Type of wire for chicken run????

[jessica117]

I did use standard chicken wire for the sides and top of my run, but I also have electric wire run at 6 in. from the ground, a foot, then every foot to about 5 feet up. So far, it's worked well for me. We already had electric run around the sheep pasture so we just hooked in to it for the chicken coop.

Jess

 

[sms1225]

my coop and run


My coop is almost finished, just need to make the door to access the run when the run is completed.
I am in the middle of constructing the run. I'm going to put a roof over part of the outside run. I'm still trying to decide about the wire. Sounds like the best is hardware cloth, even though is expensive would like to be able to keep the door to coop open,and let the chickens go back and forth as they like, without having to open and close the door to the coop.


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[Lobzi]

Make sure the chicks and chickens cant get their little heads through the wire, as they can with "chicken wire."
My boy friend lost two chicks to strangulation because they were able to do so.

 

[sms1225]

I think I will use 1/2"x1/2" or 1"x1" hardware cloth. My chicks are now 4 weeks old and growing fast. They need to get outside and I'm trying to get my run finished as quickly as possible so I can get them outside. The RIR's are picking at my silver laced wyandottes.

I think I will bury the hardware cloth 2' deep, and then use the 3' high hardware cloth, running it horizontally across the post, overlapping them.

I appreciate everyone's input into the wire fencing options and experiences.

Thanks!!!!!!

 

[Wraith]

This may be a dumb question, but how can you bury it that deep? Dig a ditch? I'm planning on doing the same thing, but dog gone it sounds like a lot of work.

 

[taratrip]

does the wire get bury in towards the run or out? i too am in the making of a coop/run and am still working out the bugs. i am going to purchase the little wooden playhouse at lowes today and then this weekend work on getting materials for the run. i will keep everyone posted with the progress! i have learned so much on this website! thanks to everyone for being so friendly! you dont see that often in my parts anymore!

 

[jdypat]

If I had the kind of money you obviously have.. I would not be worry about how to dig that ditch.. Id be able to hire an armed guard.. whew! What kind of golden chickens are you going to raise.?
Im jealous.. very jealous..
Now Im ashamed to show my poor old country bumpkin style of chicken set up.. I'm glad my girls arent computer literate.. they would stop laying and start demonstrating with signs and chants..
I have plastic netting.. stronger than the kind to keep birds off fruit trees that looks much the same but thicker..
and its stappled to wooden boards across the bottom and at the top. The lighter weight netting is on the top.. its worked for years like 9 or so.. I depend on my main-gal to keep the boogers away from them, Her name is StrayDawg. She let me down when snakes entered the pic and some type varment sucked the blood out of one fine hen.
Inside the hen house..that is made out of sawmill remnants.. each 2 inch by 16 inch by 10 feet cost me 1 dollar. Its strong strong stuff.. had to nail it up fast or a nail wont go into it once its dried.
My roost are 2 by 2's 12 feet long. cost me 10 cents each from the saw mill and again when dried they cant be broken or nailed.. air gun necessary..
I have a floor made of old roofing galvanized tin.. sealed along the bottom with bricks.. and the doors are old storm doors from The Trading Post in town. Screen in the summer and glass in the winter. I had to give in and buy metal roofing but it galled me. As the boards shrink, leaving cracks between them, Im striipping them with the 2 x 2's. with screws.
The only netted part of the set up is the run for the young chicks, after the brooder and after the card board box they go to the outside pen.. it has an old dog house in it with an electric bulb for night time.. or cool days..
StrayDawg cant do much about hawks thus the netting.
Id love to show you a pix of this .. i posted one one time.. had to go to bed for 3 days afterward.. I dont know why we cant just copy and paste..
The adults are free range..they go and come thru a hold in the wall of their house, as they wish. I have 12 hens and 20 acres of pasture for them to wander around.. of course they can go thru the 5 inch type fence along the highway.. we have a mile road frontage.. and of course they want in the ditch by the state highway..but not one has been hit by a car yet.... in 9 years.
I had one week of ravaging by coons.. years ago. i hav a hart trapped 4 of them and took them on a long journey to the next county.
Straydawg was overdone by 4 of them.. but the coyotes dont get close to us and ive been very lucky that she has stayed so observant.
I have a colony of chip munks.. i guess that is what they are.. I let them feed as they want.. the occasional sighting is such a thrill. i let them eat and hope they are happy here.. thats why i cant put out those little green bits for the mice..
All in all I love my little chicken ranch. I have 30 or so chicks of various ages coming on. almost ready for the grown up area..and free range.. I cant wait..
I have an aviary for my doves.. made of an old dog kennel.. two of them put together and covered with the thick netting like i have on the pen for the small chickens. their nesting house is from a breeder. paid more for it than i did for the whole chicken house and its a fifth or maybe 10th of the size..
Im a cheapo... its more fun to me than building a grand hotel for them..but I might if I had money left over after the four grand child boys come and I buy them with the trinkets they want.. and i go over board there.. they dont like saw mill toys..haha but they can bowl with a garage sale bowling ball and empty coke bottles in my drive way..
How I love this site.. jdypat

 

[backintime]

I opted for the half-inch hardware cloth on all sides and top of my coop. I called every hardware store and home improvement center in a 30-mile radius (to save gas & time!) and found the price per running foot of 4' wide half-inch hardware cloth varied from $1.47/foot to $3.99/foot!!!!!!!

The cheapest option was a dumpy little small-town hardware store that said they could get me a 100' roll for $147.00, as opposed to the 25' roll most home centers carry. I was shocked that a local hardware could beat out Home Depot and Menards.

It pays to make some phone calls!

 

[Guitartists]

Quote:
Yeah, it will be... but much worse to lose all of your birds and THEN have to do it

I'm gonna build my run like it's Fort Knox!!! LOL Hopefully if I can get it right the first time I won't have to do anything other than regular maintenance afterwards.

Hopefully

I think I'm going to use the plywood idea for the bottom half of the run. That way I don't have to worry about anything reaching through and grabbing a bird.... I'll still put wire under the plywood just in case something tries to chew a hole... I want to bury a wire apron alongside the run and maybe even add cement to the ditch for added security. My only delima is that my shed is one of those insulated panel plastic types and I am unsure how to best secure any gaps where the run meets the side of the coop, without damaging the panels of the shed. Am thinking of adding that clear roofing stuff to the top of the run as well. If I do, do you all think it would be ok to just put chickenwire under it as a deterent or should I still do hard wiring? Anybody have trouble with critters busting through that plastic roofing stuff?

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Quote:
That's what we do. Hardware cloth is strong - saves a lot of worry, I tell you.