Best wire to protect the run?

[ashleymr44]

What do you use to protect your run?
We have a run attached to the coop and our door is a flap as during the we are gone early to work and come home after the girls' bedtime. The flap allows them to go freely into the run.

We want to possibly expand the run, but do we have to use hard wire cloth(more expensive)? Can I use chicken wire(cheaper and we could make a bigger run)? No predator incidents so far but the girls are only 2 months. Our biggest concern would be hawks but we also have coons, opossums, and foxes in the area.

 

[thegreatwhite]

I would use the hardware cloth, chicken wire only keeps chickens in.

 

[goosiesnougs]

We sunk chicken wire 5-6 inches down with brick pavers laid over it (underground too) like an L shape. So even if a predator digs they can't get under! I hope that makes sense!

 

[goosiesnougs]

We have coy wolves, fox, Hawks, raccoons & fisher-cats (caught them ALL on the game camera)
Still haven't had one chicken lost to predation, or breach of the coop/run

 

[ashleymr44]

That is great! Thank you!

 

[hbhoffman]

You can use netting for above but if you want it critter proof, hardware cloth is essential! Chicken wire can be reached through and heads torn off, or bitten through. It just isn't strong enough. Yes, it is expensive but having just lost $350 to various predators-mostly a hawk- over the last 6 months is not cheaper than hardware cloth. We have a smaller 4'x 4'x 6' hardwarecloth completely predator proof pen but it is too small for 10 hens to be in for long.

 

[jaj121159]

I dig a 12" trench for my run fence. I bury about one foot of hardware cloth or chicken wire in the trench and then put a 2" x 6" board so it is a few inches above the ground and partly in the trench. I then run 2" x 4" welded wire fence around the perimeter of the run except for the door. I usually use 60" tall fencing on wooden fence posts spaced about 8' apart. I run hardware cloth up the welded wire about two feet and attach it to the fence with hog clips. I also attach the bottom of the fence to the board with fence staples. Typically I put 2" x 4" at the top of the wire and screw or nail them to the posts. I like to cover my run with chicken wire so I usually Put 4" x 4"s down the middle of the run so they are a minimum of two higher than fence posts. Then I put put 2" x 4"s between the posts to form a ridge to keep the wire from sagging. It may also help on bigger runs to put 2" x 2" or 2" x 4"s rafters up about 4' on center running from the center boards to the top fence boards. It is also easy to staple the chicken wire to the rafters at the seams of the wire.

Hope this helps.