How high should my chicken run fence be

[painteddream]

how high should my chicken run fence be. do I need to put a net on top to keep them in or is best to clip their wings

 

[Judy]

My large fowl birds occasionally flap and climb their way over a 6' fence. Some breeds fly much, much better than others. Clipping wings doesn't really stop them, it just interferes.

 

[georgiagail]

What we have done (dog runs; roofs using brace rail clamps, PVC/electrical conduit pipe, hardware cloth, zip ties):

 

[dwegg]

My outdoor chicken yar fence is 5 ft high and my Americana still jump straight up on top and over. Depends on the breed and how inquisitive they are.

 

[horseshowmomnv]

What we have done (dog runs; roofs using brace rail clamps, PVC/electrical conduit pipe, hardware cloth, zip ties):

That is an awesome idea for a cover for a run. Since our run is about 18 x 12 I have struggled with what to use.

 

[georgiagail]

The hoop roof took a bit longer to build as we had to work from section to section (this run is 7 feet wide and 15 feet long).

Another suggestion...and what we did for the roofing on our second and fourth coop...same brace rail clamps, electric/PVC pipe, hardware cloth but we did not do the "hoop" idea but rather flat roofs (the dog run was already 6 feet high). The hardware cloth went on quicker and was attached to the top rails and PVC with zip ties. The brace rail clamps holding the pipe in place can be found in the chain link fencing section of a local Lowes (hopefully you have a Lowes nearby); they're under $2 each.

The pipes are typically available in 5 and 10 foot sections; however, very inexpensive couplers are available that would extend the final product to your 12 foot level (if you do the "hoop" roof idea make the final length 12 1/2 feet). I hope this makes sense.

Gail
se...

 

[horseshowmomnv]

Yes it does make sense. Thank you so much for the pictures! I am a visual person, it gives an options for covering our run. Seems it might be as expensive to enclose a run as it is to build the coop!

 

[fuzziecreatures]

Should be high enough to walk in. Our first run is about 4 foot high, I gotta crouch to do anything in there. I am not looking forward to shoveling the compost out.
We built a bigger run and it is 7 foot tall! So excited about that.

 

[FeatherPainter]

I've been looking for ideas for covering our 10 x 20 dog kennel run too. I don't want anyone to have to duck so it has to be over six feet. These are exactly what I need to do except our run butts up againt a wall so we'd have to nail a board to the wall to connect the pvc.

 

[MoriahQuilts]

Our run is 16' x 26'. Its chicken wire and horse fence on the sides. We used netting on the top to keep chickens in, birds out. It has 1" holes, and lays on nylon string every two feet to hold it up. I doubled the string, to pull it against itself and it tightens right up. I got the net on ebay - about $16 with free shipping. Its been up for one year and is not showing wear. In the summer I put a 'sun shade' under the netting for shade. The sunshade fabric would also make a good cover if you're only keeping chickens in, and not worried about 4 legged predators out. I believe raccoons could probably climb the fence, but they are not often out during the day, and chickens are in secure coop at night, so I have been happy with net.