I have the coop taken care of. As I've said we have a decent size utility shed, big enough for a pair of peafowl, but we don't have a run. Do you know any good sources for run building? It looks easy enough
Hi Nathan -- What kind of predators do you have in the area? Peafowl look like KFC to a lot of wild critters, and some of them are really good at breaking into pens to grab an easy supper.
You have to think about the predators when you are deciding how to build your fences. If you can tell us what sorts of things live around there, even things like skunks or loose dogs, that will help us share with you some of the things you have to plan for that might not be so obvious.
In general, you have to think about how to keep things from digging under the fence and eating your birds. And things climbing over the fence and eating your birds. And things tearing through (or reaching through) your fence and eating your birds. (Notice there's a theme here...)
Also, it's better if your birds don't escape, since you are going to all this trouble to keep them safe in a nice home. If you are ever going to have peachicks, remember they are much smaller, and may be able to pop through the wire -- and worse, not get back (assuming they don't get eaten the second they pop out...).
In the pictures from my place, you can see that the base of my fencing is covered with chicken wire. That's not the primary fencing material, it's just covering the lower part of the fence. That's so that the big peas can't stick their heads through the rectangular wire openings. Because those pretty pea heads might be too tempting for the dogs, unfortunately. So even though the rest of the bird was safely behind the fence, it would still be dead. Raccoons can kill peas the exact same way, and can do it higher, so if a bird is sitting on a roost, high up, but next to a fence, a raccoon (or a fox) may be able to kill the bird.
I've had dogs that could tear through chain link fencing (it's not as hard as one would think, at least not for a determined big dog and cheap fencing), and I can tell you it is not that hard for a dog to tear apart chicken wire. So I'm not crazy about it as a primary fence material. But again, it depends on what predators you have to worry about. Also, chicken wire can rust, which weakens it.
Fortunately, my dogs aren't incredibly interested in digging (at least not this batch, right now), but I still have part of the pen buried below ground. If I had serious digging dogs, or more predators around here, there would be more of a buried barrier. You can make one vertically, or horizontally, it just needs to keep things from digging under the wire and .... eating your birds. An interesting design I saw here on BYC for a chicken coop and run had wire mesh laid out flat on the ground, a little lower than the level of the pen, going outwards, and then covered with asphalt shingles to keep the weeds down, then covered with dirt and pavers to hold it down. That was a smart re-use of the shingles, and it added some weight on the wire. Don't underestimate the ability of critters to dig through/under your pens to eat your birds. I've had dogs that could have been hired out professionally to work on tunnels... Had one years back that built an entire cave system underground. Some people cover the entire bottom of the pen area with wire mesh, and then cover it with dirt, to keep things from digging into the pens. If you do that, make sure that you wire the mesh or somehow attach it to the corner where the edge of the pen wall meets the floor, otherwise the digging critter will just open up the space and get through, and eat your birds. When I was trying to confine my escape artists, I would actually sit on the floor of the dog pens and wire all the strips of wire together for the same reason, to keep them from pulling the wire back and getting to bare dirt and easy digging.
Also, I don't know whether you have a floor in your shed, but if not, critters can also dig under the walls of the shed and get in to eat your birds. And every rodent in the area will be trying to get in to stay warm and/or snack on spilled food or rob the feeders. Oh yeah, and there are folks who have problems because snakes get in and eat their birds. (Baby birds and eggs.)
It seems like wire on the top is a good idea, but mostly it isn't, depending upon the predators. Birds flying up into wire (and they WILL fly up into the wire) tend to get hurt more than birds that fly up into netting, which yields more when the bird hits it, thus absorbing the shock. Birds can get killed flying up into wire. There's all kinds of different netting on the market, and it just depends on what you want and what your price range is. Shop around on the internet, and look at fence building discussions here and the UPA forum, and the sites that were listed for you already. I'm using sports netting on one pen, and trying to change out chicken wire (that got put up in an emergency) to sports netting on the other. The sports netting worked well -- but you have to figure out the effect of your local conditions, like snow loading, since even netting will collect snow, and it can collapse if it isn't strong enough. Check the manufacturer's recommendations. Make sure whatever you use will withstand UV radiation. You need to figure out how to secure the netting so it doesn't come loose at the sides/corners/edges. I think it's a good idea to overlap it down the sides a bit, but it all depends on how you are fastening it, and what you have to fasten it to. Also, I have used zip ties to attach shade cloth or other things, and our UV is so strong here that the zip ties only last a few months, never more than a year. The sunlight destroys them. They become brittle and randomly break with no warning.
And speaking of broken zip ties, when building (and maintaining) your pens, you must be excruciatingly careful not to leave construction bits around that the peas could hurt themselves with. Peas are very curious, and sometimes they eat things that they shouldn't. So make sure when you are using a staple gun, not to leave any misfired staples on the ground. Ditto hog rings and pieces of zip ties, little cut pieces of wire, etc. Make sure your staples go in firmly. I keep a hammer next to where I am working, and often go over all the staples just to make sure they are firmly set. I also tend to use a lot of screws and I have just about quit building anything with nails. Our wood dries out and shrinks so much here that nails don't stay in as well as I would like, and things loosen up.
Some folks have strong opinions about using treated wood (or more accurately, NOT using treated wood) near peas or other poultry. I'll let someone else answer that since at the moment, all my fencing is metal. I've seen some photos of nice fencing which has the edge of the wire covered with another layer of wood -- that seems like a nice idea.
Think about how high you want to make your pen. Seems like a lot of folks have pens in the 8 foot high range, and it works okay. I really, really would like to build one 12 feet high, to allow more room for flying upwards onto higher perches, but I'm not there yet. It gets more complicated in terms of building materials... Remember, too, that the netting will sag in between the supports, which effectively reduces the pen height. Also, supports impede the flight path, so try to envision a bird flying through and think about the hazards. You probably don't want anything hanging down on wires in the flight pen, because a bird can catch a wing in that, especially if startled. Likewise, think about the width of the pen. These birds have pretty wide wingspans, along with long tails, so it's nice if they have a little more room to maneuver.
Also consider your ground conditions. Is your ground flat? Wet or soggy? What kind of soil do you have? You need to think about the footing for the peas, any runoff issues from rain or melting snow, and what kind of conditions you are going to run into when you try to dig down to bury wire or fence posts.
Sorry, this is a lot to digest. I'm pretty sure that other people will be happy to share with you even more ways that predators have figured out to eat their birds... so much time, such a nice dinner... Anyway, it's a start and some things to think about.
