T-Posts for Run?

[chickens3]

You can use them it does not matter at all you can use whatever makes the fence stand i have post like you do on my stuff so it will work lol nice job on the coop.

 

[eponagirl]

Thanks, that's very helpful...we have t posts and mesh fence for our dog yard/horse fence (we use t-postguard sleeves from (www.horseguardfence.com), so they look better), but it sounds like wood is more versatile and much stronger against predators.

Yes, we are looking for the easiest, cheapest, most secure thing to put up for a run...just like most everyone else I bet!

 

[Davaroo]

I've used them and will again, But I would not recommend them, generally, unless you will add electric fence wire to them.
As has been mentioned, its not the chickens you gotta worry about - it's everything that wants a free chicken dinner.

 

[ducks4you]

My old (Horse) fencing used to have them spaced in between 8 in wooden uprights. I use the shorter ones now to garden. You are supposed to put them in the ground so you (just) bury the horizontal "foot." When they are in the ground that far it's hard to move them.

HINT: Put them in the ground/take them out, when it's been very wet. If you want to reuse one, beat it with your hammer N-S-E-W until it is easy to pull upwards. (Old Boy Scout/Girl Scout tenting tip.) OTHERWISE they bend---it's hard to straighten them out again.

 

[eponagirl]

The other options we are looking at are building a wood frame above ground that attaches to the coop OR burying 4x4's and building the run frame off of that.
Patandchickens had some good points about t-posts (and most other topics as well!!

), so I am reconsidering the t-post plan...

IF we used them we would:

-use heavy duty t-posts and bury them about 2 feet in (this is what we did for our horse fencing and they don't move)

-attach welded wire mesh to the posts with either lots of sturdy zip ties or metal wires, or something that won't break off easily.

-attach 1/2" hardware cloth around the bottom 3ft, buried into the ground or folded at a 90 deg angle 12" outward in the ground

- use 4x4 Pressure Treated wood framed around the bottom on the outside of the posts over the buried wire.

- attach netting to the top by tying it to the topline of the welded wire fence

-just for added protection...run electric wire around the perimeter at different heights or use my new portable electric fence from Premier and enclose the run/coop area.

Would that do it? I think I saw someone here on BYC do something similiar.

 

[BreadNButterFarm]

That sounds secure . . . we used a combination of old free chain link fence from someone's dog kennel, A T-Post in the middle to help support the galavanized sign post we recycled. And we also recycled our old goat fencing which was hog panels for the roof attached to the galvanized sign post. We covered half of the hog panel roof w/ a tarp for shade and to keep rain/snow out and the other "sunny" half we covered w/ chicken wire. We have buried wire around all edges and hardware cloth 3' up all the way around. We used lots of hog rings and zip ties to hold everything together . . . We have lots of predators and our own pesky dogs & cats and so far so good . . .