We had feather picking problems from early on (we got our chicks mid May) and we tried many solutions. In the beginning, they were in the brooder too long while I built the coop and run. We noticed one of the gals was getting pecked badly and another one was getting it a little, too. So I built...
I chose 1/2" for my run, top to bottom, to prevent rats from getting in. They can get through a hole larger than 1/2". We live in an urban/suburban area and I am very predator conscious: cats, rats, raccoons, possums, etc. We can see through the 1/2" mesh just fine.
Thanks for the excellent step by step phots and description. we used it for a guideline to model our coop/run addition on the side of our shed. We have chicks about 5 weeks old now and haven't finished the coop yet...we will post sone pics when we are done.
Thanks again!