Bird netting over run

[cmom]

It's amazing that your lawn still looks healthy! We have a similar size covered with heavy birdnet but divided into two parts. I can see a big difference between the two zones after two weeks of letting them roaming in one zone. Just started to limit their hours on the lawn starting last week. I plan to switch zone every two weeks.

I thought the same how green the grass is. I have a lot of birds. These are the pens. The grass disappeared years ago. Sometimes I leave a pen empty for awhile but no grass grows but the weeds sure do.

 

[BoogieWight]

I used this as netting

To cover this

The aviary was only 65ft×68ft×15ft, so I just cut off the extra for repairs.

 

[BDutch]

A frame of a party / gala tent can help to give you the right hight for netting. I used that for the largest part of the run. Used special netting against / for birds of pray and put it tight on the frame. I made this 6 years ago. Still okay.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-run-question.1293914/page-2#post-21792728

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

Share a picture of your run! | BackYard Chickens - Learn How to Raise Chickens
scroll down you'll see my post. pinion farms had the best netting and price i found. Your One Stop Poultry Supply Shop! (pinnonhatch.com)

Which netting do you use from Pinnon?

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

Really awesome video! And yes, netting shouldn't be too taut (which can cause it to snap or wear out more quickly) nor too loose (which can cause tangling).

So how do you know when it is "just right"? (thinking about using netting over a new larger run I am making. My current run for my turkeys has chicken wire for a "roof". Part of it is used small hole heavier chicken wire. While that stuff is STOUT (for chicken wire.) it was a BItCH to put up. So looking for something much easier to put up, but that will also work well. I had no issues with the chicken wire and the snow. (Though I know if we ever get "wet" snow rather than out more typical powder" it would be a whole different situation. I'm als wondering if the netting would hold up well to powery snow. DO you know?

 

[rosemarythyme]

So how do you know when it is "just right"? (thinking about using netting over a new larger run I am making. My current run for my turkeys has chicken wire for a "roof". Part of it is used small hole heavier chicken wire. While that stuff is STOUT (for chicken wire.) it was a BItCH to put up. So looking for something much easier to put up, but that will also work well. I had no issues with the chicken wire and the snow. (Though I know if we ever get "wet" snow rather than out more typical powder" it would be a whole different situation. I'm als wondering if the netting would hold up well to powery snow. DO you know?

I find "just right" to be where you have it pulled fairly taut, by hand, but after attaching will still have a slight bit of give. It's not so tight that you can't still stretch or pull it a quarter/half inch by hand without too much effort. If it's a netting with square shaped openings you'd ideally want to see some maintaining their square shape.

Loose is where it's saggy without any extra weight on it. That's probably more likely to tangle wild birds and catch more snow, as the openings aren't nice and open to allow some to fall through.

Netting is kinda hit/miss with snow in general. The most recent snow I got, which was very dry, small flakes, slipped right through the 2" openings with zero accumulation. Past snow which was bigger, stickier flakes, would start building up and eventually need to be knocked off.

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

I find "just right" to be where you have it pulled fairly taut, by hand, but after attaching will still have a slight bit of give. It's not so tight that you can't still stretch or pull it a quarter/half inch by hand without too much effort. If it's a netting with square shaped openings you'd ideally want to see some maintaining their square shape.

Loose is where it's saggy without any extra weight on it. That's probably more likely to tangle wild birds and catch more snow, as the openings aren't nice and open to allow some to fall through.

Netting is kinda hit/miss with snow in general. The most recent snow I got, which was very dry, small flakes, slipped right through the 2" openings with zero accumulation. Past snow which was bigger, stickier flakes, would start building up and eventually need to be knocked off.

Thank you. Do you have poles or something holding it up in the center? Or is yours all attached to trees to keep it above "head height" when you are in the run? And I think you just answered my other question. (If 1 inch or 2 inch holes were "better".) Photo attached to show that I mean about "poles" to hold it up. (This is my current turkey run, covered mostly with used heavy small hole chicken wire. Poles are a MUST, otherwise I can't walk in there!

 

[linguini]

I was admiring @BDutch 's party tent frame - it's like a perfect roof line. We use rope lines to hold up the bird net. Perhaps you can use wire/cable lines to hold up chicken wire netting? The post you are using seems to work fine. It's hard to find post that tall!

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

I was admiring @BDutch 's party tent frame - it's like a perfect roof line. We use rope lines to hold up the bird net. Perhaps you can use wire/cable lines to hold up chicken wire netting? The post you are using seems to work fine. It's hard to find post that tall!

What would the rope or cable lines be attached to? Do you mean just running them across the fence itself to hold the chicken wire up to the height of the fence? (My posts have worked great so far. Even with wind gusts over 40mph.) They are actually only 8 feet tall. And that is because I couldn't get the chicken wire any tighter, even using a ratchet strap and a piece of rebar to "stretch" it. (While standing on the bed of the truck with the ratchet strap attached to the head ache rack so that it was taller than the fence itself. LOL I can only do SO much alone.

I am wanting to make another larger run, hence why I was asking about the netting as it has GOT to be easier to put up that that freaking old chicken wire! LOL (I am out of chicken wire anyway.) But the chain like I may use, is taller than the panels I will attach it to. (By about 2 feet.) So I don't see rope or cable working in that situation.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you. Do you have poles or something holding it up in the center? Or is yours all attached to trees to keep it above "head height" when you are in the run? And I think you just answered my other question. (If 1 inch or 2 inch holes were "better".) Photo attached to show that I mean about "poles" to hold it up. (This is my current turkey run, covered mostly with used heavy small hole chicken wire. Poles are a MUST, otherwise I can't walk in there!

I have my run split in half so each half has a different support.

The bigger side, the coop itself is my center support. As you can see my fence is pretty low on this side (4') so I have U-posts around the perimeter with tension wire strung around the top, to form a top edge to drape netting on, so there's a head clearance of roughly 6' through the entire run.

The smaller side I have a pair of cross beams set up about a foot above the top rail, and the netting drapes over that.

And 2" openings is the "standard" if dealing with hawks/owls, though that does mean that smaller birds such as songbirds can get in. I've had a squirrel climb in as well as a nuthatch that would follow me around the yard. But conversely 2" does allow more snow to fall through, and I think it's cheaper overall than a comparable 1"?