64 x 8' run... predator control for top.

[Panhandler80]

Have sketched out my frame. Plan was to have sides and top done with hardware cloth. Wondering if I might be able to get by with something a little more affordable for the top. Part will have a roof and part won't. Thinking I should probably just bite the bullet and go with hardware cloth. Thoughts?

Dealing with 1,600 square feet of hardware cloth sounds like a lot of fun!

 

[aart]

Depends on your predator load and your tolerance for loss.
Mine is all 2x4 WW, including apron, but I'm home within sight and hearing 95% of the time.

 

[Panhandler80]

Depends on your predator load and your tolerance for loss.
Mine is all 2x4 WW, including apron, but I'm home within sight and hearing 95% of the time.

2x4 WW = ?

I'm thinking I'll just hardware cloth entire thing. 8' 4x4 posts at 8 feet intervals. 2x8s on edge and partially buried on bottom. They sandwich hardware cloth, a 2x4 band along mid section to sandwich two pieces of hardware cloth where they meet. Same thing up top, and then 2x4 down length of run in middle.

Will this ever end? ;-)

Available space will be 72 x 8. Should be good enough for 15 birds. Not ideal, but acceptable. 38 dq ft / chicken. Also going to have some structure in there for them to climb / perch on.

 

[aart]

2x4 WW = ?

Welded wire.
Hawks are my biggest concerns, but a few canids have bounded off of it too.

 

[Folly's place]

2"x 4" woven wire is good stuff, and I have it on the lower 4' of my run over the hardware cloth, so some huge dog can't break in. Bears would take electric fencing too, but none here yet.
Good netting will keep raptors out overhead, or @aart 's method works too. Hardware cloth, well secured, would also keep out climbing rats or weasels.
I have a coop/ run combination, all roofed (snow country!), not huge, but good as a large coop. Then the flock can free range most days, depending on snow cover and predator issues.
Having a bigger run will be nice!
We managed with a run made of chicken wire for years, totally not safe, but ir kept the raptors out, and we were lucky too.
Digging predators are something to consider; can you have electric fencing around your coop and run? That's really useful against many ground predators.
Mary