How important is hardware cloth? Southern CA.

[CindyRM]

I'm in Southern CA. I have 7 chickens ready to be kicked out of the brooder. Predators are hawks, racoons, possums, and perhaps rats. Coop is a converted plastic playhouse with an attached floor. Windows are covered with hardware cloth, doors are secure. The girls will be in there all night long. The hawks keep us from free ranging.

I'm having issues planning out the run. I'd really like the run to be 20x10, maybe a bit larger. But the cost of hardware cloth is slowing me down, especially considering in a hardware cloth roof. I'm seeing lots of folks using welded wire with 2x3 inch opening and then bird netting or chicken wire on top. Given that our predators are mostly nocturnal, besides the hawks, how likely is it that I need to have a bullet proof run during the day?


Any ideas how to lessen the financial load but still end up with a decent size run for 7 chickens?

 

[Helloworld]

Go online and purchase hardware cloth. Its cheaper. I do believe that chicken wire is more now than hardware. Then find you a place that makes sheet metal like you see on buildings. We were able to get 3 ft by 20 ft long and we used that at the bottom instead of cloth. Cheaper. I put a pic of it below.sheet metal was 40 a piece.

 

[Cryss]

Shop around. I buy hardware cloth online and from home depot. I get 1/2 inch x 4ft x 100ft for $165 plus tax.
I'd say use 2 rolls. Cut 60 feet off and wrap that around that 10x20 run. You can either bury it 2 feet down or bend it in half lengthwise to spread a 2 foot apron. Take the second roll, cut the same 60 feet, wrap that around too connecting the bottom edge to the top edge of the first. You now have a 6 foot tall run. You also have 2 strips of 1/2 inch x 4ft x 40ft hardware cloth. Cut both in half, attaching the 4 pieces together lengthwise make a 20ft x 16ft roof panel. Ok, that cost about $350 but much safer than 1 inch squares that a raccoon can reach through, a snake can slither through, and a rat CAN squeeze through.
It's totally worth it.

 

[mowin]

You want HC.

Rocky raccoon hates HC.

 

[imnukensc]

I hate HWC though it seems to be the holy grail here on BYC. I used 1/2 X 1 inch welded wire on the bottom 2 feet of my run and 2 X 3 inch welded wire on the upper 5 feet of my run and totally covering the top of the run. I, too, have hawks, coons, opossums, foxes, coyotes, etc. Have never had a problem in my coop or run with predators unless you count the squirrels that go into it to eat the chicken feed or the occasional rat snake that gets an egg.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Welded wire is fine as a base material for the fence. Skirt around the base and up a couple of feet on the sides with HWC. A set up like that won't stop rats (though they might be deterred if they're too lazy to climb) but should stop coons from easily reaching in. Top can be netting or wire (or solid) based on your budget, with a solid roof being the absolute safest and netting being the most affordable (but only effective against birds of prey).

It can be very difficult/costly to make a "Fort Knox" set up so sometimes you need to weigh pros and cons and go with what would work for your budget and your predator load. Keeping the chickens locked in the coop at night is the best way to deter nocturnal predators.

 

[lissalischicks]

I'm in southern california and I used 1/4 x 1/4" HWC. I got it for a fraction of the cost at Home Depot or Lowe's on Amazon. I like the HWC because the holes are smaller and I prefer to keep the rats and squirrels out at much as possible. A section of the yard covered in bird netting and it does the job. The hawks and falcons came out at full force and once they found out we had chickens they visited A LOT. Ever since the bird netting they have come around less. The covered area has also kept a lot of the little birds out from stealing the food.
This is an old pix of my coop and run which is surrounded by the HWC. They have access to the yard which is covered on sides and on top with bird netting.

 

[Cryss]

I'm in southern california and I used 1/4 x 1/4" HWC. I got it for a fraction of the cost at Home Depot or Lowe's on Amazon. I like the HWC because the holes are smaller and I prefer to keep the rats and squirrels out at much as possible. A section of the yard covered in bird netting and it does the job. The hawks and falcons came out at full force and once they found out we had chickens they visited A LOT. Ever since the bird netting they have come around less. The covered area has also kept a lot of the little birds out from stealing the food.
This is an old pix of my coop and run which is surrounded by the HWC. They have access to the yard which is covered on sides and on top with bird netting. View attachment 1748748

The only problem I found with 1/4 HC as opposed to 1/2 HC is that 1/4 is only 23 guage. Much much thinner than 1/2 inch which is 19 gauge. The 23 guage can be ripped easily. That being said, I did start out in my early days using 1/4 inch thinking smaller holes were better. Later I changed over to 1/2 inch, an added expense I could have been spared if I had known about 1/4 being so thin. It's all about not knowing what you don't know.

 

[SueT]

I use 2" X3" welded wire for my run, with bird netting on the top. Run is over 1000 sq ft so I couldn't afford to make it Fort Knox. They are looked in a secure coop each night. In the 4 years I've had chickens nothing has ever attempted to get in that run. We live in a rural area surrounded b y woods and pastures in all directions.
I do let them free range every afternoon, and only occasionally lose one to a predator.

 

[Callender Girl]

Yes, hardware cloth is expensive. But if you ever have to run off a predator, then gather up the lifeless bodies of your hens, you will sincerely wish you had used hardware cloth.

I learned my lesson the hard way.