Is hardware cloth necessary over my entire run? Could I get by with 4 feet of 1/2” cloth plus 2’ buried and then do the rest in poultry wire? The run is going to be quite large- big enough to stand in and walk around for sure.
Hi there, welcome to BYC!
It kind of depends on what your goal is... will you be locking up the coop at night?
Hardware cloth will keep everything out including free loading, possibly disease or parasite carrying wild birds that come to feed on the open grain buffet.
If you aren't worried about that or night time issues, then standard chicken wire will work for keeping birds of prey at bay... which is the only time I actually go on lock down.
For me, daytime ground predators aren't an issue due to my own dogs.
If you will be leaving the coop unlocked, I would spend the extra on HC, and know that my reduced feed bill and increased bio-security and standard security more than makes up for the cost difference, especially long term.
Another thing... I've never YET had to upgrade HC... but have multiple times upgraded to HC from chicken wire... time and energy spent are hugely valuable to me... just do right the first time. You won't regret it!
