Some Fencing Questions

[Juise]

Okay let me see if I remember everything I wanted to reply to.

The T-posts we have are very solid, heavy duty things, and I'm not sure whether or not they have holes in them yet. Since the only time I get to sit down at the computer is in the middle of the night when the little ones are finally asleep I don't fancy running out to check right now, so I will have to look tomorrow. They don't look like the ones pictured but they do look like Ts if you were to look at them from above.

We are trying to make this a pretty large chicken run, so I think 4x4 corner posts is probably a good idea.

Someone seemed confused about which posts I was using where. The metal T-posts will be the vertical posts, and the wood 2x2 would be the horizontal rail.

We are planning to cover this run with aviary netting, although I having figured out just how to accomplish this yet.

In other news, I realized I have some fencing that I'm not using I had totally forgotten about, it is green and it looks like this. It seems a lot stronger that the chicken wire. Would that be good to use?

Also, I think I asked, (I think?) but didn't get any responses in regards to chickens and bodies of water. One side of the chicken fence is a 6 footish high solid wooden fence that encloses our pool. If the chickens managed to get in there, would they drown themselves?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
Chickens can swim a little bit, but their feathers will soon get waterlogged. They are not oiled like waterfowl feathers. They cannot fly out of a pool and almost certainly cannot crawl out. So, yes, if they get in the pool, I'd expect them to drown.

I don't know how big you plan to make the run, but you will have to get under there at times. 4 feet is not very high. If your configuration allows, I'd suggest a tall support running down the middle of your run, say 7 feet high if you can manage it, to support the netting. At least something to allow you to walk under there.

I used 2" x 4" wire somewhat similar to the fencing you show. It will keep adult full sized fowl chickens in (not sure about all bantams) and it will keep most larger predators out, although raccoons and some others can climb over any fence. I put chicken wire along the bottom 18" or so to keep the chickens from sticking their heads out and to keep chicks inside when I have young ones.

Even with 4" corner posts, I suggest you brace them with a diagonal down to the ground in line with the fence. Even if you securely concrete them in place, a tight fence will become a slack fence from the tension in the fence. If you get much snow or especially ice, the wind can put a surprizing amount of pressure on a fence.

 

[Juise]

Thanks, good to know. The chickens shouldn't be able to get into the pool area, but I was just wondering. Was thinking about bringing them in there for some play time outside while we don't have the run done yet. The fence is 6ft vertical wooden slats with no space in between, so I don't think they'll get out, but will I being in there be enough to deter aerial predators? With a net on hand in case they take a leap into the pool.

At this point we're thinking we'll go smaller than we were originally planning and do something around 30ft x 40 ft or so, so that we can barricade it as much as possible. We do want to be able to walk into the run, especially since it will enclose the coop door. The coop is maybe 10ft x 15ft, we're converting it from what was a horse barn and we were going to go out and around with the fence from its front face. That's why we need to figure out how to put the aviary netting up.

Also good to know about bracing the corner posts. We live about half a mile from Lake Michigan and we get snow and ice like you wouldn't believe here, so that most certainly could be a problem.