So...im at the wire stage...what one do i choose???

[k2chickens]

Money is "sort of" an option so i know hardwear cloth is the more "stronger" more desired wire to protect our chicken's...but it's looking as if i will be going with galvinized poultry wire. What do you guy's think??

I live in a rural area, the other night i heard coyote's howeling so that meant they are active around my house. For the 9 year's i have lived here tho..they have never came to the house...and we have cattel out behind our barn's with no traces of an atttack for the full 9 year's. BUT!!! boy do i see chicken hawk's. I know chicken hawks will have a hard time with poultry wire... it's the fact that MABY a coyote could come near with the new addition's of chickens.

I have heard of people using hardwear cloth around the base of their coop run's and then the rest as chicken wire. I was wanting to know if their was a tutorial or post around here that could show me how to do that or at least how it should look. Not to mention exactly how i need to bind section's of wires to other sections of wires. AT LEAST some sort of pictures.

I will be houseing 10 to 12 hen's with a 10 ft by 5 ft by 5ft tall A-Frame run. 6 of them being bantys...2 polish...2 silkies....and 2 Mille Fleur
Hope you guy's can offer some insight/pic's for me. Thanks.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

I'd use 2 X 4 welded wire for the whole run.
Its very unlikely any predators will reach through and grab one during the day, and I'm assuming they will be in a coop at night.

The best way to "join" wire is have the breaks fall over your frame so all edges are stapled. Trying to weave or clip wire together is more trouble than it's worth, and you probably wont be that happy with the results

If you feel you NEED smaller wire around the bottom you can run a 2 ft strip of 1 inch poultry wire first, and put the 2 X 4 welded wire over it, forming a double layer at the bottom

 

[k2chickens]

Quote:
yes i have the coop for the girl's at night. But i have no clue what "welded wire" look's like?? Or just exactly "how" the wire should be layed onto the wood and stapeled.

 

[newchicksnducks]

Poultry or chicken wire is twisted into hex shapes. Welded wire (and hardware cloth) is welded where the wires meet. Welded wire is usually in rectangle shapes 2x3 or 2x4 inches for the openings. We used welded wire for our run, used vinyl coated welded wire on top of that for the bottom section so that we could put a 1 foot apron along the bottom. This was buried then covered with stone/blocks, hopefully making it less likely that area coyotes, dogs, etc will dig under the fence. We are in the process (thinking process) of placing deer netting across the top to help prevent the red tail hawks in the area from taking off with a chicken dinner. We are contemplating how to attach 7'x100' sections of to our 20'x30' run. How do we connect the strips to each other?

 

[RendonRoo]

I never had a hawk even land in a tree around here. Now i have chickens and last week i came home to find one perched on my covered run. Like the hawk the coyotes now have a reason to come around(especially if they are hungry). Always plan for the worst when protecting your chickens. I ran horizontal 2x4's between my vertical supports so i could connect the top and bottom of my wire to. Good Luck

 

[CityChook]

I completely understand how money is an issue - I thought my DH was going to kill me by the time we finished the coop - it cost WAY more money than I had expected. But before you make a decision, spend some time over in predators and pests. You can see what others are doing to guard against pred attacks. Welded wire with a second layer of chicken wire inside should work, or just use the hardware wire. Galvanized poultry wire will be useless at keeping a coyote out. And once the chickens are added to the backyard, the predators will arrive.

 

[Wynette]

I'm with CityChook. We used the Hardware Cloth for the bottom 2-3', buried it in the ground, then used chicken wire from the top of the hardware cloth to the "roof." We got treated 1" x 4" lumber to attach to the posts where the hardware cloth ended and the chicken wire started, and stapled both (kinda hard to explain) to the 1x4. I have to say, it really makes it easy to sleep at night knowing my chickens are safe. I knew we had lots of fox around, and I never saw them NEAR my barn...until I got chickens. GOOD LUCK with whatever you decide!

 

[k2chickens]

i just don't know how to attach the wire to the frame. Do i lay it on top?? Do i lay it on bottom?? Do i put wire on the bottom of the entire run or not?? Ive seen a few run's where the wire is right in the middle of the boards..not on the outside or inside...the middle....how did they do that?? I will be adding a picture shortly to further let everyone know where i stand.

here we are..

 

[RendonRoo]

The wire strung between the post is most likely a heavy cattle wire. It comes in sections instead of rolls. I would even say that is overkill. My 2x4 wire has been tested with a 50# plus Lab mix dog full force. The dog still tries but always ends up just licking his chops. LOL

 

[k2chickens]

so judging by my run????????