Should I cover my run?

[sbrown1414]

We have 6 baby Black Australorp chicks in the brooder right now and are in the process of building the coop. These are our first chickens and we are loving it!

Here is my question. We are building the coop in a dog run that we used to use. The run is approximately 10ft x 25ft with a black iron fence on two sides and wooden privacy fence on the other two sides. The fencing is 6 foot high. We are planning on attaching hardware cloth to the lower portion of the fence and chicken wire on the top. We have brick around the bottom of the fence that kept a dog we used to have from digging out. The coop we are building is about 7 foot tall. My question is, should be cover the run with some sort of deer or bird netting? We are in the middle of town but I know there are raccoons and opposums and the occasional stray cat around.(aren't they everywhere?) We do have two dogs, but they are Basset Hounds with a doggie door and they spend a lot of their time sleeping on the couch. I'm not sure how we would cover it since the coop is taller than the fence, but I'm sure we could figure something out if it will keep our babies safe. How many of you have uncovered runs and is it a problem? Also, do I need to worry about wild birds getting in the run and bringing diseases or parasites if we keep it uncovered?

I will post pictures when I figure out how to do it:

Thanks for your help!

 

[Tamrajh]

We've covered our run because our girls climb fences and I do not want them out at night due to the predators although I'm sure the geese scare off any predators anyway.
The way we've covered ours is to use one of the panels of the dog run as the roof.
Another idea, since you talked about using bird netting, would be to run 2x4s across the run every few feet to support the netting so it doesn't get droopy in the middle.

 

[teach1rusl]

Keep in mind, as long as you latch your girls in at night (the pop door), they will be pretty safe. But I still think a covered run is best (safest). Mine is covered, but I have wooden panels, so it's a bit easier. At 10 ft., I agree with Tamrajh that the poultry wire would sag. You could run sections of heavy wire across similarly to how she was suggesting 2x4s. Places like TSC, Lowes, etc. would have fencing strand wire. I would run it across in sections about an inch or so smaller than the height poultry netting you use so that it's fully supported. You coud either nail it to the coop where it hits that area, or fanagle it some other way. Without pics it's hard to really make suggestions.

 

[backdoorchicken]

we keep ours covered and i am very glad we did. i think our chickens are too.

 

[annie3001]

its a good idear. just say'in

 

[pulletkeeper]

I covered mine for sanity reasons; my sanity that is. I don't let the chickens in their run unless I am home (I work at home) but I still wanted to make sure they were safe and just wanted to add that extra little peace of mind.

 

[henney penny]

Ours are covered because of the hawks.Ravens will take small chickens to

 

[SillyChicken]

I put up bird netting on mine this weekend. I lucked into a huge chunk when Lowes put bird netting up under their drive through... I got the scrap for free!

 

[Willjg]

Hey there,

I have a covered run, coops and an open free range pen for my birds.
To be honest, its always better to be safe than sorry and have a covered run....But if you want to free range I think its safe as long as you lock them up early (thats what I do).


Take Care,
Bill.

 

[ksct]

We have chicken wire on top....that's it.....mostly.....
I'm attaching a pic of our run......

We have a little cover on the end.... DH wanted to get pigs and built that however we won't be having pigs because I can't eat a pet. But we attached it to one end of the run for cover.... in this picture though, we have added some tin pieces to the sides to prevent cross winds and snow drifts in the winter. that helped. We also put a tarp up at an angle during the winter which was nice so they werent covered in snow but it blocked a lot of light so We're going to rethink those plans this next winter..... I recommend some kind of cover even if it's at one end like ours. When we get some rain, they still like to be outside so they just go over there. then when it stops, they're out. plus depending on where the sun is, it shades parts of the run too, that way they have the option all day of sun or shade.

That's my opinion.