okay if I put 2 rolls of poultry fence and then a roll of hard wire cloth and half a roll of hard wire cloth thats dug on the bottom 12 inches up, can i just leave them in the coop run all the time? as well as them having access to their main coop as well? does any of you let them have free acess all the time without fear of predators. we live in the country, i know we have all kinds of predators, but sometimes my husband forgets to lock up the chickens and when i get home late from work i do it. or better yet he likes them up real late after 9pm or so. i am just trying to make it safe for them. do you think its enough, not only have i started with the layers of wire i am pouring cement on their run? any feedback please!
That much wire should do it as long as there is something covering the top to stop hawks and other perdators from climbing right over & in. Just curious, what is the cement for?
It can be really different for people in different locations. I recently had a coon get in the top of my run, which had 2 layers of netting on top. Since then, I have put utility wire over the top too. If you have mink or weasels, they can easily get into just about anything. Its good that you are sinking the wire into the ground, but what I also found extremely useful is to lay 2' wide hardware cloth flat on the ground all around the run and then anchored it with landscape staples. After awhile, the grass grows up through it and it doesn't show, but the animals can't dig into it, and they don't have the sense to back up 2' and dig there. I'm curious what the cement is for too.
They will be much safer getting locked up at night. It's so much harder to ensure a run is preditor proof then it is a coop.
