Fencing options

[Grammahen]

Oh good, thanks. I knew nothing about the fencing part. We are going in a bit to buy all our material. Never worked with welded wire fencing.

 

[NJbirdlover]

I learn so much on here...thanks!

 

[LoveMyBirds]

What I did on mine was put those 6x16 inch concrete blocks down flat where my fence was to be.. Little shovel work involved..

2x4s on top of the concrete with the concrete sticking out on the outside so diggers might think twice about trying it.. Then I put 2x4s as post and 2x4s top and cross rails all nailed together.

I used that heavier guage wire from Lowes 1x3 inch I believe it was, can't remember exact size.. But I try to get the smallest I could ..

It's big enough my little chickens can run thru it though, upsetting momma..

Then I ran the same type wire on top..

Yes, it costed a little more but I feel much better and so far no digging on outside.. Can't say the same about the inside.. Silly chickens...

 

[Stamper]

Quote:
Thanks so much! This gives me some good ideas!

 

[StrawberryHouseMouse]

Could always do what I do.. Lock the birds up during the night and untill sun rise. Preditors usually dont hunt during the day.

 

[KattyKillFish]

i use shipping pallets. they are free and abundant and easily repaired/replaced.

 

[Lady Lavendar]

Just curious- How many chickens do you plan on keeping? Is your "run" going to have a top? If so, how tall do you want it? Do you want something that you can walk into or would you be Ok with something maybe 2 or 3 feet tall? Have you considered a large tractor?
We wanted free range chickens but there are too many predators here (hawks) so we've gone with locally made 10x10 pens for goats and then covered those with chicken wire. For the tops we made a lattice out of 3/4 PVC (used cross pieces and 90 degree elbows) We covered that with a chicken wire and a sunshade mesh because we don't have our coops yet but we only have 5 adults in two pens.

 

[Stamper]

Quote:
I'm not completely sure. Probably 4-6 and 2-4 ducks and 2 geese. The ducks and geese will have run of the garden during the day but not those scratchy chickens!!

I want them to eat the bugs around the garden perimeter so that's where I am going to have their run.

I do like the idea of having a mobile run but I don't think it will work with the determined predators that we have here. I really think I need to have a buried fence. I do want to be able to stand up in it so I can clean out water and what not but it doesn't have to be super tall, I am going to have it covered.

Thanks!!

 

[Stamper]

Does anyone use pallets for the lower enforcement against stronger animals and then back it with something like small chicken wire for height? I would still do a buried wire fence but I'm just wondering if the pallets could replace the welded wire...

Anyone had success with anything like this? Pictures??

Thanks!!

 

[Lady Lavendar]

I think pallets would work well, but not against bears mind you.. not much but steel and concrete works well against bears.

My other suggestion would be to go modular. Build something you can afford but that meets your image of the finished project (height, width) only shorter and as you can afford it, extend your project, since it will be the same dimensions as what you have already built you can remove one "wall", reuse that material and attach it to the new section. You may find that 25x100 really is too big and you can make do with something smaller. Or, you may stumble across materials that better suit your needs. I kick myself that my husband and I didn't think about chicken coops before we got our chickens. Hurricane Ike destroyed homes and ripped apart fences here and we could have had our pick of any building materials for free that were just thrown out on the streets for months on end. However, those coops wouldn't have been the prettiest of things and we have decided that we like keeping chickens so much that we are creating an elaborate "village" for them.

With kind regards,
Katrina