using 30lbs fishing line on top of run

[Poultra]

I thought this one was a pretty good price
Park Seed netting

 

[Chicken_D]

CW

I have been talking to friends and neighbors about their coops and runs in preparation for building mine this spring. One friend in particular has fishing line crisscrossing his run and claims to have not lost a chicken yet. (He has had chickens for about 2 years now) I like this idea and I believe I’m going to give it a try. We definitely have hawks and owls in our area so I guess I will put it to the test, besides, a couple of dollars for fishing line isn’t so bad.

Chicken_D

 

[ozark hen]

I have run about six strands of nylon filament across the top of the fencing and dangled about 12 cd's from the filament. Keeps out ALL PREDATORS FROM THE SKY. If you look at Speckled Hen's coop page you will see where I learned it from. Two years and have never had a sky predator. Not when they are in the run.

 

[cw]

thanks for the input guys i have heard the cd thing works well also. man i feel a lot better the first few responses had no clue what i was talking about

 

[ozark hen]

Here is our set up

It doesn't matter the weather the light still reflects off the cd's.

 

[charlotteda]

That technique will help keep predators birds out of the goldfish ponds so I bet it would help discourage chick hawks too...

If they do dive once and run into the line it frightens them !

charlotte

 

[cw]

that looks pretty good ! thats what i had in mind

 

[Catalina]

Quote:
Does it keep your chickens in the run?

 

[ozark hen]

to answer your question on "does it keep your chickens in the run?" No, not the ones who insist on flying over.

My guineas fly in and out. I have one b.orp who insists on leaving the run, too. They free range most days but when the weather is very cold or rainy I keep them in the run. There are lots of seeds in that large round bale of hay we unrolled in there and then in the very early spring there will be some very early green sprouts for them to pick at. Plus, the ground does not freeze under all that hay and there are still insects they scratch for. Keeps them off the frozen ground and the soil is unbelievably rich under all that. I love it when it decays. I told my dh I would love to plant a large garden inside there.

Poor chickens wouldn't have a run then though.

Hawks swoop down in a long glide to attack and they can't with the cd's there and the nylon filament...by the way, the filament was under 3 dollars at Wal Mart. I had bought the wrong blank cd's..they, too, were cheap.

 

[McVerdi]

I too was thinking about adding an enclosed area that used 6'x33' sections to go around my permanent run, and use fishing line over the top to deter the aerial predators. I found this netting on amazon.http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Nettin...TF8&colid=34D02N2IN9UZB&coliid=I2J1O5BL9YMN0N I want to add a 10,000 sq. Ft area outside of their 600 sq. Ft permanent run at a cost of $40 for the netting. Any opinions on the netting or specific info on fishing line spacing would be great! Thanks