A Wyandotte rarely escapes by flying a tall fence. This broad, heavy breed gets out the unglamorous way: fluttering over a panel that has sagged, pushing through mesh that has stretched at a corner, or walking under a gate after days of scratching have hollowed the soil beneath it. A useful check therefore starts low, slow, and at hen height, looking at the run the way she experiences it rather than the way it looks from a standing glance.
Walk the Line at Chicken Height
Crouch and move around the outside of the run first, then repeat inside. Look for mesh that bows when you press it, because a determined hen leans and pushes in exactly those soft places. Check that openings are small enough that her head cannot work through, since a chicken that gets her head and shoulders past a gap often forces the rest through or becomes trapped trying. Pay special attention to corners, where wire is commonly folded rather than fixed, and to the joins around the coop door, feeder access points, and any panel added later, because added sections seldom match the original tension. Run a hand along posts to feel for wobble, and note boards or rails with a gap widening near the soil.
Test the Bottom Edge Like She Will
Wyandottes scratch constantly, and a flock working the same fenceline can excavate a shallow trench over a season. Probe the bottom edge with your fingers and look for daylight showing under wire, loose aprons of mesh, or soil piled on one side and hollowed on the other. Where the ground dips, fill and firm it, pin or bury the lower edge, and clear stones or branches that prop a section up. Also check inside for perches, feeders, stumps, and stacked material placed close to the fence: a hen who hops up onto a raised object first needs far less lift to flutter over the top than one starting from flat ground.
Gates Deserve Their Own Inspection
Open and close every gate several times, letting it swing and settle as it would after a hurried chore visit. It should close flush, without a wedge-shaped gap at the latch side or a lifted gap at the bottom that grows when the gate sags on its hinges. Tighten hinge fixings, straighten a dropped frame, and choose a latch that needs a deliberate lift or slide, since a simple loose hook can bounce free when birds pile against the gate or wind rattles it. Stand outside and push gently at hen height; if the bottom corner flexes outward, that flex is her exit rehearsing itself.
Recheck After Weather and Change
Fence checks are not a one-time event for a ground-scratching breed. Walk the line again after heavy rain softens soil, after frost heaves posts, after a fallen branch lands on mesh, and any time you move a feeder, add a bird, or rearrange the run and create a new launch point near the fence. Keep a short note of each weak spot you repair, because the same corner or gate failing twice is telling you the fix is cosmetic and the post, hinge, or ground level underneath needs real work.
Even a careful keeper can come home to an open gate, so the backup matters as much as the wire: KinsLe's Lost Pet Alert System sends a free alert to nearby Circle of Love members when a Wyandotte does get out, and a neighbour who finds her can message you directly through the alert instead of guessing whose hen she is.