Converting an old play house into an 8x8 coop with a 24x8 run (7-feet high with bird netting "roof"). We're in an urban/suburban neighborhood and have coons, possums, owls and hawks. We also have four dogs in our fenced 1.5 acres who keep the predator population to a minimum. After reading several threads on fencing and looking at prices I'm thinking about this: 2-inch by 4-inch welded wire top to bottom including buying the bottom 1 foot. Overlay (including the buried portion) with 4-foot tall 1-inch poultry mesh across the bottom. My reasoning: the welded wire/chicken wire combo is cheaper than 1x2-inch welded wire and easier to find here. The welded wire is strong enough to keep out the dogs and other predators. The chicken wire is small enough to keep the hens in and protect them from reaching predators. (No roosters and no breeding for us.) Your thoughts?
I too will be building my first coop and run. We are going to use all hardward cloth. The grid on it is 1/2" and we will bury it about 12-18 inches in the ground. Our run will be 6 1/2 to 7 feet at the front edge. I'm going to extend the roof of the henhouse out over half the run so the girls can stay dry when it rains and then use more hardware cloth over the rest. I just spent $30 on a role 2' tall and 25' long that we'll use for the brooder. We'll get the taller stuff for the run. By itself is isn't to cheap but as long as its protecting the girls, it will be worth the investment.
