Most secure run?

[ShrekDawg]

The chickens are in a 6×12 dog kennel right now and we are building a new coop soon and therefore also a bigger run.

I found what I think is a great price on hardware cloth on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000...olid=2PTMX313RM103&coliid=I2I6JO5XUS420Z&vs=1

Or this one but I like the first one

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001...olid=2PTMX313RM103&coliid=I27ZDWKXRUVYYT&vs=1

And I have seen tons of people make wood framed HC runs and thought that I could do that. I know most people that do it probably make smaller runs but I thought maybe we could make a 8x50 foot run which I know is huge but at $92/roll and getting 3 rolls it would be $276. Not too bad.

My dad however first of all didn't understand doubling up the wire for 6 feet tall or how you would do it and has never understood that concept. No matter how many times I tell him everyone makes wood framed runs he thinks I'm crazy and seems to think it should be like a fence using metal fence posts. So that has been an issue for months.

And second of all I just discovered yesterday that he does not think that it would be as secure as a dog kennel.

I thought it was the cost but nope, he just doesn't think it is secure.

In my opinion, the hardware cloth is a smarter investment because like I said it is less than $300 for a way bigger run. Most dog kennels I have seen on Craigslist range from $100 up to $400 or $500 with most being in between, $200 or $300. Most of these are 6x12 or 6x10 but a couple have been 12×24 and one was 24x24.

But I don't know, just, imo, you could make a much bigger and much nicer looking run with hardware cloth. But he thinks it is not secure and also thinks we have some HC already.

So I guess my question is is a hardware cloth run secure? To me it seems it would be as secure or more secure than chainlink.

Another thing for me is the secure thing is somewhat moot because we hardly have any coyotes and only one fox. We have skunks and I think raccoons but they have not tried anything yet. We have a big 130 pound dog though but he is not allowed near the chickens and even if he was, I think hardware cloth would deter him???

I mean I know chicken wire is not at all secure but I thought hardware cloth was?

Anyone have pictures of their runs and/or stories??? Maybe someone has used this where there ARE large predators?????

 

[blucoondawg]

It's cattle panel so the holes are quite large I ran chicken wire across the bottom area on both sides so the holes werent an issue, I then put a tarp over the top which went almost to the ground on each side and wrapped around the back since I was using it as the actual coop not just the run. Mine is built 3 panels long my buddy build a larger one 6 panels long.
To keep it in place I screwed together a wood frame of 2x4s 8 feet wide by whatever the length of 3 panels is, just over 12 feet I think because I want to say each panel is 50 inches but that will vary with suppliers.
I bent the hoops and temporarily secured them with large zip ties then I welded all the panel's together. I then had an extra panel I welded across the back for a back wall then I cut the remainder off and used it to partially enclose the front wall and then built a door into that. However you can just attach them together with heavy zip ties or wire you don't need to weld them, I plan on moving mine around for different purposes so I figured welding it was the best

 

[0wen]

Hardware cloth by a lot. The dog kennel is doing to basically be like chicken wire - more for keeping chickens in rather than predators out. Raccoons will be able to grab your chickens through the chain link, and while it probably can't get the entire bird, it's not uncommon for coons to pull chicken heads (or whatever) off of their bodies. Weasels, minks, martens, etc will easily pass through many chain link style fences.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Thanks!! So far we haven't had any issues with those sorts of predators and they are locked in at night so I think it's sort of created a false sense of security for him. I think he might be concerned about canine predators but it seems to me like HC would be secure against those too? And certainly those other predators are a concern too.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Anybody?? I kinda wanna just order it but not if it's not safe.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

1/2" hardware cloth attached with screws and fender washers then covered with wood strips is pretty darn secure! If you have bears or large cats you might want to add electric fence.

Here's a pic of our run, it's very secure. We have many predators and haven't had a breach.

[/IMG]

 

[ShrekDawg]

1/2" hardware cloth attached with screws and fender washers then covered with wood strips is pretty darn secure! If you have bears or large cats you might want to add electric fence.

Here's a pic of our run, it's very secure. We have many predators and haven't had a breach.

[/IMG]

Thanks for confirming that and the picture! Definitely looks secure to me! Fortunately we don't have any cats or bears. We do have coyotes, fox, and a large (130 pound) Black Lab/Great Pyrenees dog though. Do you think it will stand up to those?

 

[blucoondawg]

Honestly it depends what you mean by secure, as already stated the dog kennel will allow a coon to reach in, to me that is a small risk in my area as we simply don't have many coon but simply strength wise the dog kennel is going to be stronger. Hardware cloth is a nice small grid but is relatively light wire. I could see a large dog getting through hardware cloth alone especially if the cloth were spanning a large area, if the side of the run were somewhat studded in with wood uprights such as you would building a house wall then covered with the hardware cloth it would be far stronger than just stretching the cloth between the corner uprights.
I have a chain link fence yard and used that as one side of the run then I had a bunch of kennel sections I used to make the run 12x35, this fence is strong no dog is going to get through it and honestly neighborhood dogs are most people's biggest threat to their chickens. You could run hardware cloth along the bottom of the chain link to prevent a coon reaching in if that's a problem by you but I believe this setup is far stronger than had I built a completely hardware cloth run

 

[ChickenMammX4]

With the 1/2" openings in the hardware cloth, I don't think a dog could get hold of it to tear apart especially with it secured with screws and fender washers and trimmed out with wood strips. But then, anything is possible. We have coyotes, fox, skunk, opossum, weasels, raccoon and Hawks. Our dog is only about 75 lbs, more abt to attempt to dig in that go through the hardware cloth. We buried it 18" all around.

 

[blucoondawg]

My concern would be something striking it hard enough to go right through, if a large dog run up to it and tried to dive right in I think the wire would give unless reinforced somehow