Hardware cloth

That depends on whether you are just keeping the chickens in or predators out and whether or not it's going to be covered.

 

I plan on doing the bottom 3 feet of my run in hardware cloth. The upper 3 feet is going to be a larger welded wire (still not too big of a hole). Are you wanting to save on money? The larger welded wire is a bit cheaper. Be careful not to go with too large of a hole on the welded wire. The hardware cloth is so that a predator can't reach in from the ground and pull a chicken through. But the hardware cloth doesn't have to enclose the entire run-- just the lower 3 feet would be enough and be sure to use the welded wire for the top.

 

We did the whole thing.
Top, sides, front, back, bottom.
This way we are only feeding our birds, not wild birds or rodents.
We have squirrels mice chipmunks rabbits rats moles voles and a groundhog out front!

 

3' up and 1' out on top of the ground or slightly buried.

 

We put our hardware wire up 4 feet or a little more after an incident with a fox. We figured better safe than sorry after a fox got one of our chickens when she was young. She must have gotten her little head through the dog kennel fencing and chicken wire over that. Chickens do fly upward when excited and among the predators we have in our area......racoons.

 

Yup, 3 feet here, and 18 inches out on the ground.

 

Quote:You're using the hardware cloth down low to prevent reach through predation, right? So figure about chicken height, at least. Some people just go ahead and use the 3 foot wide wire all around the bottom of the pen, horizontally, so they don't have to cut the wire except on the ends. Also, if you have any roosts or any other areas in the run where the chickens could come close to the wire, block off those spots, too.

For an apron, I would build it at least 2 feet wide, and even more if I was counting on it to keep critters out at night.

 

I have mine 2ft up and a 1ft skirt on the ground, seems to be working fine thus far.