Fence height

[USMC]

I have a fairly ironclad coop which has caused me no issues at all.

We have tried to free range them from morning until night. We have 6.5 acres of lawn and woods. The chickens spent a lot of their time in the thick brush of the woods. On day 3 we lost one, I found a pile of feathers and some innards at the edge of the tree line.

We next tried to free range only if we were at the house for good ie not running errands or heading out at all. 2 days later and we have one dead although left whole.

We next tried only free ranging them when I'm outside or in the house looking at where they were. Oh, and the coop was moved out from the edge of the woods to a spot behind the house. Ill call this "thinned" woods as I maintain it back there, it's our picnic table area. So..dead chicken again left whole.

Leads me to my question...I want to make a run extension that's not permanent that will butt against their coop door. I'm thinking a 50' roll of wire fence either 36" or 48" high that they would only go in while we are outside or inside fit short periods of time a few hours per day. It will not be predator proof but I'm hoping it would at least keep them safe from ground based predators during daylight.

We have..weasel, raccoon, fox, hawks, owls and maybe a few others I forgot.

Any advice? They are safe in their coop/run but they enjoy it so much more getting out. We have 6, 12 week buffs.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I'm sorry to hear about the losses. It seems that once a predators gets one, they keep coming back for more. A fence would slow a predator down. Unfortunately raccoon and fox are pretty good at climbing. We eventually built a covered run and we also put out live traps.

 

[4 the Birds]

Very nice coop!! The only chickens I have ever lost free ranging were also Buffs about that age. They are pretty vulnerable that young and the ones that were lost did not go to the coop for safety as dusk. Adding a roo will help sound the alarm and ours herds the girls if they stray too far from the coop or not back when it starts to get dark. A fence that you put up and take down often will be kind of a pain and only some type of netting or plastic roll mesh would not be cumbersome. I would consider a permanent fenced area for them to free range. You could probably do a wood post and 2x4 woven fence 4' high for around the same price as any temporary mesh area (as long as you do the installation yourself).

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Since weasels can go through holes as small as 1" square, they're hard to keep out. Luckily, they tend to hunt at night. Birds left whole... do you have any dogs about? Most predators eat what they kill,although weasels and raccoon will just rip off heads.

As far as temporary fencing, it will slow down dogs and coyotes, at least. We dont' do temp fencing for predator control, but we do temp fencing for different ages of chicks. We do movable panels with goat wire on them. Configurable as many ways as you feel like building panels. They have cleats on the sides to wire together. Here's a photo if it helps. We call the little building the "pullet house" and it's up so high specifically so nothing can dig in. The vents at the top are covered in 1/2" x 1/2" hardware cloth. The bottom section of the panels are covered in chicken wire, which doesn't do much to deter predators but keeps the peeps in where they belong.

 

[USMC]

Thanks for the good info.

This would not be a predator proof fence and would be semi temporary. I'd plan to do either 36" or 48" tall 2"x4" grid wire fence. I'd have that up on those small green wire fence posts you can get for a few $ apiece. My thoughts are that it would keep them corralled (unless they flew out) while we are nearby. I'm hoping that whatever's been getting them would be deterred enough by this setup to keep them safe(er) for the few hours they are out there. This fence would stay up as long as the coop is where it is and would come down only when the coop is moved, which is not often. As a side note, the fenced in area would be under tree cover which I hope would slow down the hawks.

Someone mentioned dogs: really none to speak of. Our neighbor a ways up has an ancient golden and our immediate neighbor has a puggle. The puggle is in our yard on occasion and would likely kill our birds. I haven't seem her around as her owners do a good job with her. It's infrequent that we see her in our yard. I don't believe she was the cause of the last two.

My next option is build a fully enclosed run addition that is say 10' sq that I can butt up against the coop. I'd rather not do this as its a small area still and a lot more cumbersome to manage.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

If you really just want some temp fence to keep some birds in, have you looked at plastic snow fence? We've used it to make temporary spaces for meat birds. Just zip-tie it to T-posts.

http://farm-and-pet.hardwarestore.com/112-622-snow-fence/green-plastic-snow-fence-619594.aspx Snow Fence
http://www.lowes.com/pd_92059-16418...L=?Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo= T posts

apologies if you already knew exactly what I was talking about. Good luck!

 

[aart]

You also look at Premiere Poultry fencing if you want to add some electric to deter those predators.

 

[USMC]

Thank you walking. That is a good option and what we use in our garden in conjunction with an electric fence.

I like the poultry netting. Doesn't look like it could get much easier. The only downfall I see to that is the initial few hundred dollar investment. I will run it by the person of the house who calls the shots.

 

[chickiegal]

Hello y'all. Problem...my girls are flying over the 3ft fence that separates them from my dogs who aren't so chicken friendly. I'm wanting to raise the fence by adding deer netting to keep them in. I'm saying netting because I'd like it to be somewhat invisible. Do y'all see any problems w deer netting? I bought the plastic construction fencing but I really think that's overkill. Suggestions? Ideas? Warnings re deer netting?

 

[nellynelly]

not many predators are out (hunting) during the day.