Chain Link for surrounding the run?

[Prairie Mary]

Wow Rochelle, we live in the same town. We live on 503 just north of Orchards.

We have the predators that you do except for the eagles, foxes and bobs. I ran wire above the chicken run after a hawk got one pullet. That was 3 years ago and we haven't lost anything since. Which is kind of odd since the girls free range in the pasture which is not covered. But we've always had a horse in there (until recently) and I wonder if that is a factor. Also, I close the pop door at night. My hubby made an automatic door opener and that is a godsend.

My coop is one of the walls of the run and the shop is the other. The wires are anchored on the shop fascia. I like the chain link and I'm not sure why you need more wire it sounds like you have a really good deal on it. I ran a couple feet high sections of it on the field fence to stop the girls from stepping through the fence. We used 2x4 wire around the run and dug a trench to bury it (about 6") and once the grass grew up around it I wondered why we buried it so deep.

If I were you I would think hard about the chain link on the floor of the run. It would get in the way of anything that you need to do to maintain the grounds. For instance, shoveling snow (yea I shovel snow for the girls if it gets high) or pulling weeds (some are poisonous). Also if you plan to give them scratch and they can't get to it you'll grow a lot of whatever grain it is and it may rot from trapped air. I'm also not sure about how their feet will do walking on it all the time . . . possibly getting their toes stuck in it. Would they be able to run on it? Even if they are safe, chickens run when they see a hawk or whatever. I would not do the floor.

Rochelle, you've obviously thoroughly thought this out but if you want to come over to see what our setup is and swap ideas, it would be my pleasure to have you over. Email me if you want to get together, ok?

Mary

 

[WishboneDawn]

Quote:
I second the Craig's List recommendation. My husband is going out today to look at a chain link dog run that's 12 by 7 and 8 feet high and is $175 (Canadian) that we saw on our local classifieds web site. We were going to check out another ad that offered 100 feet of chain link fencing and posts for $100. There's no need to buy this stuff new.

 

[jtbrown]

My husband has a friend who is digging up 100 feet of chain link fence that is fairly new (10 years or less), he thinks it is to put up privacy fence as they live in town, it is 6 foot high, the wire is down and my husband is going over to dig up the fence posts tonight with tractor (pull them out). We are going to try to replant them for our 2nd chicken run. Or plan is to get 3 foot 1/2 hardware clothe and put a foot on the ground bent out for grass to go through to discourage diggers and 2 feet up to keep kids and predators from grabbing through the wire at the chickens (more predators than kids). We will also rig up some kind of a cover, unsure what yet, we are still working/learning. So, we are getting it for free, he is less than a mile from our house and my husband's payment for it will be a scoop full of dirt to fill in the holes for them. He is driving tractor to their house with dirt, and I will take pick up with trailer to get fence and posts. I think we are getting a deal, I don't mean to hijack thread, but am greatful to see people who like the chain link fence. I was going to post on this, and was glad to sort of see it was already here.

 

[Amethyste]

I live not far from SheDragon.

We have coons, hawks, eagles, possums and people in the area. Yes people can be predators too...and sadly I do know a few people who had their chooks "rustled". The thought around our neighborhood is that it is probably people down on their luck that are seeing the chance for free food or eggs. We didn't think about putting a lock on the external nesting box...we do now. We had more than a few taken as well. We know for sure it was a coon at least 2x, but the others...last I saw coons cannot break a padlock.

We also thought it would not be a worry about predators with just the dog kennel. We learned sadly, that need to do more than just chain link. We lost several hens to a coon attack thru the wires of the kennel. They are a lot stronger than they look, and we did find that they were able to stretch the kennel wire a bit. Not enough to get in, but enough to make us go ewww. The chooks tend to be curious, and I really think they went to go check out the coon at the fence and that is when they were able to grab them. We now keep the door closed at night as well from the coop to the run...we thought it was safe but after seeing a coon one night IN the run that we thought was secure, we changed our minds.

What we ended up doing was getting hardware wire and burying it under the outside of the run, and pushed out about a foot or so to discourage diggers. Then we additionally added more hardware cloth, skirting the bottom of the run on the inside with about 18 inches, about chicken height. The coons cannot get hold of birds OR the kennel wire to move it, and even if they climb it they cant get the leverage to pull it.

Chain link is nice...I love our kennel we have <10 x 10>, but you do need to make some additional changes to keep girls safe. Especially with the wildlife coming more into suburbia...if something really wants in they find a way.

 

[Theapplechicks]

haven't read all the replies so someone may have already put info for you, but we just made a new pen of chain link. We actually went to Lowes and bought a dog run kit that you put together yourself. It measures 10x10x6 or you could do it also 15x5x6 or something like that. anyway, its working great. You can purchase roofing for them as well. Right now we have a big tarp covering the top w/ a garden stake in the middle so the rain will run off. I have had to get some hardware cloth to put around the bottom for extra protection and to keep the little ones from getting out. It was only $229 for the kit and quite easy to put together. We have put our little coop inside it for now. Planning to make a new one eventually but it works for now. (by the way put the coop in before you get it all together! Once it's done it's quite heavy and unless the door is huge... hard to get the coop in! thank goodness my hubby has big muscles... he lifted the run while I shoved the coop under!)

 

[WishboneDawn]

Quote:
This is what we're planning to do with our dog run. Any hole that's big enough for a raccoon to stick it's paw through is too big.

 

[kcwazzu]

Greetings fellow Washingtonian,
I went with a 10x10x6 dog kennel that I already had and it works great with the addition of hardware cloth and poultry fencing. I also put welded wire over the top and a tarp. So far the only problems I've had are with rodents. That's more of a feed issue but I'm working on that as well.

Keith

 

[georgiagail]

We also went with the dog kennel idea (first kennel purchased from yourfencestore, the last two from Lowes) and ran 36" hardware cloth along three sides (the fourth side of the run was attached to the coop). Picture of the work in progress:

The chain link is good but it doesn't stop critters like raccoons from being able to reach in to grab.

Final step was a roof made of PVC pipe and hardware cloth to make it totally enclosed:

Gail

 

[okie_biddy]

Looks great! I am also using a dog run for mine.

 

[watchdogps]

The house we are moving into has some kennel panels in the barn we can use! I have 2 @ 8ft long, 2 @ 6ft with gates and 5 @ 6 ft no gate. I will cover the top too.