Attached run - chicken wire/poultry netting OK?

[aart]

I bought 1"x2" welded wire. Much heavier gauge than hardware cloth and chicken wire, and (I THINK) openings small enough to keep out the major predators I am concerned about in our area. We don't have large snakes, and weasels are very rare. The things I have to be worried about are dogs, foxes, coyotes, possums, raccoons, hawks/owls. If we have any little chicks, we'll have to keep them elsewhere until they're bigger, or run a line of hardware cloth around the bottom of the pen. But I'm hoping I have made a usable, affordable selection.

I do believe you have. Good Job! 1x2 should keep most chicks in just fine.

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

The good news is that the 1x2 wire is SO much easier to install than chicken wire! Maybe not as easy as hardware cloth, but still not too bad. And it really feels solid. I think our chickens will be safe from our likely predators.

 

[Folly's place]

It's better than chicken wire, but chicks can get through it, and rats and weasels can also get through it. At least add hardware cloth on the lower two or three feet of the run to help keep them at bay!
Mary

 

[aart]

The good news is that the 1x2 wire is SO much easier to install than chicken wire! Maybe not as easy as hardware cloth, but still not too bad. And it really feels solid. I think our chickens will be safe from our likely predators.

I think it's probably the easiest to work with. Make sure you attach it solidly.

It's better than chicken wire, but chicks can get through it, and rats and weasels can also get through it. At least add hardware cloth on the lower two or three feet of the run to help keep them at bay!
Mary

I really don't think chicks could get thru a 1x2" opening.
Gonna have to test that during chick time come spring.
Rodents and weasels, yes ....and coons could reach thru.
HC at bottom will not deter rodents, they'd just climb up and over the HC.

It's really hard to choose what to mesh use for a run.
Depends on a lot of circumstances.
Is it for daytime or night time security.
What predators are in the area.
Are you gone from home all day long.
1x2 is a pretty good choice.

 

[Hoosiercluck]

my husband and I had hogs years back and I incorporated old hog panel on my sides. It works well as a deterent for sure and I am recycling! I haven't priced, so I don't know how economical it would be. Maybe a farmer in your area has some old too? Good luck!

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

I think it's probably the easiest to work with. Make sure you attach it solidly.


I really don't think chicks could get thru a 1x2" opening.
Gonna have to test that during chick time come spring.
Rodents and weasels, yes ....and coons could reach thru.
HC at bottom will not deter rodents, they'd just climb up and over the HC.

It's really hard to choose what to mesh use for a run.
Depends on a lot of circumstances.
Is it for daytime or night time security.
What predators are in the area.
Are you gone from home all day long.
1x2 is a pretty good choice.

I don't think that there's such thing as a perfect choice, from all I've been reading and hearing back from you experienced chicken keepers. And I may find out down the road that I didn't factor some thing or other in to my considerations ... but I had spent hours online looking at different products I could order, and an embarrassing amount of time standing in the aisle at Tractor Supply Co. looking at the rolls of stuff they had available off the shelf. I had to pick SOMETHING, and the 1x2 seemed like it met lots of my requirements. And I did put it down really solidly - I used my dad's narrow-crown staple gun and a zillion strips of long staples. I believe it should stay put unless a horse tries to kick through. And since we don't have any horses ...

And I just don't anticipate having little chicks in this coop. If we had BABIES, they would be in the garage in our little chick pen, and by a couple weeks old, I'm sure they would be too big to get through the 1x2. We don't have a rooster anymore, so we won't have surprise chicks

Nighttime security I think we have covered pretty well. The coop is made with 3/8" siding with a solid floor. All windows will be covered with hardware cloth, so that even when they are open wide, they will still keep stuff out. When the ladies are closed in their coop at night, they should be as safe as possible. The wire pen is for daytime when we're not home. When we're home, they run loose. I know THAT's not as safe for them, but they love to be wild forest chickens, and we are accepting that risk for them because of how much joy they get from their free-ranging time.

Today we will put the final layer of roofing on - thinking of the roll-o-shingles approach. You know, the stuff with like heat-activated tar super-adhesive backing and asphalt shingle material on the other side? The roof so far has trusses, 1/2" pink foam insulation boards, and lauan underlayment. The final layer will be a shingle material or maybe corrugated fiberglass or steel. Gonna price stuff today.

Cutting siding today too, so we can nail that up. Getting kind of close to it looking like a coop instead of a skeleton of a coop.

 

[aart]

Pneumatic staples should work well, how long are they?
Too many could have perforated tearing/splitting effect tho.

Not sure the heat seal roofing will work today, lol...
...we're getting snow down here at 26F.

I've have spent many an hour standing at the hardware store thinking...thinking thinking, touching, measuring...nothing to be embarrassed about.

Do you have a build thread here..with pics of your progress??

 

[Folly's place]

Aart, my bantam chicks have no problem getting through chicken wire. Mary

 

[aart]

1x2 should keep most chicks in just fine.

Aart, my bantam chicks have no problem getting through chicken wire. Mary

Why I wrote most chicks, bantams are a different story.

 

[Folly's place]

Bantams are the best!!! Mary