Dog run and predators

[chickgrammy]

I bought a 8 by 8 by 6 feet (height) dog run for a chicken run. I live in Iowa and we have raccoons, possums, hawks, eagles, cats, dogs that occasionally get loose and a neighborhood fox that roams like a stray dog. I bought hardware cloth to wrap the bottom 3 feet and then was going to bury a different roll as deep as I can get it (who can dig a trench deeper than 12 inches?) but wanted the option to move the run if I so desire. Is this a stupid plan? Should I just wrap the harware cloth along the bottom? I know I will need to cover the top as the predatory birds around here are as common as songbirds. Will poultry netting be sufficient? I am also concerned about the gaps with the dog run gate area.

 

[rungirl]

I use a dog kennel for a run also. I have the pop door from the coop that opens directly into it. I put bird netting on the top to keep the hawks out during the day. The chickens are locked up at night, so they don't have access to the run when most of those predators are out. Nighttime is the biggest danger and I wouldn't leave the chickens in the run overnight. During the day, dogs can't get into the run. Cats aren't a threat except to chicks. So for the most part they're pretty safe in there. My run happens to be over an old gravel driveway, so something digging under would have a hard time. You could put chicken wire apron around the bottom and let it fan out around the edge to discourage diggers. I think you could still move it, but I wouldn't want to do it very often. Here's my setup.

Oh, and by the way, I also went around the bottom of the kennel and used pieces of fencing wire to tighten up any gaps where it's connected to the frame. There were a few spots where something could have pushed through before.

 

[linkedsilas]

I use a dog run as well. I wrapped inexpensive fencing around the sides from the ground and up 3 feet. Some predators will reach through the fence and grab and try to pull the chicken through.

 

[georgiagail]

 

[Leahs Mom]

Georgia...what kind of netting did you use on the bottom of your fencing and on your hoop top?

It is very nicely done!

 

[georgiagail]

We used 36" hardware cloth. Attached with zip ties.

Thank you for the nice comment.

Gail