Are they catchable? If so, perhaps you could bestow them upon somebody who wants them. Obviously, the neighbors won't miss them.

LOL, I did that last year... I kept trapping them and giving them away, but it's a pain. I'd prefer not to deal with them at all...it's really annoying to come home every day to gorilla hair all over my driveway, landscape pathways and lawn...places where it doesn't belong! Small plants just get trompled daily : ( And they poop all over my front porch & everything else...they are soooo messy!

Who you gonna call? Colonel Sanders!

Put chicken wire along the fence

" I don't want to kill them "

Are you an animal rights activist, vegetarian, don't have the stomach for it or just too lazy to clean your own food??
Close the fence up, shoot them, trap them and give away, get a dog or designate an area for them and throw down some cracked corn and chicken grit. You are going to have to get aggressive or just live with it.

taz, your response comes across as rude. I'm SURE you didn't intend it that way.

Sky, you say 'yard' and 'neighbor'....almost sounds to me as though you are more urban than rural. Do animal control ordinances apply in your neighborhood?

We have a three chicken limit here, and they have to be safely enclosed to remain on owners property, fed/watered/sheltered just like any other household animal. I don't keep chickens, but in this recent economy it is becoming more common and you can't beat the taste of freshest eggs :)

I don't have any chicken repellent advice to help you with...a woman with a small plant nursery and gardens near here has chickens and swears by them for insect damage control, I've browsed her display gardens and shared my time with chickens more than once. But she keeps them penned when she has things at the seedling stage or they scratch young plants right out of the ground.

chickens fit right through the fence and come into our yard

You know what I would do? Okay, I'm a maverick so stick with me. I'd....get this....I'd fix the fence.