Some construction questions

[Austincb]

Forgive me if these things have been asked before. We have an elevated coop on order and will be building the run ourselves. We have heard raccoons can chew through chicken wire. So we were looking at heavier wire but were told by an relative who has chickens that we really don't need stronger wire. We also read to bury the wire under ground but were also told by someone here that predators got into their coop and they just added plywood on the bottom to keep them out.

I live in NC I know we have hawks, coyote, opossum, raccoons and wolf rats.

We're also wondering if a motion light would help?

And...poultry staples as opposed to other staples, is there a difference for the netting?

I don't want to bring these birds here and allow them to get eaten We would rather put some effort into the setup and prevent what we can.

 

[citychickx6]

What I did and it is working well....
2x4 welded wire put on with heavy gauge staples for horse fencing
Bottom has 2 foot of chicken wire attached on top of the welded wire and 2 foot layed on top of the ground sticking out from the run area. The grass grows up very quickly making it near impossible to pull the wire up. I weighted it down with paving bricks to help it stay down until the uncovered areas were grown in. Then I removed the blocks and the grass grew where they had been.
I did not use poultry staples I did use heavy gauge LARGE staples and just a tip hold them with a pair of needle nose pliers to save the fingers a lot of pain.
I did not use poultry netting so I would not know how to attach it.

I do hope more people chime in and give their advise. I am sure how I did it is not the only way to do it.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

I think raising chicks is like raising children: there is no "right" way just what works for you. We have coyotes, coons,opossums, hawks and anyother predetor that you may want to name in the country. We have probably been very lucky and have not had anything (except a 6 foot black snake and a mouse) get into our coop. We did the same thing citychickx6 did and made and "apron" of chickenwire on the ground held down with rocks (largeones) that we picked up on our land.

If a predetor wants to get in and is hungry enough, they will but we try to make sure that we give them a hard time doing it.

Best of luck.

 

[TXchickmum]

Our chickens are locked up in wood/hardware cloth coops at night. -no pedator issues. We did line the floor of the run directly beneath the coop with hardware cloth as well. -have a thick layer of sand over it. The large run that our three coops open into is covered and constructed of lumber and chicken wire. -main concern during the day is hawks. They aren't in the run at night when raccoons would be a threat. We used a standard staple gun (for construction use) to staple the wire to the wood. We then applied another layer of wood trim over the wire with sturdy screws. -don't have exposed staples that can loosen and come out. I think chicken wire works just fine for a run. It does depend upon one's environment and the diurnal predators about, as well as if the birds are safely confined inside a coop during the evening.-best of luck with your coop and run project!! ...and

 

[Trefoil]

If you want to not worry about being home before dark to lock them in the coop.Make your run predator proof. That means using something other than chicken wire, or using chicken wire over stronger wire like others suggested. It also means either burying wire or hardware cloth at least a foot deep or out horizontally (I went 2' out) to stop diggers from access. If you have mink or weasels, that means no hole as big as an inch.. You will also need a top on it, I used chicken wire for that and haven't had a problem. Its much better to build tight the first time than it is to be trying to fix it after you've lost birds. Whatever you decide, shop around for your wire, the prices vary wildly. I got my hardware cloth on sale from wayfair/ free shipping, at that time it was $50/roll cheaper than I could get it locally. But that was a while ago. I've never seen a coon chew through chicken wire, they grab it and either pull it out or it breaks, and it also has large enough holes that they can grab a chicken through it and kill them pulling whatever they grab through the wire. They are seriously strong.