10 Proven Ways to Keep Chickens Off The Porch

Chickens are lovely, helpful animals that make any home feel more colorful, festive, and fun. However, chickens are going to do what they want to do. No matter what you tell a chicken, it will follow its own rules. This is particularly troublesome if your home has many chickens and they decide that they want to hang out wherever they want, whenever they want.

Many people who own chickens are always battling to keep them off their front porch or deck. Is this even possible or is it an unattainable task? The fact is that it is possible to keep chickens off of a porch and there are multiple ways to do so.

The best ways to keep chickens off of a porch involve spraying them with water or scaring them off. However, there are other ways to keep chickens away from areas they’re not supposed to be in.

Let’s discover and discuss all the other ways that you can keep a chicken off the porch and keep your home as relaxed and peaceful as possible.

10 proven ways how to keep chickens off the porch – Let’s get into this!

How to Keep Chickens off the Porch or Decking

Chickens may be taught to keep away from the porch and pavement. There are several methods for training a chicken to keep off of something, but there are two that are very successful.

This training might take the form of either unpleasant or favorable results.

Positive reinforcement may be achieved by keeping your feedings away from your porch and deck. However, it is possible that it will not be enough to remedy the problem. There are a few safe techniques to teach hens to remain off your porch by using negative reinforcement.

Some examples of negative reinforcement to keep chickens away from certain areas include:

• Using a spray bottle of water to ward them off
• Yelling or scaring chickens to prevent them from entering a prohibited area
• Using frightening visual tools to stop them

It is possible to train chickens, but it takes some effort. If you just give encouragement to exit your porch on a sporadic basis, you will be “training” your hens for the rest of their lives. This means that for the first few weeks, you’ll need to stay at home and be ready to train your chickens. You must keep a close check on your women and reply as soon as possible.

What is the best way of training a chicken? Determine the perimeter inside which you wish your hens to remain. The cement patio, the bottom step of your deck, or the flower beds surrounding your porch might all be examples. Setting a defined limit is crucial because it allows you to maintain consistency.

Place a hose nearby your porch or deck, then spray and shout if a chicken breaches the line. When hens receive a regular and dependable reaction in the form of water, they learn to avoid the porch. Older chickens will keep smaller chicks away from the prohibited area if they are consistent.

Another form of teaching is to scare them away. Any time they get on the deck, shout and wave your arms at them to get them off. To frighten them, use a broom that you wave (without striking them) or a huge colorful cloth.

Because you have to manually chase them off the deck, this approach takes a bit longer than water, but it protects your patio from being drenched.

While this is the easiest way to scare and teach chickens to stay off your porch, there are other methods to doing so too.

Other Ways to Keep Chickens Off The Porch

Although spraying with water and scaring off chickens is the best way to keep them away from a certain off-limits area, there are other ways to do it too. These ways have been tested time and time again by chicken owners and have been proven to be effective, although they take a lot of work and effort.

Use Fake Predators

Chickens have an innate fear of owls, snakes, and hawks since they are regular predators. A fake owl on your doorstep, on the other hand, is unlikely to keep your hens away in the long run.

Chickens are intelligent creatures, and they’ll quickly figure out that the owl isn’t actually a threat. To keep chickens away, many poultry owners invest in mechanical predators. Change the position of your preditors, the volume, and the placement of your preditors to be successful. As a result, your birds will not become used to them. Your birds’ alert also requires some time and dedication.

This solar fake owl decoy to scare birds (Amazon link) is a great one for keeping your chickens away from your porch or decking. The own is equipped with a solar panel to power the owl’s motion sensor which will trigger owl-sounding audio and scary laser eyes that light up.

These predators can also help keep other actual predators away from your hens as a bonus benefit.

Rely On Another Animal to Keep Chickens In Line

A rooster can help keep your females close to the coop in some situations. Roosters are typically protective of their flock and can assist in herding it closer to the house. To be effective, you’ll probably need to educate your rooster to stay near to the coop.

Your hens can also be kept off the porch with the help of a guard dog. Select a dog that will not attack or devour the hens. Instead, teach your dog to chase the hens away from the deck or porch whenever they approach.

Build a Fence

You could have observed that old farmhouses have many fences, flower beds, and a terrace around them. This is due to the fact that fences are efficient in keeping hens out. The more fences you have, the more rules you are giving your chickens to stay in line. 

However, many people dislike the idea of fencing off a porch or deck. But if you are okay with having a fence (Amazon link) around your porch and are comfortable with the building process, there are several fence solutions available. You may install a railing or full fencing, chicken wire or wire cloth, yellow ribbon or even invest in a hotwire or electric fence. Each of these types of fence has its own advantages and disadvantages.

If you choose to build a regular, full fence, you should make sure you build it at least five feet high. This is because even if their wings are clipped, a chicken can often get over a 4-foot fence. When using chicken wire or wire cloth, you need to remember that it is not very strong and can be taken down by other animals, or even nasty weather.

Wondering, can chickens can fly, I wrote a whole article about it – definitely worth a read.

The most effective type of fence would be a hotwire or eclectic fence but that would pose potential harm to other animals, small children, or family members. It is very important that if you go that route, you make sure you do so safely and responsibly.

Uses Spices and Herbs

Did you know that chickens hate certain herbs and spices? It’s true. In fact, there are certain ones that they disdain so much you can use them as a tool to stop chickens from roaming wherever they want. You can use these herbs and spices. All you need to do is spread them across the deck or porch or area of the yard that is off-limits for the chickens and they will likely avoid it.

Some of the spices that chickens hate include:

• Cinnamon (Amazon link)
• Salt
• Garlic (Amazon link)
• Black Pepper
• Curry Powder
• Paprika (Amazon link)
• Citrus Peels
• Cayenne Pepper

Not only do these spices smell bad to chickens, they also create discomfort when chickens walk on them. None of these spices cause serious discomfort or damage to chickens or their feet but it will persuade them to stay away.

While this is a great option for anyone looking to keep chickens in line, it can cause a lot of work too. Firstly, you need to replenish the supply of spices and herbs after any rain shower or inclement weather. Additionally, these spices will definitely create a smell that might not just be unpleasant to chickens but to you as well. If you or any family member hates the smell of garlic, for example, this might not be the best option for you.

Grow Certain Plants

Just like chickens hate particular herbs and spices, there are also some plants that they truly detest. Having these on hand and around any area of the home that needs to be chicken-free is a great idea. Most perennial herbs have smells that chickens really dislike. In fact, the smell alone is enough to push chickens away again and again.

Some of the plants that are natural deterrents for chickens include:

• Oregano
• Chamomile
• Lemon Balm
• Mint
• Thyme
• Marigolds
• Petunias
• Alyssum
• Lavender

While these plants will usually do the trick and stop chickens from moving around where they don’t want to, they also require a lot of maintenance. For one, you need to grow them and that takes a lot of water and upkeep. Secondly, you need to make sure they are healthy and strong. You need a full, healthy plant in order to get the job done. Small seedlings or baby plants won’t do the trick.

Use Motion-Activated Sprinklers

If you may not have the time or the inclination to teach your chickens, explore using a motion-activated sprinkler (Amazon link) like this one; to do the work for you. Infrared light is used to detect motion in motion-actuated sprinklers. You may place them at the bottom of your porch stairs or along the deck’s edge. The disadvantage of motion sprinklers is that they can be set off by anything.

This applies to both humans and other animals, which means that you might get soaked if you forget to turn off the motion-activated sprinklers. Obviously, that is the biggest downside to this method of training your chickens. You may start disabling the sprinklers for more comfortable human usage after your hens are well-trained to keep away from the patio area.

Don’t Feed Them On Your Porch

It’s critical that you keep your hens away from your deck and porch when you’re feeding them. This teaches your hens to locate food in certain places rather than approaching you. Chickens are essentially sociable creatures, so they will seek you out.

Nourishing them as soon as you step outdoors will only encourage them to congregate near your living spaces. This will lead to them collecting, roosting, and pooping on your deck and patios. Making sure you don’t feed the chickens on your porch will save you hours of cleanup time in the months to come. You just need to be consistent and never break your own rule.

Also, do not leave dog or cat food out on your porch or deck. This will also entice your hens, making it difficult to keep them away.

Figure Out Why They Love the Porch

Chickens have fundamental impulses, and it’s typically one of them that drives them to your patio. Chickens come to your porch or deck for a myriad of purposes. Finding out why is the best way to keep chickens off deck.

Because decks are nearer to humans, hens on the patio are generally better sheltered from birds of prey and other predators. Is this why they’re looking for your porch?

Additionally, the ideal perching opportunities that decks and porches typically provide are a huge draw. Chickens may perch on chairs, rails, the BBQ grill, and other high locations. You may begin to solve the problem once you’ve discovered the most likely causes of your hens’ affection for your porch.

Move Your Chicken Coop

To better shield them from predation, even free-range hens should be caged up at night. Enemies in the country include weasels, minks, raccoons, foxes, and coyotes. Chicken predators in the city are frequently neighborhood cats or dogs. They’ll need a Chicken coop (Amazon link), but make sure it’s not too close to your house or porch, or the hens will mistake your house for their own. Addressing this will keep free-range chickens out of certain areas and will also keep chickens away from your house.

Chickens, of course, prefer to roam, and the more at ease they get in a certain location, the further they will travel. It does, however, help to keep your coop away from your porch because it will be virtually hard to keep them off if your coop is close by.

Sum up

If you were wondering how to keep chickens off the porch then I hope I have delivered by providing you with 10 actionable methods that you can start implementing to keep your chickens away from your porch, decking, patio, or anywhere you want to make un-accessible to your beloved chickens.