Welded fence on run?

[madicakes]

If I have a 6 ft high run, and put 1/2 inch hardware cloth on the bottom 2 feet, and 2" x 3" welded fence on the upper 4 feet, as well as the roof and skirt, would that be sufficient protection against raccoons and the like? Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

That’s close to what I did, except I used 2”x4” welded wire, not 2x3. And I used chicken wire on the bottom along with the 2x4 welded wire to stop reach-throughs.

That will not stop absolutely everything. Snakes, rats, mice, and some members of the weasel family can still get in, but with a roof and skirt all firmly attached, that will stop dogs, foxes, raccoons, skunks, possums, coyotes, hawks, owls, and practically anything short of a bear. Sounds like you are good to go.

 

[madicakes]

Thanks! I love this place It's so nice to get advice from seasoned "chicken people"!

 

[thomasboyle]

I made my run with 2 layers of wire. The outer layer (on the outside of the 4x4 posts) is 2"x4" heavy gauge field fencing. This is to keep larger predators at bay - coyotes, bears, bobcats, and the inner layer (on the inside of the 4x4 posts) is 1/2" hardware wire. My run is 15x15, so 1 36" roll of 100' hardware wire did the inner layer, and 1 roll of 6' x 50' field fence did the outer layer. I have had predators (last one was a bobcat) climb on the outer fencing, and bend it up a bit, but nothing has ever made it into the run or coop. Two layers of fence may be overkill, but my chickens and I sleep well at night!

 

[madicakes]

Wow thomasboyle, what a lovely coop and run!! That is a great idea about the fencing. We don't generally have a problem with the larger predators here, but have on occasion had a bear captured on wild-life cameras in our neighborhood, so that's something I will have to take into consideration.