lawn canopy frame covered in chicken wire for run

[Stylinjinx]

My husband and I are making plans now for a chicken coop next spring in Central NJ. He has drawn up the plans and has raised chicks as a child, so he does have some experience. I was thinking instead of a covered small chicken run, to cover the entire area with a commercial lawn frame and then cover that with the proper chicken wire, secured and dug into the ground of course.
Has anyone else tried this and will it work against critters better then having it almost exposed? I like this idea and I believe if we do it correctly, it will be a wonderful area for the chickens to enjoy.
thanks for any comments, I'm new at this but very excited about this new endeavor.
Jinx

 

[MoonShadows]

I don't see why it wouldn't work. As someone who has experience using these canopies from doing craft shows for years. Don't skimp. Don't buy a Walmart cheapo. It just won't last. Look at a good commercial grade EzUp or Undercover frame (you can google those two companies). If you decide to put the canopy over the frame for shade, make sure you anchor the frame well. It doesn't take much wind to blow these canopies around, and if not anchored well, the frame will twist.

 

[chfite]

Chicken wire doesn't afford much protection for the chickens. Hardware cloth is much better.

Chris

 

[cknkids]

I vote for 1/2" hardware cloth... Check out the price on Amazon, I was surprised. We ordered ours from them.

 

[Stylinjinx]

Thanks for the input
All will be taken into account. Being a newbie, we want to be accurate.
Joy

 

[RoseMarie1]

they say large animals can just crash right through the poultry wire with no trouble. I have that already on ours but we then went back with the 2x3" welded wire over that. Our pen was already there due to me having ducks many years ago. Never had any trouble with anything trying to get my ducks but they say every critter LOVES chickens so to be safe we just covered it and we are still trying to get the run all covered in the welded wire.

 

[ducks2chickens]

Can someone please send a pic. I'm thinking of putting one in my huge pen that houses my ducks, chickens, guineas, and turkeys.