Chicken Runs

[frizzleman74]

I have a whole bunch of chickens coming from mypetchicken on April 14th

I have a coop already built but i need a run. Right now i have a rhode island red hen and a bantam red frizzle hen and they have been venturing too far from home. They neighbors have called a couple times complaining. So i need to build a run for them. I wanted to know what they best material for fencing would be. Some say that even though poultry netting is the standard, is easy to work with, and is cheap, its not good quality. Is this true? I dont think i want to go with metal because it is said to rust and im looking for quality in the products i get. Also i really want there to be a roof of some-sort over the run so that the girls can be outside even when its raining and i dont have to shovel the snow each winer. Is Suntuf the best option? I dont want anything too fancy for the roof, but good quality. Also, the area where the run is going to be has a lot of roots. Do you think its a better option to dig down and have all those issues with the roots or just place the fencing on the bottom of the run and cover it with 6 inches of dirt. I want it to be predator proof along with comfortable for the chickens. Hope you can answer my questions! Thanks!

 

[faykokoWV]

Quote:
I can answer a few of these. I fyou want it predator proof, do not use bird netting, use welded wire. You can buy coated welded wire that won't rust as fast. Don't use chicken wire as it will rust fast.

As to roofing, where are you located, that makes a difference. Do you have a lot of snow or just a little?

 

[Patricia Jane]

I used T posts and hardware cloth for my fence and dug the wire about 6 inches under. Hardware cloth is sturdy and wont rust. I used shade cloth for the top. My girls are locked up in their coop and night that is very secure. I used the shade cloth to give them shade and help hide them from hawks. It's alittle on the pricey side but my coop can be seen so I wanted it to look nice so the neighbors wouldn't complain. Has worked great so far. I live along the coast of California so I don't have the snow.

 

[frizzleman74]

thanks so much i live in connecticut so i get mil weather all year round. but this year we got a tons of snow so it varies. I should probably go with the safest bet..better safe then sorry

 

[teach1rusl]

I'd go for metal roofing. It's fairly economical, and it looks nice because it comes in colors that can coordinate with your house or coop. Depending on how large your run will be (you mentioned ordering a "whole bunch of chickens"), you may plan to only roof half of the run. Obviously, long, narrow (like not more than 8 ft wide) runs are easier to roof than wide ones. Also, maybe 2 x 4 welded wire with hardware cloth along the bottom 2 ft. or so??? There's lots of galvenized wire out there that is very rust resistant. Personally, I'd never use poultry wire, whose intent is to keep chickens contained, not keep predators out.

 

[faykokoWV]

if you get that much snow you definately don't want a flat roof, you may want to make one side of the run higher than the other so the snow can drift off one side of the roof, that would be easier than making a peaked roof.