Racoons, fox, hawks, snow - what's your experience building a secure run?

[doublenerds]

Hi all, newbie here, first chicks arriving May 18. I have been poring over the forums and learning lots, but I am hoping to get some consolidated feedback from people in similar situations to mine as to the best methods for building a secure outdoor run.

Here are my parameters:

• There will be 6 hens in the flock
• We have the space to build a run as large as 16' x 40'. We can't really let them free range so I want to give them as much enclosed space as possible
• We are surrounded by a large nature preserve and are regularly visited by racoons, fox, opposums, and red tail hawks. Although we haven't seen them ourselves, bald eagles have been spotted in our area.
• We are in lower New York state, so we don't get crazy amounts of snow but we usually get at least one storm that deposits 2-3 feet each winter.
• We will be running power from the house to the coop, so electric fencing is an option
• I'm still torn between a "hoop house" style outdoor run and a traditional wood-framed run
• I still haven't worked out if it is more economical to go all hardware cloth and no electricity or larger gauge fencing with electric along the lower half
• I'm not sure how worried we need to be about mammalian predators during the day. At night the girls will be locked up tight in a secure coop

if you are willing to share photos of your predator-proof setup and comments about what has worked (and not worked) for you, I would greatly appreciate it. I would rather not break the bank but I also don't want to cut corners and kill my girls as a result.

Thanks for your opinions!

 

[ChickenMammX4]

We can't free range either due to backing up to a forest. All openings are covered with 1/2" hardware cloth attached with screws & fender washers. Window screens were replaced with hardware cloth. Hardware cloth is buried (down & turned out) about 18" around the perimeter of the run. 3 latches on run door. Foam fills any gaps where the metal roof meets the "walls" of the run. We've haven't had any predators get in.

 

[doublenerds]

Very nice Chickenmama! Is that 8 x 16?

 

[ChickenMammX4]

Very nice Chickenmama! Is that 8 x 16?  

Thank you, Yes, the run is 8' x 16', the coop is 8' x 18' (8' x 9' used for chickens, other half for storage). BTW, we have 6 chickens, the size has been great.

 

[mobius]

Please see the link to my thread on electric fencing in my signature line.