Cheapest and best material to use for fencing in a run area. chicken wire?

[snooptwomey]

I am hoping to be living in a place where I can finally have chickens again and might only need to build a fenced in run. what is the cheapest/best thing to use for this? I will probably will be going 25'x25' feet or so, maybe larger. I don't think there is a problem with predators where I plan to be. It would only need to house 4 hens. Thanks everyone.

 

[HEChicken]

Chicken wire is best for containing chickens - not keeping predators out. No matter where you live, there are more predators than you think, and once you have chickens, they will find you. Even domestic dogs are quite happy to eat pet chickens, and very capable of tearing through chicken wire. I recently moved from a city where I lived 2 miles from downtown. I regularly saw opossums and racoons lying dead on the side of the road after being hit by cars, only blocks from my house. I'm guessing MD has its fair share of similar inhabitants, and just because you don't see them often, doesn't mean they are not there.

If you are really trying to cut costs, you can do chicken wire, but reinforce the bottom 18" to 2' with 1/2 hardware cloth. That will help keep some of the risk to a minimum.

 

[TXchickmum]

I say it all depends on the predators in your area and if the run is inside of a well-fenced yard. Also, are your chickens locked safely inside a predator-proof coop at night which can be closed off from the run? If your lawn has a secure fence which is tall (preventing dogs, etc. from jumping over), and there aren't areas for them to easily dig/wedge under then you should be fine. I would cover it to prevent air attacks via hawks, etc. Also, make certain the the birds are secured inside the coop for the night. Chicken wire isn't effective at keeping a number of nocturnal predators such as raccoons out. These little critters roam all about the suburbs. (We used chicken wire for our covered run, but only to keep away hawks.)

 

[n8ivetxn]

I don't think I'd trust chicken wire.... We used a 1" square, woven wire fence, for kennels the package said. I love it, but I can't find it at the box store anymore.....you can use 2"x4" welded wire fencing too....

 

[snooptwomey]

I want cheap though. . . during the day they will be fine in their run with my dog(weimaranar) on the guard, and I will make sure the coop it secure for night time predators. I am ONLY looking for daytime/secure run area material that is pretty cheap

 

[bairo]

Chicken wire is best for containing chickens - not keeping predators out. No matter where you live, there are more predators than you think, and once you have chickens, they will find you. Even domestic dogs are quite happy to eat pet chickens, and very capable of tearing through chicken wire. I recently moved from a city where I lived 2 miles from downtown. I regularly saw opossums and raccoons lying dead on the side of the road after being hit by cars, only blocks from my house. I'm guessing MD has its fair share of similar inhabitants, and just because you don't see them often, doesn't mean they are not there.

If you are really trying to cut costs, you can do chicken wire, but reinforce the bottom 18" to 2' with 1/2 hardware cloth. That will help keep some of the risk to a minimum.

Absolutely 120% agree!!
You may not think you have a predator problem, but until you get chickens they have not had a reason to come either. I have seen everything from fox, snakes, raccoons, opossums, wild dogs and cats, etc,etc come into places you normally don't see them...all from the sound and smell of chickens.

 

[babyblue2]

Hardware cloth over a chain link fence is my preference. Because really if there is something that can tear threw that I d rather have them eat the chickens then tear threw my house to eat me. But cost wise the coated chicken wire is much stronger and far harder to pull apart then the plain metal chicken wire. Put the coated chicken wire up and run a few lines of electric at like 6 12 and 18 inches or so off the ground all around the run. That will keep your chickens in plus any preds that are strong enough to tear threw the wire will get zapped and deterred.

 

[Going Quackers]

I use a dog run.. and then have wire around the bottom 2-3ft, the top is closed in too.. wire and lattice(the wooden kind)