branch fence

[nellynelly]

it needs a few more sticks on the left side, but do you think it will keep in chicks?

 

[Hokum Coco]

Do you think it will keep in chicks? Yes it will keep the chicks in. I would be more concerned honestly of what predators it may have to keep out..

 

[nellynelly]

i might come to regret this statement, but we don't have predators here. also, this fence is within our fenced off garden ( wire mesh), so they would have to penetrate two fences.

 

[WoodenCoyote]

To be doubly sure, you could easily turn that into a dead hedge fence. Fix another wall of branches behind that one with (on the other side of the 2x4) and pack the space between them with sticks and twigs laying horizontally. Dead hedge fencing is an ancient technique, developed for when farmers needed an animal-proof barrier without stones available (especially with pigs, who can easily tear down wicket fencing)

 

[Hokum Coco]

We don't have predators here.

Predators can be disguised as a domestic dog or cat.

 

[aart]

i might come to regret this statement, but we don't have predators here. also, this fence is within our fenced off garden ( wire mesh), so they would have to penetrate two fences.

Snakes?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Your profile shows Bogota Columbia but from your photo you are not downtown. I don’t know what animals you have down there, but that type of terrain around here near cities teems with raccoons, possums, skunks, snakes, bobcat, foxes, coyotes, hawks, owls, and dogs. Raccoons will use storm sewers as highways to safely get around town in purely urban areas. I’d be surprised if you don’t have quite a few of your Columbian version of many of these predators.

Still just because predators are around doesn’t mean they are coming tonight to get your chicks. My parents raised chickens in a true rural setting with predators all around with less physical protection than you have and would usually go years without an attack. But when a fox or dog found them, it would have to be dealt with. That’s the thing with predators, they might not come around for years or they may come tonight. A good dog can help.

To your basic question, will that hold in chicks? I’m assuming you mean just hatched chicks, not adult birds. Probably. Some of that depends on how tight you build it. Chicks are pretty bad about squeezing into tight places and getting stuck. Under that down they have pretty small bodies. So that is one risk.

Something else you will find is that it doesn’t take long for chicks to be able to fly pretty well. I’ve seen 2-week-old chicks fly 60 cm vertical and a meter horizontal when Mamma told them to come to the roost. Just from watching them fly, they could have easily gone even further. They also like to perch. It seems to be an instinct for them to get on things up high and relax there. That top horizontal you are attaching the limbs to might look like an inviting place for chicks to try to perch. I’ve seen chicks perch on a 2x4 against a wall, which means they had 37 mm to land on up flush against a wall. It doesn’t always take a lot to attract them.

I don’t know at what age yours might be tempted by that horizontal or how big they will be, but I would not leave them a lot of room to get through up at that level. That dead hedge fencing idea could take care of these potential problems.

Good luck with it.

 

[nellynelly]

thank you all for the feedback. if it works in containing them i want to make another 30 meters or so of the fence (to create a new run), i am tired of buying wire fencing. i never thought that they might see the fence itself as a perch.

we have a dog that keeps things away. but i have not seen a single racoon like animal in the coutryside, including roadkill.

 

[nellynelly]

worked a bit more on it yesterday, and i think it is finished. i can not get my hand through the fence at the bottom. if they decide to use the top 2x4 as a roost, i might have problems. next i am going to build teh gate. i have it framed with 2x4's, and am going to only use 1 layer of sticks with a foot or so (at the bottom) of wire fencing. this combo, i hope, will keep the weight down, and teh chicks in.