chicken wire & electric wiring

dmclucker

In the Brooder
6 Years
Feb 18, 2013
10
0
22
I'm getting ready to stand up a 8x8x12' run

I will need ~400sq ft of hardware cloth for 3 sides and one end (it will be attached to a shed). pretty good pricing puts me at ~$.30/ft.

Lets call it $120

I'm considering hardware cloth alternatives and thought of this one
$30 Havahart light duty energizer
$20 more wire than I'll need in my life
$20 chicken wire ($.05/ft)

sheathing the run in chicken wire and putting an electrified grid over it.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!
 
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Chicken wire can be ripped apart just as if it isn't there by raccoons and dogs. Also, only hardware cloth 1/2 inch will keep out rats and weasels, which kill chickens.

However, if you don't require a Fort Knox run (my runs aren't predator proof) and you close your chickens up at night in a predator proof coop then that is different.

But if predators come around I would NOT want chicken wire.

Also, remember to apron out at bottom or bury the wire for digging predators if you want to go predator proof. Run need to be covered to keep climbers out (and hawks/owls).

For my runs, I use large pens with welded wire fencing and I take some losses here and there. It is just too expensive for hardware cloth everywhere for me.
 
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I made the investment in the hardware cloth AND the Havahart electric fence set up...call me paranoid, but I've never lost a bird. Otherwise, accept you will lose some birds.
 
It'd be my luck that when the power was out, or a piece of grass or a twig had shorted the electric fence out, that's when the predators would invade. For about the same amount of $$ you can build the same 8x12 pen, sides & top, with 2x4 welded wire which would always be secure.
 

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