advice on chicken run

I am new to having chickens mine are less then 4 weeks old. I am starting our chicken coop this week and then the run.
I am wondering what type of wire/fence is the best to keep out animals and more so dogs that the neighbors have.
Also do I need to build it a certain height and does it need to have something on top? We have a lot of room on our farm so was planning on building a decent size run for the coop for our 10 chickens

thanks,
woodenfarm

woodenfarm said:

I am new to having chickens mine are less then 4 weeks old. I am starting our chicken coop this week and then the run.
I am wondering what type of wire/fence is the best to keep out animals and more so dogs that the neighbors have.
Also do I need to build it a certain height and does it need to have something on top? We have a lot of room on our farm so was planning on building a decent size run for the coop for our 10 chickens

thanks,
woodenfarm

Click to expand...

I would definitely suggest covering it, at least with heavy duty netting to deter airborne predators. I used 2" netting since we do occasionally get snow. As for height I would make it tall enough to walk inside of so that depends on how tall you are. My fencing is 6' and my netting is supported on a 7' pole in the center and that is fine for me because I am 5'4" but it would be too short for my 6'2" husband. For the sides you have several options, including chainlink like I have, cattle panel, or hardwire. With hardwire I think woven is better than welded since welds can get weak and break. You can cover the cattle panel or chainlink with chickenwire (to keep chicks in and help keep raccoon hands out) but don't do straight chicken wire for the sides as it can be broken through pretty easily. I do use it for my skirt though and it has detered foxes from digging (which happened more than once before I put the skirt down). If you do hardwire, use smaller holes (1" or less) for the bottom 2-3' and then after that you can use bigger holes.

ETA if you have climbing predators there then you will want to consider a covering more heavy duty than the netting.

thank you very helpful!