try "cattle panels" to brace your runs

[maf2008]

No photos... yet but we added a long run with 4x4x7 (braced with 2x4x8) every 8 feet... as a BASE for structure... I added 16 foot wire cattle panels ( one for every 16 feet) that you can get at a landscaping or fencing company.

This will along with the bracing and 4x4 and 2x4 give your run amazing strength... So one of my runs is 100 ft long by 16 ft wide and has a 3 sided metal covered coop with an 8 foot long roost inside about 6 feet high!

OF COURSE it will not keep out preditors (the openings are 4x4 inches!) so you will need to add your favorite wire for that
(hardware cloth at bottom 3 feet and sides and top can be chicken wire)

I futher added a "electric fence" 18/24 inches from the bottom on the outside. (not touching wire to shock chickens)

So far this is working great. So for strength... remember "cattle panels" They are very fast and easy to mail to the 4x4 too.

 

[DawnSuiter]

I sure wish I could haul cattle panels... they are TOO long!!! I even bought an F150 a couple years ago just for farm chores! What kind of truck do you need to haul those things??? I've wanted to work with those and the flexible ones that they make hoop houses out of all the time... just don't know how to haul those!!

Sounds like a dynamite structure you got going on there!

 

[Opa]

Cattle panels can be hauled full length by placing one end against the front wall of the pickup or trailer and then bowing it before shutting the tailgate. You should then tie it down to make sure it doesn't "jump" out.

 

[DawnSuiter]

Quote:
OHHHHHhhhh
that makes sense! Ooooh... now I'm excited again!! Next spring, hoop house grower shack coming up!!!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

That's a very expensive way to build a fence.
Just setting the posts deep enough and stretching your wire is generally all the strength that's needed

 

[maf2008]

thanks for your advice but its to keep out coyotes and cougars... sorry, chicken wire just won't cut it.. I needed 4x4 and cattle panels for strength on top of chickens wire and hardware cloth in the corners... expensive yes... or 300 dead chickens... uh no thank you.... cattle panels work for me

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[The Chicken People]

I used cattle panels to prop up my tomatoes plants in the garden..worked great! Now we made a chicken yard (using cattle panels) for the girls because they wont stay in the yard! They figured out they can fly so I will be covering it! However its not predator proof so we watch them a few hours each day as they visit the yard! Gives them more space and lets them out of the coop and run area!

 

[possumqueen]

Quote:
I've had dogs go straight through tightly stretched 2x4 weld wire, and I've seen dogs dismantle chain link.

cattle panels, also called stock panels or hog panels, don't need much bracing.

I'm building a tractor with a detachable hog panel yard. It will not be the full length of a hog panel, but, covered with 2x4 weld wire and bolted together with those little clamps, with a panel on top, it's light enough to drag around the yard, and it's very secure. They don't call it "hog panel" for nothing!

I WILL be using a hardware cloth apron, since the yard will be portable and not dug in. (Thanks, BYC posters, for the apron idea!)

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
We usually haul them in the livestock trailer, but I have put up to 4 panels in the 4x8 utility trailer. They roll up (sort of) and then we cinch them down good with tie-downs. You should be able to do it that way in the bed of your truck, though you'll have to throw an old blanket or something in there if you're worried about scratches.

ETA: Oops, I should of finished reading the thread before I posted, looks like Opa already had this covered.

 

[millebantam]

I've heard of them chainlink eatin' dogs. I think my buddy had one, but he had a heck of a time teachin' him how to work the acetlyne torch.