need run / mesh suggestions help.

[pawsplus]

Yeah, you can often find used wire fencing on C's list. People take down a fence and the wire is still perfectly good. Look for horse fence rather than farm fence (holes are way too big on farm fencing). I've also seen chainlink on C's list--i.e., not pen panels but plain old chainlink.

Take your time if you can and search C's list like a hawk! It will pay off!

Try Freecycle, too.

 

[Sinfonian]

Poultry netting, shade cloth or poultry wire are not even closely workable. They would not hold anything out except birds. Any mammal could get in. Don't waste your money buying something you have to replace quickly.

It seems my and others' suggestion of chain link is your only viable option.

Oh and you're right about the hidden cost of a support structure. For any option you will need to support a 10 foot wide span. Since your span is over 8 feet, the cost of lumber increases significantly. And an unsupported ten foot 2x4 would sag without the weight of chain link fence. Diagonal bracing would be needed. There is a lot to think about so no wonder your head is swimming.

If I were you, I would go find the lumber department manager at your Home Depot etc. and explain what you want to do and ask what you need. They are there to help and likely have the expertise to steer you in the right direction.

Don't be discouraged. This will cost money, but if you build it properly, it will last forever and your chickens will be safe.

All this said, my chickens are kept outside during the day in a chicken wire arc. I have NO daytime predators other than a possible hawk, so they're safe. I just am tied to the house at dusk to put them back into their predator proof coop. Let me tell you it sucks to cut an evening short to get them back in. If I think ahead, I bring them in before we go out for the evening. Just an FYI.

Good luck!

 

[arockkid]

http://www.thegreathardwarestore.com/Midwest-Air-Tech-import-36x100-1-2MeshHDW-Cloth-p/150029.htm?click=2744

This hardware cloth is 1/2"x36"x100'....after shipping it's under $100....I know you'd need 2, so it'd be nearly $200, but super safe....You might even be able to find it a little cheaper (I think we found the rolls for about $80 shipped when we needed it).

You'd have a little extra, but I bet you'll end up finding good use for it (we used maybe 1/2 a roll on the coop....and now it's almost gone). I say spend a little more to get what you really need, and sleep easier at night

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Google Flight netting, there are many fowl keepers who use this on their game fowl pens as toppers and not a bit of trouble. Everything from high winds, to snow load to predators. The true heavy flight netting is worth it's weight in gold, easy to set up and covers what you are trying to enclose. You can find them in all sizes, and some of the best suppliers will custom cut, or help you select a precut size for your needs and help guide you in netting choice. These are NOT plastic deer netting from a box store. We use it on our flight pen for the Mandarin ducks and wood ducks, about to figure out how much we need for our new aviary for the peacocks too.

If you chose this route, you will place poles with boards along the top next to the house to attach the netting to then pull it towards the fence line. You may need center supports as well. Place a pole with a round or square piece of wood screwed into the top to act as a "plate" to support the net from sagging.

Lots of pictures on this netting in use in the other fowl areas. Ducks, peafowl, ect.


I would suggest that you secure the privacy fence at the bottom with hardware cloth or pasture fence to stop diggers from coming in.

 

[affacat]

Quote:
Thank you for the thoughtful post; the head's still swimming but at least there's a reason for it. I know you ruled out poultry wire, but would you include hardware mesh in that elimination?

I don't think we have much in the way of daytime predators either -- a ton of stray cats, and we've seen a redtail hawk on our fence and in our tree, plus sharp shinned hawk are supposed to be in the area. but the cats shouldn't be an issue, and i'm not sure the hawks are big enough to pose a problem either.

really, it's the raccoons and possum i'm most worried about, we definitely have both. i've seen up to 5 raccons in our yard before, and the biggest are, well, huge.


Quote:
definitely an option, i think. lighter than chain link, which could be a plus.

Quote:
hah. every time i think i've settled on an answer, a new opinion pops up. Netting, in theory, seems the best answer since it's lighter (less support structure) and much easier to work with. the issue, i think, is if raccoons would tear through it... but i guess if the high quality stuff works for professional game keepers... but then, if raccoons do tear right through it, it's all money wasted, and we'd have to rebuild. as it is, we're already breaking the bank (the coop went over budget, so we're scraping $ together).

 

[affacat]

THE SOLUTION --


we ended up figuring out a very low cost solution to this problem. after visits to a couple hardware stores, we settled on two things:

1) thin pvc piping, 45 degree pvc pipe anglers, plus some brackets that hold pipe against a wall, plus some little pieces that fit over the pipe and screw down tight. we used pvc pipe because it was cheap, sturdy, and was the only material we found where 45 degree turns are supported (hard to find that in the wood section, for example).

we cut pipe down into sets of 2 -- one about 3 inches, one about 2 feet. we connected them with the angler thing, and mounted the 3 inch piece to the fence. the 2 foot length thus angled in from our fence at a 45 degree angle (think how some barbed wire fences look).

we then bought bird netting (about $10 for a 14x14 piece) and cut it into 2.5 foot long paths and connected these 45 degree posts using cable ties. cheap and easy, and so far, so good.

we didn't glue the pipe together (but could) and had a few early breakins where there is a big tree near the fence (they'd pull the top pipe loose) but i secure that piece down and put a little scrap of hardware mesh around it to prevent paws from reaching the pvc connect and that seems to have done the trick.

anyway... using this method we were able to secure a 500 sq foot area for dirt cheap. yes, i'm sure raccoons could tear through the bird netting if they wanted to, but the design is such that it's not something they really try to get around.

it also keeps our fiv+ cat enclosed -- he does't even try to get out. (he lives in a room in our house, and now has a screen door out to our chicken run that he can use whenever he wants. he gets along well with the chickens!

if anyone is interested, i'll post pics of our solution. it's easy. i'd actually recommend it to anyone seeking to contain housecats in a fenced in yard.

 

[kbenz]

Quote:
yes, I would like to see some pics. thanks

 

[DawnCols]

Sounds like you came up with a good solution.

My chickens are in a run that is about 14 feet by 5 feet. Half is covered with a roof. The other half has chicken wire and hardware cloth draped over the top. It's definitely not raccoon proof (I find signs of them in the morning), but like you I lock them in the coop at night. Hawks stare at them through the wire, but have never bothered them in there. (Not for lack of interest. I have had the hawks go after them several times during free range time.) Hawks apparently have to have a space big enough to be able to fly through with their wings spread (so I'm told). So even a hole the raccoons can get through, hawks won't try. My neighbor a block away has had chickens for decades, and she says she keeps hawks out by stringing a single strand of shiny wire back and forth over the run attaching it every two feet on each side. (So it makes a big zigzag.) She says they see the shiny metal and won't even try to get in.

I think for your needs your setup will work just fine. Hawks won't get through the netting. Raccoons might, but only at night when the girls are locked up. And if your cat can't get out, other cats won't get in. (In fact, your cat might deter other cats.)

I would also love to see pics of your setup. Next summer I hope to expand my run and would like to see how you did it.

Thanks!
Dawn

 

[affacat]

this is a pic i already have of the fence 95% complete --- the only thing not done in this pic is securing the netting to the fence. we did this with slats of wood -- in a possible fit of overdesigning, i wanted an easy way to clear debris from the netting (leaves, etc). i figured i could just remove the slat, everything would fall through, etc. however, i think were i to do it again i wouldn't worry about this... it would be easy enough to clear debris with a small ladder and just reach over the netting

materials:

1/2" pvc pipe (pretty cheap in 10 foot lengths, Home Depot had a tool available for use that let me easily cut it right there). the 45 degree angler also came from plumbing.
The brackets to hold it to the fence came from electrical (used for conduit).
If you look close, there is a another little metal thing at the top of the pipe -- that's also found in the electrical, and screws tight onto the pipe to give me something to connect the netting to.

the netting is connected with standard plastic cable ties. we bought them in bulk for cheap at monoprice.com (the best and cheapest place for any sort of cables, by the way) though you can buy them at any hardware store. one at the top, one in the middle, one at the bottom. you can also add one if the netting sags over time to 'tighten' it.

we didn't paint the pipe, but that could be done easily enough.

from our research, it essentially creates an angled surface that animals can't leap over, and don't feel comfortable walking on (the 'give' of the netting actually works in our favor).

We placed the posts at about 5 foot intervals.

pipe was about $2 per 10 foot piece (far cheaper than buying them in 2 foot precut lengths). the various brackets and such were all in the 50 cent range... 30 cents here, 60 there, etc.

We did NOT glue the pipe in, and i'm not sure i would were i to do it again. yes, we had some early breakins where something pulled out the pipe, but a tiny patch of hardware mesh over the connection seems to have done the trick. it's a diy project, so i'm guessing anyone who does something like this will add their own ideas/improvements.

We also had a section towards the front of the house that was shorter (10 feet) and my wife didn't want the poles to be visible, so for that shorter length i simply mounted a metal wire about 3 feet from (and level to) the fence and ran netting from the fence to the cable. that creates the same barrier, but is invisible, so passerby won't see it. but i don't think this would be feasible (at all) for the 40foot fence we had to do.

The netting is nearly invisible, so isn't an eyesore. painting the pipe a neutral color (or black) would also make them less visible to neighbors, etc, but that wasn't a concern given our situation. (and really, since they lean 'in' to our yard, they aren't that visible from our neighbors yard anyway.

hope this helps someone! it's worked out extremely well for us, both in critter prevention and cat retention. again, have a secure coop since i'm sure an industrious raccoon could get in the run if it really wanted to, but i think we've created something that's so annoying to them they don't bother.

we were initially inspired by the 45-degree angled sections on top of barbed wire fences, and after doing some research we found some more "official" cat containment systems (such as catfencein.com) but they were way out of our price range and not quite diy enough for us.