Does my run need a wire ceiling?

[glenny]

Hi,
I built a beautiful fenced yard for my girls only to discover that it is easily accessed by a bobcat. I'm trying to remedy the situation. I could make a smaller wire house that stands off the henhouse and is totally enclosed in wire.
Or, I could put an angled extension on the top of my fence with 3 rows of barbed wire and electrify 2 of them.
Does anyone have an idea about whether the prison style fence might work? Do I just need to cover the run?
I'm looking for advice from those with experience. I feel so foolish to have built this beautiful and ineffective fence! I don't want to make another mistake...
Thanks,
Glenda

 

[BoltonChicken]

Hardware cloth screwed into wood framing with TEK screws. Will keep out most anything in my area, but I am not positive about a bobcat. Dogs, cats, raccoons, possums, snakes, hawks, etc. cannot get in. In 16 months I have not had a successful attempt at breaking in. Electrified barbed wire would be a bit excessive. You DO need to cover the run if you leave them out there all day. I use a solid roof to keep out rain. Others use poultry wire, but his won't deter a large hawk.

 

[FrozenCanadian]

Everything needs to be covered.

In my case, I buried some rabbit wire around the perimeter and for the rest, chicken wire.

No matter what you do, a very determined animal (or person?) will get through. But I do believe that most of the time, elementary precautions are good enough.

Now, electrified barbed wire... that would be a little excessive, in my humble opinion

 

[chfite]

How tall is your fence?

Chris

 

[Countrypunk92]

Yes! Cover the run! When you think your safe, your not! I didnt have one attack all year until about a month ago! Wiped 1/3 of my flock!

I would use hardware cloth, or aviary mesh.

 

[chickengoober]

I've got the top of my run covered, granted it's only a measly 10x10'. I would agree with everyone else and say you should cover it with something like hardware cloth or chicken wire.

 

[erinszoo]

We've never covered ours, however, we don't have bobcats around here and there's a huge pecan tree that covers the yard. The only losses we've had were through the side fence where a opossum reached through the chicken wire and decapitated some turkey poults. They are all now housed in our garage where we converted half over into a house for them. We've never seen a predator during the day. You could also build a cover using 16 ft cattle panels covered in chicken wire. It won't deter a snake but most things won't deter a snake. It will be structurally sound enough to support the weight of a prowling bobcat without letting them through. I'm not sure hardware cloth will actually support a bobcats weight. It depends on how big your span is across the top that needs to be covered.

 

[Happy Camper]

I used a couple of discarded mesh banners my husband brought from work as the cover of my coop. It was free and lets air and rain through is easy to keep clean and not heavy... I guess you can buy those quite cheap too. They are sturdy enough (I think the material used is nylon).