Overhead protection

[marilyn1954]

I have had my chickens for 9 years, we have never lost any due to overhead threats. Hawks owls etc. we use fishing line above our free range and coop area. In this picture with the ice you can really see the fishing line, and the ice is so heavy it is really low, but once the ice is melted the line will pop back up high. We put the fishing line in a spider web formation, and the birds see it and won’t come down when they see their wing span can’t get in and out of the web.

 

[cavemanrich]

Looks like you walked a few miles putting that UP. Curious what weight of line you used??
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[David61]

Oh what a Webb we weave. The net value of protection.

 

[gtaus]

I use bird netting I bought at a local farm store. It cost me about $7.00 for a 14x14 net. Amazon sells many various sizes of bird netting at reasonable prices. Anyway, when we got our first snows this winter, it was wet, froze on the netting, and my netting sagged much like your fish lines. Fortunately, I was able to whack off the snow/ice from the netting with a broom and everything sprang back in place. If I had a larger run with bird netting cover, I would probably add a center "tree" support for the netting to keep it from sagging if we got a wet snow.

I live on a lake and we have Bald Eagles and hawks overhead all the time. They like chicken dinners, so I would not have my chickens very long if I did not have my overhead protection.

 

[marilyn1954]

Looks like you walked a few miles putting that UP. Curious what weight of line you used??
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I asked my husband lol, he said he didn’t remember but at the time he bought the heaviest he could find. To keep it high we put a long nail in the top of the wood 2x4’s and they hold fine. Since you use the same nail many times it needs to be pretty long. This is our second time, the first time we used a thinner fishing line and it lasted 4 years, this line has been up 3 years now and no breaks. we have been lucky never lost a chicken to any other animal, believe it or not the lattice is the reason (I think) that no animals come from the ground, i Think it makes it blurry For them, we saw a fox once in the yard looking that way, but he didn’t seem to notice them, but we thought he’d come back but never did.

 

[Building Bridges]

This is very interesting....thanks for sharing!

 

[marilyn1954]

Looks like you walked a few miles putting that UP. Curious what weight of line you used??
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

This is very interesting....thanks for sharing!

Your welcome! Happy egg collecting!

 

[aart]

Cool Beans!
Would be cool to get an overhead shot......second story window....or a drone!

 

[marilyn1954]

Cool Beans!
Would be cool to get an overhead shot......second story window....or a drone!

Here is a pick from 2nd floor, but the ice melted so you have to enlarge the photo to see the fishing line ..when we get more snow or ice I’ll get another picture then from the second floor

 

[aart]

when we get more snow or ice I’ll get another picture then from the second floor