Deer netting to cover run?

[rehric00]

I let my hens out during the day, right now the hawks leave the grown ones alone, but here shortly I will be letting the chicks out more frequently. I have to cover the run and we were going to use chicken wire, like the rest of the coop. The run is approx 24x24ft.

Do you it's think it would be better to use chicken wire or deer netting? And why?

Which will hold up better?

I am thinking the netting will weight less and put less stress on the walls of the run, but I am concerned it won't hold up as well.

Suggestions are appreciated!

 

[TheCrazyChick]

Definitely chicken wire, if the choice is between the two. With deer netting I have known a hawk to sit on it day after day until it stretches, then swoop down in, grab a chicken, and swoop back out through the stretched netting. And this was in the middle of town, not the country. My own chickens have even figured a way to sneak out of a low deer netting covered enclosure. I went out the other day to check on them and Hazel my Barred Rock was sitting politely NEXT to the enclosure I had built over one of my garden beds so that they could help me turn over the soil before planting next month. I went over that netting inch by inch and never did find out how she escaped!

 

[rehric00]

Thanks for the reply, that's kind of what I was thinking. If we're going to go thru the trouble of covering, might as well do what's going to last... We have some left over wire too, so hopefully we won't have to spend any more money! I can't wait until I can let the babies free range without so much supervision

 

[Lorien]

We chose to go with deer netting simply because it is more flexible. The run is rather large and most of it is covered by trees. We stretched the netting between the fence and tree limbs. It would have been impossible to make that work with chicken wire. So far, no more losses to hawks. I suspect partly because there are easier pickings than ours now...

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Do you get any snow in the winter? Chicken wire will collect snow and sag, until it collapses. If you don't have to worry about supporting a snow load, it works fine to keep out hawks.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

I just finished covering my first run yesterday. I used chicken wire...but...I also supported it by weaving bamboo that grows on my property over the top first for support.This way I don't have to worry about collapse nor sagging! I'm using a dog pen with 4 ten foot sides for the run, which the longest bamboo had to be about 16 ft long. I have lots of different sized bamboo growing, so I didn't have any issues finding some tall enough! I'm still working on the run, so the pics you see aren't finished product yet!

 

[rehric00]

We get snow (northern IN) but its not been bad the past few years. We were going to make a peak down the center and support it with 4x4s so hopefully it will hold up.