Secure Run at Night

[JackE]

Electrified poultry netting. You can surround a much larger area, for far less $$$ then it would cost to build a wood framed, hardware cloth "run". I have mine up for 4yrs, and no ground based predator has got past it, not a even a snake. I have 650' of it, and I consider it one of the best things I have bought for my birds.

http://www.premier1supplies.com/fencing.php?mode=detail&fence_id=93

 

[ConPollos]

Electrified poultry netting.  You can surround a much larger area, for far less $$$ then it would cost to build a wood framed, hardware cloth "run".  I have mine up for 4yrs, and no ground based predator has got past it, not a even a snake.  I have 650' of it, and I consider it one of the best things I have bought for my birds.

http://www.premier1supplies.com/fencing.php?mode=detail&fence_id=93

Thanks for that. I moved my Golden Comets into their newly converted tool shed/coop today, and I'm nervous about them spending their first night in there. They seem to love it, but the bottom of the door doesn't seal tight enough and the stores closed before I could buy some bird netting to wad at the bottom of the door to stop snakes from entering. I'm taking their food out for the night and there are no eggs or chicks in there, plus the coop shed is inside my fenced dog yard 20' from my house and 10' from my kennel full of dogs, so hopefully no varmints will trespass near the coop.

They got way too big to stay inside my house. They were in a bedroom always roosting on the edge of a plywood brooder I made and looking at me like, "Lady, we is full grown hens now!" Lol.

So, now I'm also the proud mom of six new BA chicks too! Can't wait till they're big enough to join the GCs.

 

[AVintageLife]

I converted an 8X8 shed into a coop and added an 8 X 12 hoop run for my small flock ( a dozen or so birds at any given time ). Used 1/4" hardware cloth on all the windows, doors and the run, secured with drywall screws and washers. I did the hardware cloth skirt around the outside of the run and a skirt on the inside where the run butts up to the coop. I leave the door between the coop and the run open 24/7 so the flock can go in/out as they please. Haven't lost a chicken in the 3+ years I've had them (they free range on the weekends when I'm home). The run was expensive but will last many, many years and will protect my flock from the predators we have here in NH: bobcat, weasel, raccoon, coyote, fox etc. These birds are in my care and I feel obligated to protect them. Couldn't imagine one having it's head ripped off as a raccoon tried to pull it through chicken wire. And the other comments here about weasels are absolutely correct. We have two ferrets and they can very easily climb up the hardware cloth and they get into things in the house through the smallest spaces.

 

[jwinders12]

Uh oh I used staples on my hardware cloth better get some screws and washers on it...

 

[ConPollos]

I

I converted an 8X8 shed into a coop and added an 8 X 12 hoop run for my small flock ( a dozen or so birds at any given time ).  Used 1/4" hardware cloth on all the windows, doors and the run, secured with drywall screws and washers.  I did the hardware cloth skirt around the outside of the run and a skirt on the inside where the run butts up to the coop.  I leave the door between the coop and the run open 24/7 so the flock can go in/out as they please.  Haven't lost a chicken in the 3+ years I've had them (they free range on the weekends when I'm home). The run was expensive but will last many, many years and will protect my flock from the predators we have here in NH: bobcat, weasel, raccoon, coyote, fox etc.  These birds are in my care and I feel obligated to protect them.  Couldn't imagine one having it's head ripped off as a raccoon tried to pull it through chicken wire.   And the other comments here about weasels are absolutely correct.  We have two ferrets and they can very easily climb up the hardware cloth and they get into things in the house through the smallest spaces.  

I wonder if we have weasels in NE Oklahoma. I'm really surprised by neighbors who keep their chickens in dog kennels with tarps for windbreaks and dog houses for coops, and they never loose any chicks or chickens to predators getting through the chain link kennel fencing. I'm trying to prevent even the smallest gap in my coop, but maybe that's not a problem here???

 

[jwinders12]

I


I wonder if we have weasels in NE Oklahoma. I'm really surprised by neighbors who keep their chickens in dog kennels with tarps for windbreaks and dog houses for coops, and they never loose any chicks or chickens to predators getting through the chain link kennel fencing. I'm trying to prevent even the smallest gap in my coop, but maybe that's not a problem here???

Yes we do in fact have long tailed weasels in NE Oklahoma. I have never seen one myself but apparently they are seldom seen so not many people know that we have weasels here. When it comes to my coop I prepared for the worst and hoped for the best.

 

[ConPollos]

Yes we do in fact have long tailed weasels in NE Oklahoma. I have never seen one myself but apparently they are seldom seen so not many people know that we have weasels here. When it comes to my coop I prepared for the worst and hoped for the best.

OMG thank you! I'll warn my neighbors.

 

[ConPollos]

So, last night my Catahoula pups slept in my fenced front yard instead of their kennel, and I see they tried to dig under my coop shed. Smh...sigh...I've got to add a skirt of heavy no climb wire.

 

[jwinders12]

Well at least they didn't get in there. I am worried about the same thing when the nice weather returns and I leave my dogs out. I have a mini dachshund that was born to get into trouble and a chocolate lab that is always hungry haha

 

[rainbowhatchery]

depends on your predator bird issue in your area really, if you dont have a problem we have often had runs with not tops but if you have alot of predator birds they can swoop down and grab them.