off)

  • I have removed all food and water sources, they are coming into my yard for the shade/green grass

  • I have spoken to the neighbour who doesn’t care (I’d prefer not to complain to council)

My main concern is what they are leaving behind outside our doors (not eggs)

Is there some kind of magical chicken repellent that exists?

Comments

  • +13

    KFC

    • +9

      Did someone say KFC?

    • +6

      Get a pet which is a natural predator of chickens, like a cat or bodybuilder.

  • +8

    Kill them and put their head on a pike.

    Let it be to other chicken trespassers.

    • +7

      ^ This. It worked well for the kids that kept coming in my yard to retrieve balls and such.

    • +1

      Thought about doing this with cockroaches once.
      Had put down bait but still catching one everyday.
      Maybe nailing a dead one (with sewing needle) to the skirting board would convince some of them to turn away.
      But you will probably have the occasional brave one which still continue to come in.

  • +1

    Winner winner 🐥 dinner.

  • +1

    How long has this been going on? Here the foxes and cats take them before too long.

    • +1

      It’s been happening for months, they go back to their shed at night and the door gets closed

  • Chicken repellent = A machete may be..

    But seriously - shouldn't the question be how to stop chickens from going back?

  • Electric fence. You can get chicken rated ones at your local produce/farmers market type stores.

    • Shocking 🐣 is cruel.

      • +9

        Did you miss the "chicken rated" part? You dont need a horse/cattle rated one that would do 25km of fence line. You can get low power ones that give them a little bit of a reminder.

        Another alternative is motion activated sprinklers. They might also be another thing worth trying. My neighbour's cat hate it, but it has learned not to come into my yard. But be careful. If the chickens are not wearing safety glasses and rain coats, they may get water in their eyes or on their feathers.

        • Anything more than 9v hurts even for humans.

          • @whooah1979: So what do YOU get up to on weekends I wonder?

          • +2

            @whooah1979: Not really. It's the amperage that hurts. You can get an electric shock off touching a car when you get out that gives you a little bite and that can be well into the thousands of volts but only 1~20mA.

            Think of electricity as water, voltage as "pressure" and amps as "litres per minute." 10,000 litres of water squirted at you at 1L/min isn't going to do much to you, but 10,000 litres of water per minute dumped on you is going to make for a really bad experience. Typically, this can be run through the Volts x Amps = Power. The higher the "power", the more of a "hurt" it will give you.

            Example; 240v hurts because x 10 amp = 2400watts. Ouch. 2400 watts converted is 2400 joules per second. Ouch, that's a lot of power for your body to try an absorb. (50mA hurts. 100+mA can be fatal. House wiring is around 10,000mA)

            A chicken zapper is typically about 0.5 joules. That's 0.5watts. Sure, at 1v, 0.5w may "hurt", but typically, electric fence zappers are thousands of volts with very little amperage (the part of electricity that actually hurts) and it is usually pulsed, not constant.

            THEN there is AC v's. DC. This is why you can grab a 12v battery terminal in each hand at 12~13v and 800 amps and it does "nothing".

            So, no, voltage is not what "hurts" and ALL voltage can hurt, providing enough amperage is supplied.

            • +1

              @pegaxs: yes, it's the amp that hurts (or kills) you but your calculation fails to take into account of the body internal resistance which is large and fluctuates a lot depending on circumstances, you just can't have 100A going through the body no matter how powerful the source is without ignoring voltage, voltage is more like the height of a waterfall, just can't have great flow with a 1m waterfall. Higher enough voltage can kill but you just can't have 1000v coming from the 9v battery because if you do, the amount of time to maintain that voltage will be minuscule and wont be sustained long enough to kill.

              • +2

                @lgacb08: Yeah, sorry, I was trying to keep it as simple as I could. I understand that resistance plays a big part, but just wanted to show that it wasn’t “voltage” that was the part that “hurt”. Voltage and amps is tied by resistance, but to say that 9v is the cut off for “hurt” just isn’t right. 9v can hurt, but it’s a lot more complicated than just saying “9v hurts”

            • @pegaxs: That’s shocking news.

  • +2

    Why did the chicken cross the driveway?

  • +11

    Seriously, if the owner doesn't care where they are, they'd slowly be disappearing if it were me.

  • +6

    Trade in your dog for a fox

    • Or a non-poisonous snake…

      • +1

        Poisonous snake? Are the chickens going to have to eat it? Oh, non-poisonous… so, safe for them to eat.

  • +1

    You might not want to, but if you want to stop them and the neighbour (owner) won't do anything, you need to escalate to your council.
    Either that, or you take the advice of some others here and you catch a chook or two now and then.

  • +2

    Your neighbor owns them but doesn't really care? Just start kidnapping one a week for a nice dinner.

  • Get a cat?

  • Fence off the driveway temporarily for a week and see if it changes their behavior. Chickens like routine, if you lock them out they might find somewhere else they prefer so you can go back to having an open gate. Talking to your neighbour is probably a better bet - it's their responsibility. If they don't listen - call in the council.

  • +1

    Capture n send to shelter. Council will have a word with owner or chickens get adopted/made delicious.

  • Ahh yes, the much awaited sequel to “why did the chicken cross the road?”

  • I have spoken to the neighbour who doesn’t care (I’d prefer not to complain to council)

    neighbour doesnt care???? Knickers to the neighbour call the council.

    or buy 5 cats.

  • Adopt a fox. Kills all and leaves the carcasses on the side of the road.

  • +1

    Show them the way to your kitchen

  • You might need a fence and a gate. How else do you expect to stop the chickens if you can't force the chicken owner to buy themselves a fence and gate.

  • Lemon chicken….yumyum

  • or Sling shot…………………..bang bang

  • +2

    Get a chicken coop. Put one chicken in your coop each day, until they are all in there, and your neighbour has none. Then either keep them for the eating scraps and getting eggs, or sell them.

  • When I was a kid there was a mongrel dog down the road that if it got into the chooks would kill half a dozen of them in a couple of minutes.

  • +3

    Get a bigger cock? Might scare the hens away.

  • It's the owner's responsibility. I assume you've already had a reasonable chat with him but you basically need to give him an ultimatum. They're his responsibility, you shouldn't have to go to any extra cost! Chicken poop is shit (lol) no seriously it is very annoying. I doubt you need coaching but I would say that you can't handle the poop everywhere and if they don't manage the chickens you'll unfortunately have to go to the council but you'd rather not. That's very fair.

    Either that or trap them in a cage? I wonder if SCAT (for dogs?) would deter them? probably not.

    Him or her *

    other option is literally running after them and scaring them away. chickens do kinda learn to be afraid of things or people lol. or get a dog haha

  • +1

    This is equivalent to Coles/WW delivery, but fresher, and FREE.

  • Ryobi ONE+ chicken catapult

  • Buy a hawk

  • CAT

  • Take them to the rspca. Hens will get adopted easily.

  • Air rifle, .22 calibre to the head, very humane.

  • You don't need to fence the driveway, you can have a gate.

    If you catch them on your property can you claim ownership?

  • -1

    Does your neighbour's girlfriend come over as well?

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