Chain link run, roofing option for side yard?

[katydidit]

DH and I were initially going to place the coop on the side of the house (its about 8' wide, fence to house) and build a self contained run using a 2x4 frame.
After more research, and realizing how extremely NON existent predators are where we live- middle of the city, nothing more than an occasional stray cat (and I mean that, I'm a rehabilitation biologist for the city).

That being said, we were hoping to just install a chain link gate/fence to the back portion of the side yard and leaving them the whole area to range free. To keep the roaming kitties out, what would we be able to use as a "roofing" material? We get very little rain, and dont need a solid roof (as their coop will provide them with a covered area). Can we just run chicken wire over the top? Anyone else have any experience doing this?? We would have redwood slat fencing on 2 sides, and the side of the house on the other. Only a 8' section of chain link fence/gate would be at the front...

Thoughts??

 

[katydidit]

oh, the dimensions would be approximately 8' wide by 20' long... for 4 girls

spoiled chooks!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Um. The main daytime predator of chickens is DOGS. So that front part (at least) of the coop is going to have to be good 'n' dogproof. You may also wish to think about the possibility of dogs digging in under the privacy fence from the adjacent yard, depends on the situation i guess. And what about raccoons, do you SERIOUSLY have no raccoons in your city? (There are a *few* parts of the US without raccoons, but only a few)

To keep the roaming kitties out, what would we be able to use as a "roofing" material? <snip>Can we just run chicken wire over the top? Anyone else have any experience doing this??

Roaming kitties would have to be pretty tough and hungry to take on a fullgrown chicken. They don't usually bother 'em. But if you do want to keep them out altogether, the thing to remember is that roaming kitties are sometimes fairly *heavy*. It would require a lot of lumber to support chickenwire strongly enough to avoid a substantial chance of having a cat plummeting into your chicken pen some day. I would suggest either 2x4 welded wire mesh, or aviary netting. In principle a cat could chew its way thru aviary netting but used as a top I am willing to bet a whole lot that it would never happen.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[katydidit]

Thank you!

In my lifetime (and years of biological surveys throughout the area) I have NEVER seen a coon in the city. Should we plan on possibly attaching chicken wire to the lower 3' of the chain link fence? I've never seen one, but I'm sure chickens send out a "beacon" to all critters that werent around before,

lol. And should one show up, I am quite certain that he wouldn't make it long... we have a golden retriever that is fabulous at catching vermin

However, he loves our guinea pig, and loves birds... cats/coons/opossums/rats on the other hand dont ever make it long when we take him to our mountain home. We've been introducing the chicks slowly to the dogs, but once the chickens are in their sideyard, the dogs will not have access to them anyhow. The dogs have their own sideyard "run" and are only in the main backyard when we are out there.

I think that aviary netting would certainly be the easiest of options- what about just using shade cloth? We have 100 days over 100 degrees here in the summer, and it might serve dual purpose??