I really need a chicken run?

[thechickman04]

At my house we have a major hawk problem. My chickens used to be in a coop with only a chicken wire roof. The hawks just kept on breaking in and killing a hen day after day. So i built a reall nice coop. That hasnt lost a hen yet. but its inside and i really want them to be able to walk into the sunshine. How can i build a hawk proof chicken run?

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

cyn uses cds on her covered run. she says it works

 

[thechickman04]

does it keep the hawks scared away?

 

[patandchickens]

lots of people here have runs covered with chicken wire, farm fence, horse panels, deer netting, string crisscrossed back and forth, etcetera. Do any of those ideas help?

Pat

 

[thechickman04]

i had chicken wire and it wasnt strong enough to keep the predators out...im thinking about using dog wire this time ...do you think that will be strong enough.

 

[karmical]

I think 1/2" or even 1" hardware cloth would keep ANYTHING out.

The bigger the opening, the less expensive it seems to be...so for keeping hawks out, you might not even need the mesh that small...

Here's link (just for the sake of the photo...you can get this stuff at most hardware stores or Home Depot, etc...)

http://www.twpinc.com/twpinc/control/category/~category_id=TWPCAT_4

 

[tiffanyh]

really??--I use deer netting. I have seen hawks bounce off it. I havent lost one in the run to hawks.

 

[thechickman04]

thanks for all the help construction will start tomorrow on the chicken run

 

[chickflick]

Would be nice for the chickens to go outside. It's my understanding that you don't have a run as of yet, right? They are kept inside the coop? Build a run using hardware cloth. I would use netting for the top. Not the flimsy bird netting that you get at Lowe's or Home Depot, but the good woven kind. If you look in the coop section, you'll see people who have it. Southern28chick has a nice run with the netting over it. You can find the netting at a sports store like Bass Pro.

 

[Southern28Chick]

I think you emailed me asking for pictures of my netting.

I have a 40'x50' chicken yard. The netting that I used on top is game bird netting that I bought on Ebay.

Here's a couple of pictures:

DH made those post to hold the net up and keep from sagging. The netting is secured to the fence with hog rings.

I bought the netting, the hog rings and hog ring pliers from this person on Ebay. They have the best prices I've found. I shopped online for over a month and they were the best priced.
http://search.stores.ebay.com/Cutle...upplyQQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsaselZ10009007QQsofpZ0

Hope this helps! Good luck!