Newbie coup in woods?

[el aguila]

We have 4 acres, but the only area that is not wooded is our yard.

We have plenty of hawks, owls, raccoons, opussums, black snakes, dogs, coyotes, and on occasions bobcats.

My coop is in an area where I cleared out the understory at the edge of the woods with large oaks and poplar trees fringing this area. Obviously, it would be dangerous to free range our chickens in this area. I want some breeds that may not be good at avoiding raptors (silkies for one).

Originally, I had wanted to fence in a large run area. I don't think netting would work because of the ton of leaves that would fall on the netting in autumn. Tenting tarps probably not a good idea because of water pooling during rains.

Yesterday a neighbor offered some used galvanized standing seam metal. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm thinking I'm probably better off to reduce the size of the run and use this metal with the exception of some narrower areas that I could criss-cross wth some sort of clothes line.

Any other ideas or input? Are there any types of netting out there that are open enough to not collect leaves yet would keep out predators?

 

[Zoomie]

Welcome to BYC, @el aguila so glad you are here!

Something like chain link fencing might stand up to the leaves. You probably don't get enough snow to really worry about it. I think you can even get things like dog kennels that already have the chain link panels. Perhaps the panels could be used as a covering for your run? They are stretched out on pipe and would be ready to use.

Another approach could be to just start out very small, and see how whatever you choose stands up to the leaf load. Then expand from there.

Although I will note, that you will need to have a very tight coop. However the chain link would keep out most things... not weasels or snakes, but definitely bigger things.

 

[el aguila]

Welcome to BYC, @el aguila
 so glad you are here! 

Something like chain link fencing might stand up to the leaves. You probably don't get enough snow to really worry about it. I think you can even get things like dog kennels that already have the chain link panels. Perhaps the panels could be used as a covering for your run? They are stretched out on pipe and would be ready to use. 

Another approach could be to just start out very small, and see how whatever you choose stands up to the leaf load. Then expand from there. 

Although I will note, that you will need to have a very tight coop. However the chain link would keep out most things... not weasels or snakes, but definitely bigger things.  

Good idea! I do have some 8' wide chain link fence. I would just need to figure out piping to build panels.

I'm also considering a second coop that would have dark chickens that are good at avoiding raptors to free range.

 

[Howard E]

An alternative to the electric poultry netting is a wire system. Allows you to cover a wider area for a lot less money and is effective. It might also allow the leaves to blow in and out without piling up. Mine catches some things, but leaves isn't one of them. But my leaf load is light. Even so, it would only be for a short while.

Wires look like this:



You might not think this would work but it does. Birds stay in and with only 1 exception I'm aware of since last year, predators stay out.