Safe covering for run?

[Kayla's Lunch]

I have a flock of 11 adults and until yesterday 10 eight week old littles. I live in suburban setting in Maryland on about 1/3 acre lot. We have a 12x12 completely enclosed, predator-proof coop/run up against our house. When we got the new chicks, we added an uncovered run with 4ft welded wire as the fence with about 4 feet of netting added vertically to the top of the fence because a couple of the littles were trying to fly out of the run. About 12x27 of it is completely open, with the exception of a large River Birch tree, and about 12x19 is under our deck. Since the chicks were 5 weeks old, all the chickens have had morning to evening (about 7am-5pm) access to the entire area. Before the little chicks arrived, the adults free ranged pretty much everyday for several hours in the afternoon to roost time. In the 3 years of having chickens, we have on occasion had hawks fly pretty low through our yard. But never an actual incident. Until yesterday. Around 10 am, a hawk came into the run and got tangled a little in the netting when my daughter went out to chase it away. One of the littles died. She had no visible injuries, so I don't know if she died of fright or if she ran into something. So, we now must cover the run. They love being out there, and they do need the room. Since the area is relatively small, should we cover it with the welded wire with 2x4 openings that we used as the fence or some kind of netting. What is the most secure but with an open feel. The other side, to the right not visible in the picture, has a roof so it isn't as open feeling. I have read so many different things here but the situations are usually for much bigger areas that what I am dealing with here. Our chickens are basically pets and we go out and "play" with them everyday, so every loss is greatly felt. We really don't handle any losses well. Also, we have 4 dogs that go in and out all day but that didn't seem to deter this hawk. Thanks for any help! As an aside, I followed the recommendations from the group on having the chicks in separate enclosure in with the adults and the transition to having them one flock has gone so well. There haven't been any real issues, except for this darn hawk!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Strictly for birds of prey, netting or solid wire fencing can both work just fine, but you do need to consider the weight of snow load (assuming you get snow of any significance).

I use heavy duty netting with a 85/245 break/burst weight rating, held up by tall U-posts and tension wire. I do get some snow and regularly knock snow accumulation off so there's been no issues with posts buckling under weight.

Obviously no matter what you choose, you will need to find a way to work it around the tree that's there. On the plus side the tree is nice and tall without any low branches, so securing the netting/fencing to the tree or wrapping it around the tree shouldn't be too bad.

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

Thanks for your reply. We don’t regularly get much snow. Some winters we don’t get any, but we can get a good downfall occasionally. Can you tell me the pros and cons of each?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thanks for your reply. We don’t regularly get much snow. Some winters we don’t get any, but we can get a good downfall occasionally. Can you tell me the pros and cons of each?

I can't really give pros/cons to wire as I haven't tried a wire run cover.

Some pros of netting:
- generally lighter than wire fence of equivalent size, which could make it easier to work with
- should be easier to get around the tree as it's completely flexible

Some cons of netting:
- can be hard to install (thin, cheap netting especially tangles up easily) - having another person to help manage it is a good idea
- thin netting is definitely weaker than wire
- heavy duty netting can get a bit costly

Cons of both net/wire (compared to a solid roof):
- can sag or even buckle the actual fence without sufficient cross bracing and support
- limited to mostly keeping out aerial predators and lighter ground based predators

 

[Krugerrand]

Thanks for your reply. We don’t regularly get much snow. Some winters we don’t get any, but we can get a good downfall occasionally. Can you tell me the pros and cons of each?

Don't forget ice. Rain in freezing conditions can be worse than snow.

 

[RojoMarz]

I have a secondary run that is about 20x20. It's walls are made of 36" tall chicken wire. I then covered the run with bird netting. There is a large tree in the middle of the run. I did "strips" of netting, with a cut out for the tree. My strips are zip ties together and then to the chicken wire fence. Not the best looking job, but I was rushing to get it done and didn't have a helper. The "roof" is low and I have to stoop to go into and walk around in the run. Our strong winds are tearing the netting from the zip ties. Maybe when it's beyond repair, and I replace the netting, I'll add a tall center pole or something that will give me additional height .

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

We finished covering the run with heavy duty aviary netting. We cut it in places to go around the tree. The tree has 3 trunks so it was a little bit of a bother. Zip ties made it fairly easy to put the cut edges back together again. Boy, I love zip ties! We made a frame out of fiberglass driveway markers that were joined together with little pieces of pvc pipe. So, it was like a little kids play tent, if you've seen those. It was fairly easy for the two of us to do. Unfortunately, the day after we did it, we got a rare snow storm and the chickens refused to come out. LOL The last 2 days they have been inside their coop and the covered run. They seem to be offended by the cold weather. Maybe tomorrow they will come out.


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[aart]

We finished covering the run with heavy duty aviary netting.

We need pics

 

[3KillerBs]

Boy, I love zip ties!

The chicken-keeper's best friend!

Photos?

 

[linguini]

covering the run with heavy duty aviary netting

That's what we do with our extended day run for our chickens and garden beds. Just checked my purchases a few months ago (ya, carved out even more of our yard for the chickens), the price we paid was so much cheaper - I wonder what's the difference in terms of quality - hope ours last through the winter!
The first one we bought and installed more than a year ago is still standing up.

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