Secure Run at Night

[okiemamachick]

Same here except maybe snakes those would be an issue here. I am also facing the same problem I'm turning a building into a coop and I need a big run but dang that's a LOT of hardware cloth!

 

[Scruffyfeathers]

Yes of course. Somewhere in time it could become cost effective to spend money to beef up the pen to prevent losses.

I would love to have a Fort Knox setup but I have 15,000 sq ft of pens & runs. My mind can't even grasp the cost of enclosing that with hardware cloth, all I can grasp is that it would be astronomical.
Fortunately there are no mink, pythons, weasels or other small viscious predators in my area that require enclosing my pens with expensive hardware cloth.
Cheap 2x4 welded wire handles any predators that come my way.

I have the same size runs. One is 8700 sq. ft. and the other is 5800 sq. ft and they are adjoining in an “L” shape configuration. Rather than to enclose the entire run I elected to build a 10 X 10 tractor with a 24 X 10 enclosed run (the 10 X 10 coop sits over the 24 X 10 run) out of light gauge metal. Every 4 days I can move it to another 24 X 10 area. I can move it 27 times before I have to start over again after 6 months. This gives the land time to regenerate over that 6 month period.

 

[Skyfeathers]

When I first got chickens here in the US, they were the special pets of a couple who were quite attached to them. I determined no predator would ever get to them! We have hawks, raccoons, possums, skunks, snakes, coyotes, dogs, and feral cats. The 12X20 run has 1/2 inch hardware cloth 3 feet up, then 2X4 welded wire another 4 feet up and across the top, which is covered in metal roofing. I had put welded wire on the bottom inside the run, too, but removed it after several months when no wild animals had breached it. I was concerned for my chickens' feet scratching on the wire. There is an apron of welded wire 18 inches out all the way around. The soil here is clay and rocks, so the apron lays on top, is held down by multiple long tent pegs, and is "hidden" under pine needles. My girls come and go from their coop into the run as they please, and even roost outside in the run in good weather. I have noticed dig marks on several occasions, but whatever it is only goes down a few inches then gives up because of the wire. I'm happy to be able to say they are all still safe over a year later. All of my smaller runs are completely covered in 1/2 inch hardware cloth.

 

[AnniM]

Love your "Buy Fur" statement.
PC is so hypocritical. "I'm offended" HaHa!

 

[ConPollos]

When I first got chickens here in the US, they were the special pets of a couple who were quite attached to them. I determined no predator would ever get to them! We have hawks, raccoons, possums, skunks, snakes, coyotes, dogs, and feral cats. The 12X20 run has 1/2 inch hardware cloth 3 feet up, then 2X4 welded wire another 4 feet up and across the top, which is covered in metal roofing. I had put welded wire on the bottom inside the run, too, but removed it after several months when no wild animals had breached it. I was concerned for my chickens' feet scratching on the wire. There is an apron of welded wire 18 inches out all the way around. The soil here is clay and rocks, so the apron lays on top, is held down by multiple long tent pegs, and is "hidden" under pine needles. My girls come and go from their coop into the run as they please, and even roost outside in the run in good weather. I have noticed dig marks on several occasions, but whatever it is only goes down a few inches then gives up because of the wire. I'm happy to be able to say they are all still safe over a year later. All of my smaller runs are completely covered in 1/2 inch hardware cloth.

That is wonderful! I want the same kind of set up for my girls before I pit them outside.

 

[avocadoeggs]

Could any of you please explain or post a picture of an "apron" of wire? Thanks.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Could any of you please explain or post a picture of an "apron" of wire? Thanks.

A wire apron is a vertical section of strong small mesh wire that changes into a horizontal section of small mesh wire where the coop wire intersects with the ground. You get this effect by bending the wire into a 90 degree shape and running it along the ground. Chicken killing vermin can definitely dig but they are poor mining engineers. Therefor they tend to start digging right up against the dirt-wire junction. The wire frustrates this mining or digging attempt causing the varmint to give up, or at least that is the usual outcome.

I hope that this explanation was clear enough.

 

[aart]

Could any of you please explain or post a picture of an "apron" of wire? Thanks.

Scale of fencing is off on the corner piece.

 

[avocadoeggs]

Perfect, thank you. i will be including that in my coop design for sure!

 

[Thebluegrassbel]

Scale of fencing is off on the corner piece.

This is so simple and obvious and yet I would never have thought about it unless I had read this thread. Thank you!