Fence for my run?

[Trefoil]

This depends so much on where you are located and your local predators. If there are weasels in your area, it takes .5" hardware cloth to keep them out. Coons need a top to your run,ect. As tx already stated, poultry wire isn't strong enough to keep anything except maybe hawks out. Find out what your potential predators are and then fence accordingly.

 

[Weasleymum]

2nd the welded wire. sturdy.

3rded. As long as it goes all the way to the ground, 2"x4" welded wire is good. We have it as our backyard fencing.

 

[cafarmgirl]

This depends so much on where you are located and your local predators. If there are weasels in your area, it takes .5" hardware cloth to keep them out. Coons need a top to your run,ect. As tx already stated, poultry wire isn't strong enough to keep anything except maybe hawks out. Find out what your potential predators are and then fence accordingly.

This. What you use to fence your run depends a lot on the surroundings, how your birds will be secured at night and what predators you are likely to have in the daytime when birds are out. Some people need a Fort Knox run, others can get by with less.

As an example, I live in the country, lots of predators. But where my coop/run is located there is a lot of daytime activity so my main predators are the occasional roaming dog and possibly hawks. My run is made of 4' chain link dog run panels because we already had them on hand. We covered it with heavy duty shade cloth to keep out birds of prey and also ran a hot wire around the outside, near the ground, to discourage dogs. Works like a charm. At night the chickens are locked up in very secure coops since we do have critters that come in closer at night such as fox, coons, possums and the occasional skunk.

 

[camby]

Presently TSC has 2x4 welded wire on sale @ $59 for a 4'x100 roll. 5'x100 is $99.
Not pimping for TSC, I just know how much their wire costs.

We used 2x4" welded wire around the whole thing, then for extra security I did a layer of 1" chicken wire over that around the bottom only going up 3 feet, just because we had it on hand. It works well.

Used the same thing, but it is MUCH cheaper if you go to a concrete supply vendor and ask for it. You purchase different gauges as well as opening sizes. We did as the other poster did. For added protection we ran chicken wire around the perimeter up to 2 feet high. Our welded wire has openings of approximately 2-4 inches.

dc