Run planning - how high does hardware cloth need to go?

[jewelg]

Hi, folks - in planning out our run, we know we'll have a roof (at least a partial one) and a predator apron, but I've seen photos of some runs with hardware cloth lining the entire height of each run wall, and others where it looks like the hardware cloth only goes up a few feet.

Specifically, in the photo attached, the walls of this run are made out of cattle panels, and the hardware cloth lines those cattle panels from the ground up 3 ft or so, but then stops. Would that be ok, along with a predator apron around the bottom of the run? Ignore the coop, just check out the run, but here's the original build if you're interested. Pretty ingenious!

Is the hardware cloth on the walls mainly to keep out grabby claw hands from racoons?

We live in the city - Los Angeles - so predators are hawks, possums, raccoons, cats, coyotes, and rats.

Thanks!

 

[Gooseface]

Looks to me your predators would just climb up the hc and through the cattle panel. Captive chickens with nowhere to run...

 

[jewelg]

Grr, I forgot about the babies - small possums, etc. They would totally get through. And I just double-checked the specs - the openings in the cattle panel are bigger than I realized from just looking at the image without anything for perspective. 4x6 in to 4x8 in. Definitely not an option to leave unlined. Thanks, Gooseface!

 

[K0k0shka]

My hardware cloth only covers the bottom 2 feet of the fence, for financial reasons (that stuff is expensive!!!) but the welded wire that covers the rest of the run walls has smaller openings - 2x2 inches. I got those panels for free from a neighbor. HC all around is the best, of course, but, like I said, pricy. If you can find different fencing panels with smaller holes, to keep the main urban culprits out - raccoons, opossums, foxes etc. - then that will probably be good enough. Make sure you close the pop door of the coop at night to keep the rest of the smaller critters out, and keep your feeder inside the coop away from rats and other smaller things that can get through the larger mesh openings in the run.

 

[jewelg]

My hardware cloth only covers the bottom 2 feet of the fence, for financial reasons (that stuff is expensive!!!) but the welded wire that covers the rest of the run walls has smaller openings - 2x2 inches. I got those panels for free from a neighbor. HC all around is the best, of course, but, like I said, pricy. If you can find different fencing panels with smaller holes, to keep the main urban culprits out - raccoons, opossums, foxes etc. - then that will probably be good enough. Make sure you close the pop door of the coop at night to keep the rest of the smaller critters out, and keep your feeder inside the coop away from rats and other smaller things that can get through the larger mesh openings in the run.

Thanks, K0k0shka! I wonder what kind of panels those were... horse, cow, and pig all seem a lot larger than those 2x2 in holes you have. Nice job sourcing from your neighbor! What's your roof like?

 

[K0k0shka]

Thanks, K0k0shka! I wonder what kind of panels those were... horse, cow, and pig all seem a lot larger than those 2x2 in holes you have. Nice job sourcing from your neighbor! What's your roof like?

She used them for chickens, too, but I don't actually know where she got them from... I can ask. She was done with chickens and was giving away all her stuff. My roof is clear polycarbonate panels.

Here you can see both the fencing panels and the roof:

 

[IamRainey]

I'm in LA too. We went for Ft. Knox and I'm glad we did. When I hear coyotes howling just yards (as in neighbors' property) from the coop I can still turn over and go back to sleep. ...good thing too because I'm not about to confront them in the middle of the night! The other reason you want heavy gauge hardware cloth anyplace that doesn't have a strong structural element is rodents. They're good climbers and they'll slip right through cattle panels effortlessly. Once inside your enclosure they'll eat eggs and, sometimes, chickens' feet while the birds sleep. They'll also go through your feed and make you crazy trying to get rid of them.

If it were me, I'd redesign the enclosure to entirely contain your coop structure. Rodents can and will chew their way through plastic. I'm constantly packing steel wool into the spots where they're trying to chew their way into my feed storage. ...but at least they can't get to my flock.

The other thing you need to think about is a roof with a generous overhang to provide good shade. Don't know where in LA you are but out here in the Valley we're already in temps that chickens need protection from. Chickens can and do die from heat exposure. My first line of defense is the shade of large trees and a sturdy roof with a broad overhang. Next is doubled layers of 80% shade cloth stretched out wherever I have to make my own shade. Number 3 is box fans. Finally, on the worst days, it's high-water-content fruits and veggies and big blocks of ice.

Best of luck with your project! I hope you enjoy your chickens as much as we do ours.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Hi, folks - in planning out our run, we know we'll have a roof (at least a partial one) and a predator apron, but I've seen photos of some runs with hardware cloth lining the entire height of each run wall, and others where it looks like the hardware cloth only goes up a few feet.

Specifically, in the photo attached, the walls of this run are made out of cattle panels, and the hardware cloth lines those cattle panels from the ground up 3 ft or so, but then stops. Would that be ok, along with a predator apron around the bottom of the run? Ignore the coop, just check out the run, but here's the original build if you're interested. Pretty ingenious!

Is the hardware cloth on the walls mainly to keep out grabby claw hands from racoons?

We live in the city - Los Angeles - so predators are hawks, possums, raccoons, cats, coyotes, and rats.

Thanks!

The panels in the pic aren't what we know as cattle panels here. The pen you posted has smaller openings than cattle panels. Really interesting though.

I am in suburbia so no coyotes, rats or possums. We have lots of fox, hawks and raccoons though.

I am not much help I guess.

I would keep looking for "rabbit wire" "cage wire" or hardware cloth on sale.

 

[IamRainey]

Personally, I think it's a false economy to worry about the price of hardware cloth. The price of the heaviest gauge* you can get is simply the cost of having chickens. If you can't afford it, you can't afford chickens.

In a year when your chickens have grown, are healthy and are laying eggs you will have forgotten what the hardware cloth cost. And if the cost is really the difference between having chickens and not, how about starting with a smaller enclosure and a smaller flock and expanding when the time is right?

Naturally, everyone should do what they want and feel is right for them. But ensuring the safety of our flock is part of the contract we make with them.

* Hardware cloth comes in different sizes and weights. Some of it is pretty flimsy. You want the stuff made from the largest diameter wire you can lay your hands on. You'll never regret being too secure!

 

[K0k0shka]

Perfect or nothing at all means that there would be a whole lot of things we'd never be able to enjoy. Sometimes it just can't be perfect, but good enough can be enough. If we all waited for everything to be 100% then most of us would never have kids, or dogs, or anything significant at all.