Who has a covered run?

[harveyhorses]

I live in an area with a ton of hawks and owls, so there is no way I could have an open top, I started with netting and a hawks went through it. (RIP Varly chick). Now I have hardware cloth, and chicken wire covered with tarps. Chain link fence, with hardware cloth inside and electric out.
Are there really areas that don't have to worry about attacks from above?

 

[al6517]

Sounds like you have it all covered so to speak, I like the fact that you took the common sense approach first, rather than goof around with silly nonsenicle idea's while lossing birds the whole time, you realized the need for a permanat fix the first time good for you.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Your chickens sound like they have a nice fortress. We have netting over the coop run, and haven't had a problem yet. But we have a big aviary with netting that the squirrels keep chewing through and a hawk has found its way in.

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

I also have the netting, only had a hawk swoop down once, and my hubby was in the run with the chickens at the time. They ran into the coop & my hubby said a few

, Said it scared the crap out of him!

 

[debs_flock]

My run is fully roofed (joists, plywood & roofing material). I love it, shade for the birds and it will help keep the run dry.

Deb

 

[7L Farm]

Half inch hardware cloth & an apron works everytime.

 

[pinkwindsong]

Quote:
thats one great looking chicken fort..

Pink

 

[harveyhorses]

Quote:
I LOVE that!

I was talking to a lady I work with and they tried having chickens, Totally unprepared. They bought a coop from somewhere, but the run was just a chicken wire fence, no roof, no back up, and they lost all of their chickens. She didn't think they had any dangers. I had to walk away.

 

[Life is Good!]

I likely should have a covered run. Our run is between our barn and a pair of gigantic maple trees. Our 2 acre backyard is a mowed field, so red-tailed hawks are around. But as for right now, they're not yet covered (run is odd shape due to natural boundaries - barn, tree, fence, tree, fence, hardware cloth fence and tree fort tree. Thankfully, our tree fort makes one tree unusable by hawks for perching. The other's shape is more suited for squirrel highway (or is it a tollway because I always see them carrying walnuts up there?) between our yard and the neighbor's yard.

Every weekend is fixing something in the coop or run or finishing some outdoor project before the cold sets in....covering the run will likely have to happen mid winter. Hopefully before it's an emergency item (like the barn window that won't close all of a sudden?! Grrr....)

 

[chickmashnoon]

I've got a covered run! and instead of burying chicken wire, we used wire shelves like for closet storage to "apron" around the edges of the coop. Won't degrade as fast as chicken wire and heavy duty for the coyotes trying to dig.