How long of a run apron

[jimz1]

I haven't built my run yet and if read other posts saying youcan just lay an apron on the ground around the run. About how big of an apron should I have?
I plan on using either 1x1 or 3/4 x3/4 welded wire. I raised coons for a few years, and anything bigger than that they can get thier hands through it

 

[elmo]

2 feet should do it unless you have very determined diggers in your area.

 

[jimz1]

I'm close to a small river, it runs through the property, and I accidentally caught a small mink in a crayfish trap. We've also had an opossum on the front porch that the wife shot and skunks in the backyard. I think the inly real diggers would be the skunks.
Would I stake the apron down? And what would you stake it with?

 

[Mommy2Blaze]

I am going to sub to this becuase we are about to build ours and we know we have to have a good apron. We live on 11 acres and 6 of that is wooded with a gorgeous creek running through it. But along with that we have tons of possums, some skunks rarely, coons which never come up to the house but may if they see chickens, coyotes that never come up close but may for chickens, neighbor's dogs, our cats and many many hawks lol. Is the deer netting ok for the top of the run to keep out hawks?

 

[patandchickens]

It's up to you how seriously you want to do it. Certainly ANYthing is better than nothing!

I would never recommend less than 2' width, and 3' is safer; if you have reason to believe there'll be a significant problem e.g. foxes in your area are in the habit of tunnelling under fences/walls to steal chickens, it can be smart to go even wider.

Just depends on your feelings about the tradeoff between the very-definite cost of materials, and the ill-defined and chance-driven odds of losses to predators.

Either you would stake the apron down with a bunch of tentpegs (real or homemade, or similar devices), with the outer edge of the apron turned downwards a little so it is not screamingly obvious nor gonna catch your foot someday; or you can cover the whole apron with, well, anything reasonable (mulch, dirt, sod, gravel, concrete rubble, pavers, whatever)

Pat

 

[f8thnjc]

I know that people on here would probably disagree, but we have never worried about predators, and we have never had a problem. We live in Maine, and have hawks, eagles, coyotes, foxes, etc, etc, and we have never had a problem. We have 2" chicken wire for our run, and a layer of medium sized rocks going around the outside of the run. We close their door at night, so there is no worry about night predators.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
It's just a matter of risk tolerance, really. Many people are willing to take the risk that they'll just be lucky and not have a predator visit their property. Some people are lucky, others are not. You don't have a predator problem until one hits your setup, and then you do.

A fellow chicken keeper I talk with at our grocery store lost his whole flock within two months relying on chicken wire. Half of the people at our local poultry meetup had lost at least one bird to predators from a chicken wire enclosure.

I look at it this way: a chicken wire run is slightly more predator secure than free ranging in that it will keep hawks off your chickens. Plenty of people free range and just accept the risks that come with that. It's fine to accept the risk of a chicken wire run if you know what you're getting into. Unfortunately, I've talked with many people who don't realize what they're getting into and are dismayed when they realize after losing a chicken that chicken wire isn't predator secure.

 

[f8thnjc]

Quote:
It's just a matter of risk tolerance, really. Many people are willing to take the risk that they'll just be lucky and not have a predator visit their property. Some people are lucky, others are not. You don't have a predator problem until one hits your setup, and then you do.

A fellow chicken keeper I talk with at our grocery store lost his whole flock within two months relying on chicken wire. Half of the people at our local poultry meetup had lost at least one bird to predators from a chicken wire enclosure.

I look at it this way: a chicken wire run is slightly more predator secure than free ranging in that it will keep hawks off your chickens. Plenty of people free range and just accept the risks that come with that. It's fine to accept the risk of a chicken wire run if you know what you're getting into. Unfortunately, I've talked with many people who don't realize what they're getting into and are dismayed when they realize after losing a chicken that chicken wire isn't predator secure.

We have coyotes come in our back yard. My husband shoots them. It's not luck really. We close our coop down at night, and during the day, we have no problems. MOST every predator that comes out, does so at night. I have seen a lot of people spend hundreds if not thousands for a "secure" run, when all you have to do is close them in at night. To each their own, if they want to spend that, I have also seen people with "secure" runs loose chickens to predators, so "relying on chicken wire" in my opinion is not quite the travesty that you seem to see it as.

 

[JackE]

Quote:
I closed my door at night too. My coop is a Fort Knox. Fooled myself into thinking I had nothing to worry about in the daytime. All that changed a week ago when I come home to find 8 out of my 9 hens gone with only a yard full of feathers to show for it. The chickens were only left alone with nobody at the house for a couple of hours. Between the time my wife left for work, and my daughter getting home from school. And thats all it took.
Jack

 

[Mommy2Blaze]

I don't worry so much about night predators but the hawks in the day time have take many of my neighbors free range chickens.