Plastic chicken Deer fencing for chicken run?

I just got 2 rolls of plastic deer fencing for free and i am wondering if safely use it to keep predators out the run. This Deer FENCING, not netting. its thick yet pliable. cost about $60 for 100 sf. honestly feels sturdier than chicken wire i have. Is it okay to set up the run with this and use the chicken wire as the run cover or should it be vice versa?

promomma said:

I just got 2 rolls of plastic deer fencing for free and i am wondering if  safely use it to keep predators out the run. This Deer FENCING, not netting. its thick yet pliable. cost about $60 for 100 sf. honestly feels sturdier than chicken wire i have. Is it okay to set up the run with this and use the chicken wire as the run cover or should it be vice versa?

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I used black "construction" plastic possibly like your describing, very durable, as I couldn't tear it...we used in on inside of coop and put chicken wiring on outside. I realized the squirrels had chewed through it in a matter of days to get to corn and scratch...If your going to use it, I'd do the roof with it or back it with more wiring! Not sure where you live, but if it's only for run I would think it's alright! As long as there's not too many predators to get to them!

Could you send a link to it so we know what we are talking about? I get different products when I Google “deer fencing”. None of them looked very suitable, by the way.

Chicken wire is basically meant to keep chickens in. Many predators like dogs, coyotes, and big raccoons can tear chicken wire, either pulling it hard enough to untwist the connections or literally breaking it. There have been photos on here of that destruction, usually by big dogs, but those photos are pretty rare. Chicken wire will provide protection against many smaller predators, skunks, possum, smaller raccoons, most birds of prey, probably a fox. Many people on here describe a chicken wire run as worthless. It’s not worthless, it does provide a fair amount of protection. But they are still vulnerable to larger predators.

The basic question is how easily could you cut or tear that deer fencing if you had sharp teeth or claws and what is your risk tolerance.

I think a lot of animals could chew through it, but that doubled up with chicken wire should work fairly well. Maybe both along the bottom (presuming your chicken wire is about 3-4' high) and the deer fencing alone for another few feet, and it SHOULD be decent for the top).

OR, you could use that for the run and just make sure you close them securely in the coop at night. I don't think too many predators usually bother them during the daylight hours (depending on where you live and how secluded the run is of course).

There's different strengths/grades. Can you cut it with kitchen shears? If so, then it'd be pretty easy for a raccoon to chew through it.

Better? Hardware cloth.

Thanks for the reply. I think i will double it with chicken wire to be more secure. or at least the bottom half. I have a somewhat large run, so i have to be economical about this. Raccoons, the occasional possum, foxs and hawks are my major predators. No wandering dogs round here. I couldn't find a direct link because there was nothing too similar. This is as close looking i could find but mine is 7ft tall, like deer fencing. http://www.amazon.com/Tenax-090786-...8&qid=1462112189&sr=1-6&keywords=deer+fencing

If you are buying the chicken wire, you might price out 2x4 welded wire and see what the cost difference is. The 2x4 will stop larger predators and you could line it with your free plastic fencing to stop the smaller ones. That’s what I did with mine except I used chicken wire around the bottom. My reason was not predators but to keep baby chicks from getting out.

In either case, when you overlap them make sure you don’t leave any openings the chickens can get through and get trapped in between the two. Guess how I know about that one.

See, now when you say Deer fencing, I think of this: http://www.amazon.com/Tenax-Guardia...8&qid=1462113303&sr=1-8&keywords=deer+fencing
More like snow fence.

I know I've seen some that's more heavy duty - thicker plastic that's more difficult to cut. I'm hoping you've got the heavy stuff!

I hear ya on economical!! We were lucky, my hubby snagged a 100' length of 4' hardware cloth FREE (gah, that's a LOT of money right there saved). Alas, we got carried away with the coop and we spent WAY too much there on wood, paint, etc. But, there have been tougher times in our past... I do think the fencing should be fine for a cover. Years ago I had chickens in an old metal dog house with standard yard fencing and just metal T-posts with bird netting on top. It looked horrible. I had to send the kids in on hands and knees to hunt for eggs. It was fairly close to the house, I closed them in at night, and I didn't lose any chickens. The netting was just to keep flying predators out, and it worked fine. Nothing ever tried to get inside the run.

NOW I've got them close to the woods, so the hardware cloth was a godsend! A proper coop looks much better too. But yeah, you've got to work with what you have available when it comes to the wallet for sure! Been there done that. Update this thread with some pics when you get it up! Then maybe we can help with suggestions for tweaking it down the road!

Yes, that fencing is very close to what i have. I got it used for free, just like my coop. Everything i am using i got free or cheap second hand. Right now i am using wire snips to cut the fencing because regular scissors wont do it. Once we finish the rabbit hutch today we'll get back on finishing the run tomorrow. It might be hard to take pictures because our chicken coop and run is in a canopy in the woods/border of the yard. Either way will update soon and i do plan on locking the chicken up in their coop at night for their safety.

I use deer fencing for the top 1/4 of my run that is 6' off the ground and behind wood panels that have 3" gaps as a way to ensure hawks stay out. The bottom 6' is poultry netting with the bottom 4' doubled with 2x4 welded wire.

The deer fencing is fairly tough but not that hard for a critter to chew through.

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Is 23 gauge hardware cloth good enough for the bottom half of the run? it seems i can get 48"x240' 1/4 inch For about $40 is that good or should i just do the welded wire? 72"100' welded wire 1x2 for $100. Either way i wont be buying till next month. i'll double what i got for now, till i can get better wire for the bottom. what do you guys think?