Well… I “chickened” out on the electric fence idea for our current inmates. I was all set to install a fido-shock wire around the coop and part of the yard, but when I went out to implement it on Saturday, I found the hens (on reprieve) happily playing in the tall laurel hedges that I was about to bar them from forever… and I just couldn’t do it. They were pecking around on the other side of the supposed wire fence (which I still don’t know how they are getting through), but they were also close to the only opening I had seen them use to the front yard (which I had blocked with hardware cloth after their most recent escape), and they seemed to have no intentions or employed any malicious methods to get through it.
Behind the hedges on all other sides are tall walls and sturdy fences from our adjoining neighbors yards, so I’m not really worried about them getting through those… at least not yet.
So I strung up some bird netting above the hardware cloth area, as well as over both gates, and the only low spot in one of our neighbors back fences for good measure, and put the hens on parole for good behavior for the rest of the weekend. They were very good girls, so now they are going to be able to free-range during the weekdays again, barring any future attempts to leave the country backyard. But I’m going to keep the electric fence as a backup plan… both for any more trouble from them, as well as from our not-so-friendly neighborhood raccoons in the Spring. And I’m also thinking up new ideas for my husband’s dream of a chicken-free patio. Thanks to everyone for sharing your kind, thoughtful and wise advice and experience!
vuchickens 
Lucky girls. I hope they do the sensible thing. I hate the thought of a beak being zapped (though it’s better than the thought of a chicken being squashed by a car).
Agreed. That was part of my “chickening” out… Along with my kids getting zapped. The raccoons, however, would get their comeuppance for past mischief.
Chickens are wonderful… I bet they think that you are ‘mother hen’ and follow you around the yard?…. Mine have become so friendly, they come when I call… I think it wrong to call them ‘dumb clucks’…they are smarter than most people realize…
I definitely agree. They are my babies and too smart for their own good sometimes. The only thing they don’t seem to be smart about is getting themselves out of a jam, even forgetting where the door to their run is if they want something on the other side. I think they must go into panic mode or something.