DH and I are making a day run for when we aren't around during the day or my neighbor comes late to close up the coop. We have fox, hawks, owls, and raccoons as our main predators, and the occasional stray dog. Not too worried about raccoons since they are nocturnal. I'm sure we have weasels too -- anyone know if these are nocturnal? Our plan is to use livestock fencing (is this the same thing as welded wire fencing I've been seeing others talk about?) and add'l 1" chicken wire as an apron along the bottom to keep young chicks in once they are old enough to go out. We will either bury the livestock fence or the chix wire underground and away from the run. My big question is what gauge wire we should be looking for? Anything I'm missing? This is our first foray into chix They have been free ranging all summer but it's time to build a run. It will also have a metal roof section AT&T cheddar to the coop so they have solid and secure coverage from our NH snow. Thanks!
A bit confused with what you are planning to do, are you building a hoop coop/run or building a square/rectangle structure? Welded wire fencing and livestock fence are not the same thing. Livestock fencing has a much thicker gage and is self supporting in an arch. Livestock fencing comes in pre cut panels, usually 16 feet by 50 inches or so for somewhere around $20/ section. Welded wire is a thinner gage and is not rigid or self supporting; it is more cost effective than livestock panels at about $60 per 100 foot length. If you are building a hoop coop/run, I would go with the livestock panels; if you went with welded wire you would need to also construct a skeleton for the fencing to attach to. IMO, you can make a much stronger hoop with the livestock fencing anyway. Check out the link in my signature for a hoop run built like this. If you’re building a square/rectangle run by essentially building a ‘regular’ fence, I think welded wire would be the way to go. Chicken wire does pretty much nothing to protect from predators like dogs or other critters like weasels that can fit through the welded wire, so I would go with hardware cloth as an upgrade. Don't bother with burying it either; just create an 'apron', an L shape with one part attached to the structure and the other laying flat on the ground. Stake it down with some tent stakes or something to keep it from lifting as the grass grows, after a few weeks, the grass will effectively anchor it.
1/2", 19 gauge fabric wire and on the roof. 2 feet apron around the base to keep predators from digging under the wall. The I covered the roof (left the 1/2" wire fabric in place) with fiberglass panels.
Thanks, all! I figured out we'll be using welded wire with a hardware cloth apron. Stupid iPad wrote AT&T instead of attached roof, LOL! It's all figured out now, thanks for the posts and pics! Very helpful!!!
