how tall of fence for these breeds of chickens?

[the-bird-man]

good info. so here is another question, at lowes i found some hex chicken wire for a very good price. its about 4 feet wide by 100 feet long and its 17 ga but the mesh size is about 1 1/2 inches, is this too big? i can always double it up in areas if need be. they only want $60 for the roll and its the best price i have seen. if funny because this was by the roofing stuff and is much cheaper than if you buy the small rolls of chicken wire that says chicken wire on it at the other side of the store and this stuff is a lot thicker wire. please tell me this size of mesh will be okay

i will also put in an electric fence later on too. like i said earlier i do not have coons or anything like that, just our dogs and cats and maybe a hawk

 

[cfdf]

Will your chickens be locked up tight at night in a coop? Coons, dogs, oppossums, weasels, rats and other critters can crawl through, pull chickens through or rip apart chicken wire. IF you lock them up tight at night it might be ok. The best thing to use is the small squared hardware cloth. Even if you use chicken wire you should still use hardware cloth around the bottom 2 feet of your run to keep the chickens from getting pulled through the fencing. Electric wire around the fencing should help with this but you can never be too careful. I know you don't think you have critters where you live but I have a friend that lives in town and she just lost her whole flock to cyotes..... In town, in a fenced in yard, with dogs. It can and does happen. Now if you're willing to take the chance of losing your flock then go for it! Some people don't mind chancing it. If your lucky you won't have a loss but most do sooner or later. My mother who lives in town had a fish pond and the coons found her fish behind a wood privacy fence. I had a litter of kittens taken off by something...never did figure out what got them. They all disappeared at the same time. One eventually made it's way back. It had thorns and all sorts of stuff in it's body. It dissappeared again 2 days later never to be seen again. I guess whatever got it the first time came back and finished the job. So my point is, do the best you can with the money you have and keep your fingers crossed

. Another good thing to do is to put an apron of wire around the outside of you run to keep the digging animals out. Good luck to you!

 

[Hollywood Chickens]

leghorns, and EEs will fly 6 ft, depending on the shape of your run hawks may not be able to land.

I would cover it for Leghorns, it is a real pain to go catch them from the neighbors yard or the top of the fence.

Cats will get in and terrorize if not eat your chickens, dogs will dig under, and IDK what kinds or other animals you have around but they will try to get in.

 

[greenriver]

Barred Rocks can clear 5 ft easy. I mean big ole heavy hens.

 

[OkChickens]

Tonight when I went to lock up the coop one of my Barred Rocks hens (about 7-8lbs) was roosting on a board about 8 ft off the ground. I noticed her when she pooped because it almost landed on my shoulder. I would cover your run with either poultry netting, 2x4 or 2x2 wire, or with chicken wire to keep your Chickens in and others birds out. I would also recommend putting about 2 ft of hardware cloth on the bottom of your run with at least 6 inches buried to keep things from digging under as easy.

-Nate