Our 6 chickens are about now 6 weeks old and enjoying their open-air coop and run (about 25' x 6'), but LOVE going into a fenced area about 30' x 15' filled with compost heap and greenery and tons of bugs. The issue is the fenced area has no "roof"; thus no protection from hawks. Currently, I sit outside with them when they are in this non-roofed area, but honestly I don't have the time to be out there as much as I'd like -- or as much as they would like.
I'm convinced free ranging for them is so very beneficial for interest, nutrition, less picking on each other, exercise, health, and they make the "happiest" cheeps when in the larger area.
The question is how to protect them from hawks? I can add chicken wire to the lower gauge 2" x 4" wire for the occasional mammal during the day, but from overhead, I don't know.
One idea is creating a lot of wire tunnels with gaps between them to allow the chickens mobility over the entire space yet detour birds of prey. Another is fishing wire between fence posts--but that might be hard for us humans to walk around then. Another is bird netting with a center pole to get it higher--concern here is cost (we already used 1/2" hardware cloth over the entire run and all the lumber cost a TON). Yet another, perhaps less safe idea, is to provide a few covered areas for them to dart under. Final idea, the most complex and most restricted, is to attach some kind of chicken tractor to the run door (which is people-sized) and move it every few days over the fenced area that they enjoy so much--then again how enjoyable would it be if the space was not limited.
Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
I'm convinced free ranging for them is so very beneficial for interest, nutrition, less picking on each other, exercise, health, and they make the "happiest" cheeps when in the larger area.
The question is how to protect them from hawks? I can add chicken wire to the lower gauge 2" x 4" wire for the occasional mammal during the day, but from overhead, I don't know.
One idea is creating a lot of wire tunnels with gaps between them to allow the chickens mobility over the entire space yet detour birds of prey. Another is fishing wire between fence posts--but that might be hard for us humans to walk around then. Another is bird netting with a center pole to get it higher--concern here is cost (we already used 1/2" hardware cloth over the entire run and all the lumber cost a TON). Yet another, perhaps less safe idea, is to provide a few covered areas for them to dart under. Final idea, the most complex and most restricted, is to attach some kind of chicken tractor to the run door (which is people-sized) and move it every few days over the fenced area that they enjoy so much--then again how enjoyable would it be if the space was not limited.
Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
