Type of wire mesh to use in making chicken run?

[fiddleblue]

Someone recently shared a story with me about one of her chickens which got her head caught in something and died. I was wondering, is there any potential head-getting-caught entanglement danger in using traditional "chickenwire" or poultry fencing (the type with the approx 1 inch mesh) to make a chicken run? Should I use more tightly woven, smaller mesh hardware cloth (1/2 inch size mesh) on the lower 2 feet of the run to help prevent entanglement danger, or is that not really a problem?

 

[Appaloosa Hill Farm]

Yep, it's a problem. I had a pullet get her head stuck--luckily I saw it before the dog did. He would have bitten her head off. When chickens are scared, they tend to run to corners. If a raccoon is harrassing them and the run to the corners to "hide," the raccoon will reach right in and pull them apart. Happens often. I would cover at least the bottom 2 feet of the run with hardware cloth.

 

[gkeesling]

I user 1/2 inch hardware cloth for the bottom 3 ft and regular chicken wire for the top 4 feet of my run. I do this mainly for preditor protection.