Want to make a fortress... any holes in my plan?

[MydearWatson]

We have tons of hawks, some fox, possums, skunks, raccoons, feral cats, and assorted underground animals. My yard is fenced in so this keeps most (except the cats and very rarely a raccoon or possum) out of the yard.

I am going to use the welded wire with the very small square holes, I think its called construction wire or something like that? The run will be built out of that and it will have a slanted roof. The coop will be off of the ground (about 2 feet) and the windows will have either chicken wire or leftover wire from the run on the inside. The chickens will be locked in the coop every night. My husband is a carpenter so the coop itself will be very sturdy and shouldn't have any holes or gaps, it will be all brand new wood so there wont be any rot or weakness. The coop will be near some trees so the animals could get over the fence by climbing the trees. They don't do this now but we also don't have any temptations in our yard yet.

So where are these predators going to get us?

 

[paddock36]

Chicken wire is not that strong. Many predators can rip right through it. You'd be better to use hardware cloth or the welded wire you mentioned.

 

[al6517]

Any overhead cover for the run ??. besides that it sounds good & sturdy.

 

[MydearWatson]

Yes! Hardware cloth! I knew it was called something like that (not construction wire like I said

) We are using that for the run. I plan on using it to cover the glass or plexiglass windows but since its so expensive I thought chicken wire would do, if we didn't have any hardware cloth left. Probably best to just use the cloth though. The run will have a slanted roof, most likely that green corrugated plastic stuff.

 

[ShortCircuitRanch2332]

make sure the run has a bottom or dig the fence down a foot and then attach hardware cloth or something chicken wire will work but like stated its kinda weak to the fence on the ground flat so if something tries to dig in its hitting the barrier

by the way chicken math obviously hasn't caught up with you yet lol your flock is gonna multiply FAST take it from me and everyone at BYC the evil little fuzzy butts will hypnotize you into buying as many of them as you can get your hands on, the only defense? stay away from all TSC and local co-ops and anyone with chicks for sale GOOD LUCK you will need it
PS. if you cave in no one here will blame you we will encourage it LMAO

 

[dawg53]

If you dont feel like digging down a foot or so around your pen to install hardware cloth or chicken wire (labor intensive epecially if there's roots or rocks embedded in the ground) .....use small diameter chicken wire as an apron extending out about 2 feet from the exterior of your pen ON the ground, going all the way around your pen. Attach it to the bottom of the hardware cloth going around the pen. You can dump dirt on it, grass will grow up through it or you can toss some grass seed on the dirt, rake it in and water it and that's all you have to do.