Aviary Netting-Pen enclosure ideas?

frenchblackcopper said:

We started putting metal on the new peafowl home this past weekend,,got the roof almost done and will add metal to the sides this weekend then the building should be completed.But I'm always thinking ahead and the pens will be the next challenge.I've considered using chain link fence 100%,,(for the pens) or possibly laying a piece of metal siding longways so it's 3' high width will be all along the ground so they cannot see into the next pen

Chain link fence is expensive and hard to work with alone.I've considered using 2"x4" welded wire on top of the 3' metal siding,(This is definitely the way to go. The 2x4 is the most inexpensive option for the upper part of the sides. You definitely need the 3 foot site barrier between the pens in my experience. If they don't fight through the fence, you will have one that goes psycho walking back and forth. For the outside walls that don't separate pens, I used 1x2 or hardware cloth for the bottom of the pens.),the 2"x4" welded wire comes in 48" and 60" high rolls,and if I use the 60" high this with the sheet metal base should get the pens 8 feet high.( I used the 60" wire above 36" tall panels for an 8 foot aviary.)Is it better to have the pens so birds cannot easily see into whats going on next to them?(YES, at least for breeding pen purposes.) I can skip this part and it would make building pens a lot faster.Or I can use cattle panels,,they are very heavy wire,come in 16' lengths and are 50" high,,these can go on top of the sheet metal side walls instead of the 2"x4" welded wire.Or I can build each pen completely with these heavy wire panels.

But my biggest obstacle is the netting for the top.I do plan to use 2x2 diamond shaped netting with the highest strength they make,125lbs breaking strength.But what has me wondering is,,how to do this.The pens will be 10' wide and 32' long.wood 4"x4" posts will be placed every 8' along the perimeter and the inside pens dividing walls as well.I don't want to use wood across the tops of these wood posts to hold the netting up,(You are going to have to span the 10' wide width with cable of 2x4 at every 4x4 to hold the netting up. No getting around it. I will also offer the following advice: Space the 4x4 at 11feet and make a 11' by 33' pen. You will save 4x4s and have a bigger pen! You could go all the way to 12foot spacing, but inevitably I get a space to big for a 12 foot board.)1) They will eventually sag (a treated 2x4 on its side will not sag significantly at 11 feet.) 2)they get expensive especially if using treated wood 3) Any rough spots can snag the netting causing it to rip.(use stainless cable then. It will be more expensive than treated wood if you use 3/16". At least it was when I priced it. I also had one of the bigger breeders say they did not like the cable crossovers because they felt like they caused broken wings more so than boards.)

I've looked at using PCV plastic pipe to lay the netting over,,then using 1/8" stainless steel wire rope(cable) to pull this framework up to 8' high then building the inside pen walls.1 1/2" PCV pipe seems very strong and is only about $4.50 for a 10" piece,,I've considered using just the 1/8" stainless steel rope only as the framework to hold the netting up with.With spans of only 8 and 10 feet on the 4"x4" poles,,I think I can easily pull this cable tight enough so it won't sag,and the breaking strength is 1725 lbs.on this size steel rope-cable.(I think this all way more exoensive than a treated 2x4.)

Is it easier to install the netting before building the interior pen walls,or doing everything on ladders after the pens are built? How hard is it to pull and attach the netting so it's tight enough by yourself? (I like to have the 2x4 wire on before attaching the netting. You will replace the netting before you will ever replace the wire.)

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chickenzoo said:

For my temp pens since we needed something quick, I used a 20 X 40 pipe frame car port. I set up the frame and anchored them into post set 4 ft in the ground. I then stretched the flight netting over the top and 1/2 way down the sides. I put the tarp cover on over top of the netting. I then used 2X2 wire dog fencing stretched around the sides and railroad ties along the bottom. Now that it's been up it works really well. We got the frame & tarp new for $269... We wanted something easy to reuse since I want to later divide up all my colors and make other pens.... but it sure did the job.

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