Do you suggest 1/2 hardware cloth for run if the pop door to run isn't closed at night? I know raccoons can reach in if chickens are near the fence, but they won't be at night, they'll be inside asleep. ?
I have 1/2" hardware cloth all around and over the top of my run. The chickens go into their coop at night, but I close the door and they are locked inside.
We made our run out of 1"x2" wire hardware cloth. It is a full cage all around. The chix go into their coop at night and we lock the door so that they are safe from predators. We also cover their food troughs so that critters don't get into them. I go an extra measure and put petroleum jelly on the wood and around the feeders so that ants don't get in. I place citronella or thyme oil around the coop to keep mosquitoes away also. As best care as possible for our chix!
I used 1/2" hardware cloth around and over my run. The chickens go into a coop at night, but I don't close the pop door. The food and water are in the run. With the 1/2"HC, it keeps out all predators, including rats going after the food.
If there is anywhere something can get in by climbing or slithering through an opening, sooner or later your luck will run out with leaving the pop door open at night. Unless your run is totally enclosed and absolutely no way for anything that digs, climbs, or can get through the bigger openings in the fence or the coop where the hardware cloth isn't applied, leaves your chickens wide open for attack. At night they cannot see and are way more vulnerable and don't have the options of getting out of harm's way like they may in the daylight. I've got hardware cloth up too but all my chickens are locked in their coops at dusk. I've seen field mice and rats and mink get into the tiniest openings ever!
I've opened my coop on one end and then my husband enclosed a portion of our run, attached to the coop with hardware cloth, sides and top. They're locked into that space at night. Allowing them to come out of the coop in the morning but still be safe and I can sleep a bit longer before letting them out to free range during the day. I plan on adding an automatic door opener when I can afford it but it will just open to the larger part of the run. That way when we go on vacation or spend the night on the lake, they have a little more room but they don't need someone to let them in and out every day. I sleep much better since we buttoned up the space with the hardware cloth. And it beats setting the trap and catching skunk! They're hard to "dispose" of without them releasing their stink!
