How to cover run to protect from aerial predators?

[Sueby]

I also use bird netting. I have 3 posts that hold it up in the middle, you can see them in the pic where I circled. They just sit on the ground, the weight of the netting keeps them up, they've never moved a bit. The netting is hog ringed to the welded wire & stapled to the wooden fence.

It's a bit of work with leaves in the fall & wet sticky snow (dry snow falls right through) but I can't believe the weight it will hold.

 

[journey137]

I don't know if this would work in your case, but I'd seen people concrete support posts into buckets, so they're not sunk into the ground but the bucket base provides more stability than just the butt end of the post.

We could even concrete a support pole in a bucket and dig a hole for the bucket that way we could move it later if needed. I like that idea!

 

[journey137]

I also use bird netting. I have 3 posts that hold it up in the middle, you can see them in the pic where I circled. They just sit on the ground, the weight of the netting keeps them up, they've never moved a bit. The netting is hog ringed to the welded wire & stapled to the wooden fence.

It's a bit of work with leaves in the fall & wet sticky snow (dry snow falls right through) but I can't believe the weight it will hold.

View attachment 2704834

We have no trees or bushes or anything in our yard so leaves wouldn't be an issue. I'm glad to hear from multiple people that bird netting is effective.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm glad to hear from multiple people that bird netting is effective.

It's very effective for aerial predators as long as it's well secured, above all else - that's the main point of failure when you see stories about birds of prey getting in somehow. I used UV resistant zip ties every 12" or so around the perimeter of the run, PLUS I weave the netting itself into the chain link fencing, so it's essentially secured every few inches. Makes it much less likely for something to somehow sneak in as they'd have to break or tear the netting (and I have quality heavy duty netting).

 

[Huntmaster]

I used the metal hog rings like @Sueby to attach netting to fencing. Very fast and easy to use and you can put them as close together as you feel needed.

 

[tbcorum]

Could u send me more info on ur system bc my turkeys are in the orchard & although the trees are semi dwarf they are really tall and I have a massive pole for the center of the orchard and I was thinking about ordering strong double knotted netting & no way will one do it but was going to weave a light wt fence wire through it and use the fence puller and come-along to make the wire really tight and anchor it outside outside my orchard fence with the netting somehow coming over the elec fence and this I have not figured out yet bc I don't want to short out elec fence !! Plz help bc I need to keep my turkeys away from predators and home and away from the rd bc they are my pets and just like my big babies
Thanks in advance

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I really like this guy's netting product and info on covering large areas. I might end up taking a similar approach eventually, and only let the turkeys, guineas, and waterfowl free range.

https://pinnonhatch.com/poultry-sup...hicken-pen-fencing/poultry-protection-netting

 

[Rick&Chris]

I found a few other pics to show more how poles are in ground and netting able to go over tress and shrubs roosts and just about anything you would need under it. View attachment 2704536View attachment 2704537View attachment 2704538

Thanks for the tips! Are you in an area that gets snow?

 

[Huntmaster]

Thanks for the tips! Are you in an area that gets snow?

Yes, Northern Ohio Michigan line. Dry fluffy snow isn't usually a problem it's the wet heavy snow that sticks to netting and the heavy ice storms can be troublesome also. My pens and netting are still going strong for almost 10 years now with taking some of the tips/ precautions mentioned above. Still happy with this netting and setups, in process right now building Quail and Pheasant pens/Aviary with overhead netting.

 

[bearcreekbees]

We originally planned to close in part of our one-acre garden/orchard so that the chickens could free range in it. Then we realized that we have way too many birds of prey around here- all of them- hawks, owls, eagles, etc. We talked about trying to set up overhead netting but we decided not to, for a couple of reasons. One, the effort and expense, and two, we like to hang out in our garden and enjoy it, and our chickens. We don't want to feel like we are in the middle of a prison or a chicken concentration camp just to keep our flock safe.

What we ultimately did was to make a 5' wide chicken moat down one end of the space. We actually never got it all the way down that one side- we did maybe 2/3 of the way and decided that was good for the number of birds we had at the time. That also allowed us to park a portable coop at the end of the moat for shelter.

We had an existing 7' high, seven wire high tensile electric fence around the entire acre to keep deer out. We also had some second hand chain link fencing that is 4' high, so we ran that on the inside of the posts for the electric fence and then did a second run parallel and 5' across from the first run. To prevent aerial predators from getting into the moat we installed a 8' tall post at one end of the moat and then ran a strand of fishing line from the post to the roof of the chicken coop, right down the middle of the moat. After that we added two more lines, parallel to the first one, about a foot on each side of it. All three lines are above head height so we can walk around in the moat if we need to, and the best part is, they are pretty much invisible unless one is actually looking for them. Birds of prey will not fly through them to get to the chickens. In fifteen years we have not lost a single bird.

The chickens have plenty of room to run around foraging, and we don't have to worry about losing them. We also don't have to put up fencing to keep them out of the garden because the moat serves that purpose. I would eventually like to add to the moat until it goes completely around the entire acre, but that is a lot of work for something that we don't really need. But maybe someday.