chicken wire ok for daytime run?

[LadyLuck]

Hi everyone, I'm new here.
short background, I've not raised chickens from peeps before, only had some pet chickens that we got from an egg farm when I was a teenager. They were pretty miserable and worn out but with care I saved 6 out of 8 and they were beautiful although unproductive.
So I'm trying to prepare to get peeps for laying hens. I've read enough to know that chicken wire is NOT good for protection in the coops, I'll use hardware cloth for that.
My plan is to have have an elevated coop with attached run, but also to have a detatched, mobile run to use during the daytime to let them go all over the yard (we have 3 acres). I haven't seen any coons although we live in/near the woods and farms so I'm sure there are some. What we do have are hawks, many, many hawks. Also, we've seen one fox, not on our property but up the road one night.

Can I use chicken wire for the daytime run? I don't think I'll have fox/coon problems in the daylight, and I just need to keep them covered from the hawks and perhaps any dogs or cats that stray around. I plan to use pictures of a run from this site (sorry, don't have the link to the pictures) that was made from galvanized electrical conduit as a model.

Thanks so much.

Jody

 

[NYboy]

Will someone be home to oversee the birds? A dog can break in to chicken wire run easy. I only use it to keep chickens out of flower beds.

 

[CMV]

I never use it for anything, although it is tempting to use as NYboy recommended. Chicken wire is pretty much useless for anything but keeping chickens contained. All it takes is one predator intent on getting your birds one day that no one is around, and you've lost your flock. I use portable 4' electric poultry netting on a solar charger to contain various animals around my property. The birds can fly over it if they really want to, but they often don't bother. I have extra tall fiberglass rods (7') to run a top over it as needed to prevent chicken escapes and hawk attacks.

Good luck.

 

[Ridgerunner]

We all have different philosophies on protecting chickens, we are all in different circumstances, and we have different risk tolerances. It’s pretty rare that one answer is right for all of us.

Chicken wire will keep chickens in. Dogs, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, and who knows what else can rip it apart. How easy it is to rip depends on how big they are, how much time they have, and how determined they are. It will stop some things and will deter or slow down others. I’d expect it to be pretty effective against hawks. A raccoon, fox, or dog may look at it and decide it’s not worth the trouble. Or they may go through it. I’d expect dogs to be your biggest risk and dogs come in all sizes. I’ve also seen foxes and raccoons and others out during the day, but their biggest threat comes at night.

My basic philosophy is to make a predator proof coop and lock them up at night so they are safe. I made my run predator resistant using 2” x 4” welded wire. It will stop any larger ground predators except a bear and slow down climbing predators, but I realize it is not 100% safe. It’s still a lot safer than a chicken wire run. I usually let them free range, but when I have a specific predator threat, I can put them somewhere during the day and they are pretty safe. I did put chicken wire on the inside of the run up to a height of 18” to keep them from sticking their heads out where they are vulnerable. That also keeps the baby chicks in.

You can make something totally predator proof, but that gets expensive, can get complicated if you are looking at digging predators, and can be hard to move. Chicken wire will probably work pretty well, but I’d suggest something stronger. If you are going to go to that much trouble and expense, why not cover it with the 2x4 welded wire? That is not as expensive as hardware cloth and should stop practically anything in its tracks. You can line the bottom 18” with chicken wire of you want the added protection.

They are yours and you can do what you want with them. You don’t have to do anything. There are different factors in this decision for all of us.

 

[chopperglide]

where do you get the welded wire? i know what you are talking about as we had it when i was young, but just thinking about where to get it.....lowe's? Home Depot? Farm supply?
Thanks

 

[LadyLuck]

yes, we are home all the time.

 

[LadyLuck]

thanks for your input.

I'd love to let them free-range but a mobile run is about the closest I think I could get. We have SO many hawks.

 

[mohillbilly]

where do you get the welded wire? i know what you are talking about as we had it when i was young, but just thinking about where to get it.....lowe's? Home Depot? Farm supply?
Thanks

all of the above and most lumber yards carry it