Help please...hardware cloth?... vertical?...random stuff?

I currently have one BIG coop with Hardware cloth and one BIG coop with Chicken wire. Coops are around 8x10'. For me, the hardware cloth looks neater. The Chicken wire is cheaper (obviously) and seems lighter. Baby chicks are more apt to try to squeeze through the chicken wire when startled...even though they can't make it (depending on age I suppose). They don't bother with hardware cloth. I don't have ground predators so that is not a concern for me.

For the wire I never laced pieces together. I ran wood supports wherever I needed to add more wire and built my doors specifically with the dimensions of the hardware cloth / mesh so i didn't have to do much trimming.

 

Before you use chicken wire read through the predator section.
They love to dig holes in the dirt so wire on the floor is not so great.
You can put an apron of wire around the outside and you don't have to bury it just lay it on the ground.

 

A tractor run does not usually have a floor so that the chickens can work their magic on the soil. I would make sure that the coop is predator proof then shut the chickens in at night and let them out in the morning. Checking on then twice a day is a good habit to get into from the start. The run itself needs to be safe but unless you have unusual circumstances most burrowing predators come out at night.

I buried wire under the sand in the run of the main coop and I have a light weight movable run it's the with of my raised beds and so fits nicely on top. It's 4x6. I modified the pattern that I used for my squash cage and berry cover. I use for berries. light weight and inexpensive and easy to make out of wire, wood and PVC pipe.

 

Ditto to all of the above...
The only predator issue I ever had was a curious dog! I dug the trench all the way around the yard of my first coop, buried the chicken wire 5 in. down... totally a waste of time here. I am starting the second fenced yard area (almost an acre) & am planning to curl the wire out wards under an in. of dirt, then secure it by putting steaks thru it & into the ground every 10 feet.

 

I over lapped the hardware cloth 1" and used Wire cage clips along with a specialized tool to install them.

 

Whatever way has the least amount of seams.

 

Those cage clips are a great idea, I will check to see if I can buy the tool at the feed store.