Top on my chicken yard or no?

[EggyErin]

I've always free-ranged my flock but have a smallish chicken yard. I've lost most of my flock to predators lately, namely a bobcat, so I'm going to have to change my habits. I plan to build a larger chicken yard for their primary day-time turn-out (yard is attached to coop) and I don't know whether or not to put a top on it. Most of the chicken yard will be in woods with just a small slice of our yard. The coop is near the house. How high should the fence be? My current one is 4'. I've never successfully kept adult chickens in the yard; they just fly over the fence, although since free-ranging I've never trained hens to stay in the yard. I use it mostly for new pullets then once they see that the other girls go into the big world, they follow. I only have one hen left so will be getting a batch of chicks. We will be fencing our sizeable garden as well so I'll have a gate connecting the two for grazing during non-produce times. I've looked at electrified poultry netting but don't think that would be good in a wooded setting - all those falling leaves. So looks like welded wire. Would running an electrical wire around it be sufficient for predators? I will apron the bottom.

 

[rjohns39]

I've always free-ranged my flock but have a smallish chicken yard. I've lost most of my flock to predators lately, namely a bobcat, so I'm going to have to change my habits. I plan to build a larger chicken yard for their primary day-time turn-out (yard is attached to coop) and I don't know whether or not to put a top on it. Most of the chicken yard will be in woods with just a small slice of our yard. The coop is near the house. How high should the fence be? My current one is 4'. I've never successfully kept adult chickens in the yard; they just fly over the fence, although since free-ranging I've never trained hens to stay in the yard. I use it mostly for new pullets then once they see that the other girls go into the big world, they follow. I only have one hen left so will be getting a batch of chicks. We will be fencing our sizeable garden as well so I'll have a gate connecting the two for grazing during non-produce times. I've looked at electrified poultry netting but don't think that would be good in a wooded setting - all those falling leaves. So looks like welded wire. Would running an electrical wire around it be sufficient for predators? I will apron the bottom.

Feather net does work well in wooded areas, but welded wire with hot wires near the bottom will too. Bob Cats climb and do all manner of things that make it hard to protect our birds. I would definitely cover what is plausible. I also give my birds 2' tall 4X4 shelters through out the pasture to duck into. I use feather netting but recently had an issue with a BIG raccoon who climbed a neighboring tree and jumped into the pasture.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I would bobcat proof the top, may want to consider making it high enough for an adult to be able to walk through, just in case you need to.

 

[EggyErin]

Ugh, that's what I was afraid of. So...hard top or netting? I'm feeling partial to netting: less expensive and easier(?) to put up. Maybe try to do circus-tent style so I can walk in.

 

[lazy gardener]

Netting will not deter a bobcat or a coon, or any other 4 footed critter who wants a chicken dinner. I would opt for a decent sized run with wire covering, perhaps some of it solid corrugated metal for shade and rain protection. Your choice of materials and design will be determined by your winter snow load, (oh, I see you're in GA. Never mind!) your risk tolerance as it relates to your budget.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Bobcats are tough. They can climb over any fence. In your wooded area they can climb one tree, cross in the branches to another tree, and then down into the fenced run. They can tear through netting and to a certain extent wire mesh. it depends on the gauge of the wire in the mesh and how it is constructed. 2" x 4" welded wire properly installed should stop them.

In an open area without trees electricity works great. Either electric netting or a wire mesh fence with a few strands of hot wire work great. If they can pass from tree to tree they can go over it. But maybe a 2x4 welded wire fence with an apron at the bottom to stop them from going under and a hot wire on top might be your best bet. A lot depends on the trees and if they can climb over while avoiding the hot wire.

Bobcats hunt at any time, day or night. A neighbor was washing the lunch dishes and saw a bobcat take her rooster while she was watching out of the kitchen window. They are ambush predators, laying in wait or sneaking in to grab a chicken without warning.

I keep my chickens inside four feet high electric netting, they just don't fly out unless one gets trapped against the fence in a chicken fight and goes vertical to get away. That's practically always young cockerels. There are a few tricks to that though.

Chickens love to perch. If the top of your fence is solid they can fly many feet up there just to perch. Who knows which side they might hop down on? If they hop down on the wrong side they usually don't know to fly back in.

I avoid sharp corners and narrow areas. That helps keep them from getting trapped in a corner or against the fence. The bigger you can make the area the better, but the bigger you make it the harder it is to put a top on it.

Once they learn they can get out some occasionally will just fly over. But generally chickens don't fly over things, they fly up to something to land on and them fly down. I had that happen before I got the netting. Three hens would fly out of my 5' high main run every day once they learned how.

You may not have to worry about snow load but you are in the woods. You will get a lot of leaves on the top of any roof. That can get really heavy, especially when they are wet. You need to build it strong. Or build a solid roof so steep the leaves slide off.

Bobcats are tough, I wish you luck.

 

[lazy gardener]

Correct me if I'm wrong, those of you who are electric fencing experts: But, I was under the opinion that the animal had to be grounded in order to get zapped by an electric fence. So, if he's entering from above, and only contacting that top hot wire, he's not grounded, so won't get zapped. Am I way off base here?????

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you have a metal mesh fence that touches the ground and the hot wire is insulated from the metal mesh fence, when the animal touches the hot wire and that metal mesh fence at the same time he gets zapped. Or you connect your ground side directly to the metal mesh fence. You have to complete the circuit.

 

[lazy gardener]

Ah. I see said the blind man.

 

[EggyErin]

Thanks, Ridgerunner for your insight. You are right about the bobcats hunting during the day. I never would have thought that but we caught one in the act late afternoon, right near the house. My husband chased after it, hollering. It dropped the chicken and took off. I thought maybe it would stay away but no.... I still have that hen and she's recuperating from her injury but she's the only one I have left. I'm thinking, though, that as bobcats are stealth hunters, jumping over a fence isn't too stealthy. Seems like a high fence would be deterrent enough unless it was really brash.

There will be a few trees within the chicken yard and more outside it but they can be limbed up enough to where anything jumping from them will fall to their deaths. I'm thinking that if the trees are far enough apart then nothing can jump from one trunk to another. Does that sound logical? We'll take out trees that are too close together. I have found a 6' PVC-coated welded wire fencing on Amazon. It's for deer but it seems like it would be awfully good for the yard. The spacing is 1.5 x 4". Tight enough?

I'm really bucking this whole thing since I hate not free-ranging but I know I have to do it. I just don't want to go the other way and become totally obsessed and paranoid. I have a friend with a Henitentiary and it is just that; I won't go near it without either her or her husband to disconnect the electricity and undo the various latches. She has netting over the top and has never had any trouble.