Official BYC Poll: How Is Your Run Covered?

[Chicken-Moma]

For many chicken keepers free-ranging the flock is not an option, so their birds are confined to a chicken run most if not all the time. Chickens kept in coops with a run attached are easier to keep safe from predators. Chicken runs can be basic with wires strung across the top to discourage flying predators like hawks or they can be elaborate with a complete wire roof that is high enough for you to comfortably enter the run to clean.

So please share with us: How Is Your Run Covered?

Please place your vote above, and please elaborate in a reply below if you chose "Other".

View attachment 2762068

Further Reading:

• Simple Predator Proof Poultry Run
• Accessorizing Your Run- How to Make Your Run More Fun For Your Chickens
• How To Fix A Muddy Run Chicken Coop
• How To Stop Hawks for 30 cents

Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!..

Solid roof.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

In the middle of building a new run and moving the old one. The old one was covered by a tarp and the new one that will be covered with netting which is really to keep the chickens in as much as it is to keep the hawks out. Since mine clear the 4ft fence into the main yard with almost no problems.

 

[MTerry]

I purchased a hoop greenhouse frame to connect to my coop for a chicken run. I let my guineas run loose ( I am down to 4), don't want to lose any chickens. It's covered in chicken wire, and hardware cloth around the ends and bottom. The tunnel is a large plastic barrel that I can close on the coop side. I plan to use the greenhouse cover in the winter, in some way to help keep the weather out.

 

[MadamContrary]

Thier run has a solid roof, but we free range 99% of the time with my dog on guard duty (which was and unexpected surprise because he is a Boston Terrier and he's just been raised around quail and chickens since we got him. I had no idea he'd be such a good livestock guardian).

 

[papajoesfarm]

After I built the first run, we had a rainy summer, and the run was a muddy mess. Flies soon followed, and I learned a hard lesson about the Florida summer climate. After that, the first run, as well as subsequent runs and coops, had a metal roof installed. I use Gibralter Corrugated Steel panels at a 1:3 pitch. Every roof has a gutter system, and they empty into rain barrels. After our Monsoon season, the winter and spring seasons tend to be extremely dry, and the extra water cuts down on the utility bills. The cost of steel panels pays off after 2 years, and is actually cheaper than a continuous parade of blue tarps. The coops, runs, and roofs survived Hurricane Irma without a problem. The sides and interior roof are enclosed with hardware cloth, to keep the flocks safe from predators, both 4 and 2 legged.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Covering my run has been a journey. Our run is rather large....approx. 135' x 32'. Although we never had a hawk attack, I was having to run them off quite a lot. But the biggest problem was that my girls would jump the 4ft welded wire fence in the morning at dusk to go free range on their own. This caused me to lose a LOT of birds to foxes and coyotes who prowl the area...to the point that I was going outside EVERY morning before sunrise with my .22 and waiting for them. I finally told my DH that I would not go on vacation until we covered the run. He finally agreed although he nearly killed himself (no joke) in the process of us putting it up. It was a HUGE PITA to do this. It cost me around $150 for the netting and supplies but so far it has resolved the predator losses.

 

[CHlCKEN]

I’ve tried netting to cover mine before, but honestly I wouldn’t recommend it. Hawks can still get through it easily, as well as climbing predators.

 

[Sylvester017]

I’ve tried netting to cover mine before, but honestly I wouldn’t recommend it. Hawks can still get through it easily, as well as climbing predators.

I agree about netting not really being a good solution keeping out predators. Shoot!!! We have a new solid 6-foot block wall perimeter with another 2-ft privacy fencing on top of it and we still had a coyote in the chicken yard at 5:30 a.m. when we went out to open the coop run. We live in the city where one doesn't expect wildlife -- animal control caught the coyote -- it was a clever animal using house rooftops to jump from one property to another. If a predator is seriously hunting they can get very creative in their tactics. When we surprised our coyote in the chicken yard, it took it only 3 attempts to jump out over the 8 ft block wall!!! It was the 2nd coyote in a 2-week timeframe to be captured by animal control in our city neighborhood. So glad we don't have an electronic automated coop door opener/closer or our hens might've been coyote breakfast!!!

 

[Prairierose25]

For many chicken keepers free-ranging the flock is not an option, so their birds are confined to a chicken run most if not all the time. Chickens kept in coops with a run attached are easier to keep safe from predators. Chicken runs can be basic with wires strung across the top to discourage flying predators like hawks or they can be elaborate with a complete wire roof that is high enough for you to comfortably enter the run to clean.

So please share with us: How Is Your Run Covered?

Please place your vote above, and please elaborate in a reply below if you chose "Other".

View attachment 2762068

Further Reading:

• Simple Predator Proof Poultry Run
• Accessorizing Your Run- How to Make Your Run More Fun For Your Chickens
• How To Fix A Muddy Run Chicken Coop
• How To Stop Hawks for 30 cents

Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!...

We have two 5' x 10' wired dog kennels on each side of the 7' x 7' chicken house. They have entry to each side of the kennel from the house. We have a fitted cover over each kennel, plus added extra heavy duty tarps secured over that. One kennel, nearest the horse pasture (with a fence separating them, I put a heavy rubber stall mat under that, and about 4" of construction sand is in all areas for the floors. The house has a wooden floor. I also have hardware cloth going around the lower areas, as well as the roosting areas. All that better keep predator's away.

 

[Clayisfood]

View attachment 2771695
Here is the Cooper Hawk drooling over the chickens they have no access to. I bought a 10x10 golf netting to cover their area and have since covered that with shade netting. They are cool and safe.