Ideas for top of chicken run?

[Brandon L]

Hello all.

I am in the finishing stages of my chicken run, and need ideas for supporting the netting on the roof.

My original idea was to use lumber for my run and have it be permanent, but our run is so big (we have 30 birds) the costs for lumber would have wound up being well over $1000, which I just don't have right now.

As a temporary (for the year) solution, I decided to go with u posts, 1/4" hardware cloth, and poultry netting for the perimeter. I dug a two foot trench all around the run for the hardware cloth. The hardware cloth sticks up about a foot from the ground, and from there it's layered with poultry wire.

In addition to that, we have two rows of electric fencing all around the perimeter of the run, one on the bottom, and one right in the middle.

What I need to do now is figure out a way to support the netting/roof. My run is pretty big, about 30'x50'. Could I use PVC pipes? I'd like to do that, but I don't know that our u posts would be strong enough to clamp them too. The run essentially looks like this - http://togettotheotherside.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/img_0319-2.jpg, but not as tall. I already have the deer netting.

Any ideas? Suggestions? I'm doing this all on a budget.

Thanks!

 

[Brandon L]

Bump. Any ideas?

 

[40angst]

I am going to try using deer netting, it's very lightweight but hawks can't get through it. I got a 7'x100' roll at Menard's for under $10. I will make a frame from 2x3's.

 

[40angst]

I'm going to use galvanized fence wire threaded through the ends of the netting to hold it together, I use electric fence for my horses and always have some wire left over. Then I would just put a few T posts inside the enclosure to support the wire every 15 feet.

 

[Nicole01]

Welded wire. It works great. Hardware cloth would be better.

We used welded wire until I decided to use a roof. Our run was a sticker shock to us. I'm thinking of converting the run into a coop for winter as extra space. We'll board up the sides instead of covering with plastic. Our coop is actually built in our garage. I really like our setup, but summers are hot and we heat the coop in the winter. We are planting trees for natural shade for the summer. The flock free ranges all day long and rarely uses the run during the summer.

Here's my run now(covered with plastic). We took it off. We have welded wire and hàrdware cloth on the sides.

I wouldn't skimp out on the run or coop. Predators will find a way to get in. :/. Even burying wire isn't fool proof. Maybe you can find free or cheaper wire on CL. My neighbor built a beautiful coop and run for free using recycled materials.

 

[southernfiction]

Your pen is all done by now, but I wanted to add a note on pen ideas. After I used bird netting (the kind that keeps birds off fruit trees) on top of a chicken yard once, when I went out to feed the next day, snakes were dangling from the netting and tangled into knots. Their scales held them firm. Probably 15 or so, mostly dead. Creepy scene. I had to cut them out of the netting. In other words if you want to know how to keep snakes from eating eggs and chicks (I've had them kill bantam hens, but not eat them), then bird netting will do it. It's really very strong and might do as a predator control pen top if you have smallish predators at your house. I'm back in Mississippi now. Snakes here, too, but not quite so many.

 

[culdesacfarm]

OMG I use to use the fruit tree netting! I would have flipped out if I saw all those snakes... Im thinking I would have put my chicks in a dog cage and drove far away! House for sale haha