Remodeling the outdoor run......need advice....

[savingpurple]

The outdoor run is in need of being bigger, and I want to make it daytime critter proof after my husband was welcomed by 2 dobermans the other early morning. Thanks goodness my ladies were still locked up.

My questions are...

I can get a roll of welded wire at work for $99, plus my discount off that price. It will have 2 x 4 squares and is 5 feet tall by 100 ft roll. Then I will use the hardware cloth 3' wide, and go up a foot, and have the other two feet as the apron.

OR

I can get chain link fencing at Lowe's 6' x 50' for $87. But would need 2 rolls.

Do you think welded wire is an okay fencing to keep daytime predators out? I can buy tensile wire to use at the thread to sew the 2 types of fencing together. I have looked at dog kennels on craiglist but the way we have the outdoor run it is not perfectly square. It is in an L shape...Not sure how that would work.

Any other suggestions would be helpful. I will post the outdoor run we have now. Nothing like the gorgeous ones I see on here, but it was what we could afford at the time....

Any input would be much appreciated. Want to do it right, and make it look nicer!

 

[savingpurple]

anybody? need some advice, thoughts??

 

[Grillmaster33]

I'm not certain, but TWO FEET for the skirt? I need to re-skirt my coop then! I'm only at a few inches!

 

[Dornes]

A dog kennel/run would work perfectly fine in that shape. Mine is an L shape and we use dog panels. You would have to take one panel out on the side that is the far back right (of this photo) and then come up the side as long as you would like it. Go in with the panels (the part that is at the front of the photo) I would say 2 panels would be sufficent. It should make a nice square run when you do it that way...

I am actually on my way tonight to pick up some more kennel panels from a guy off CL. Just make sure that you are getting 6ft tall panels.

Here's a quick sketch of how you can do it.... (and how ours is set up) I personally like the panels because they are super easy to put up and are moveable if you wanted to move them at any time. Just make sure you hardware mesh or chicken wire the bottom portion and you should be good to go. To secure the mesh/wire to the bottom we used rabbit hutch fixers... not sure what they are called...maybe C rings???

 

[savingpurple]

Will keep the craiglist watch going, but can anyone tell me, if welded wire is okay for daytime predator proof, or would chain link be better?

I think the dog kennels will be out of my price range. All I have seen is $125 and above.....I would need 2 to enlarge it like I want. That cuts in to the budget too deep, because I still need almost 100' of hardware cloth.

 

[Dornes]

I just got a 12x6' 6' tall kennel last night on CL for 80.00..... so they are out there, you just have to be patient and keep watch

 

[applefalls]

I'm not a fencing expert, but I think what we have is welded wire. It is the same fencing we use to keep deer out of our gardens. We have a five foot high fence on our run, buried a few inches, so it doesn't quite come up a full five feet around the run. Then we added a wire cloth layer around the perimeter that bends and extends out from the yard about a foot to prevent critters from digging under. That has worked really well.

The problems we have had with our system are 1) the chickens *can* fly over the fence (even though they don't know this and we've only had one do it in the past three years of using this system); and 2) some critters can climb in over the fence. My cat climbs in every day, which isn't the problem. Once, we had a possom in the yard and it killed one of our chickens.

I notice that you have a cover over your yard. We had to remove ours because the snow wrecked it. What is your cover made of? Ours was aviary netting and the holes were so small that dew and snow collected on the netting, weighing it down.

 

[bryan99705]

Your first idea sounds good and the apron is a great size (just figure if the dog's head at the fence, where would the front paws dig and your 24" skirt has him blocked!). The welded wire is good but if you're concerned about the Dobermans going after the birds you may opt for the stronger chain link. Also consider using welded wire for the top as dogs won't bat a eye at trying to jump a 5" fence.

The dog kennel panels are a real neat idea too because you can move them piece by piece by yourself. You can attach the apron and base wire with hog rings and they can be hinged up to move and relaid down when they are in their new location. Another nice thing with the panels is you can use them for the top by fastening them the same way as the sides

 

[pawsplus]

Quote:
IMO chain link is better and you can get some great deals on C's list. If that's out of the question, consider woven (not welded) wire horse fencing. Woven wire is OK but not great IMO. It's surprisingly easy to break the welds so it doesn't last as long as sturdier stuff.

Also, it is a HUGE help to have your run be 6 feet tall (so you can walk around in there easily)! And it's very hard to get woven or welded wire in 6' widths. Chainlink, OTOH, comes that way pretty easily.

IMO it's well worth it to save up if you have to for chain link. Also, if you want more than a 10x10 run, you can always add on later. That's what I'm about to do. My first Craigslist 10x10x6 kennel is going to have a second one added on to it. So get one now and save up to get a second one later. I paid $100 for my first one, BTW. Pix on my BYC page.

 

[teach1rusl]

Do you guys have Ace Hardware in your area?? They sell the 6ft. tall wire (100 ft. roll) for $119 - free shipping to store. Just saying, in case you're covering and wanted to be able to walk around inside... Haven't checked other places for price. Also, if your birds are shut inside at night, you could probably get by with chicken wire lining the bottom section (to prevent reach-ins) and for a skirt. I'd go up the side at least 18 inches, and think an 18 inch skirt would be plenty (although it should be galv. to last with being buried)... JMO.