What fencing does everyone recommend?

[hockeygirl56]

I'm a new chicken owner, and my babies are still in their brooder but we are going to get their new house all set up soon. I plan on setting them up with an enclosed run attached to their coop, but I want to make sure I do everything possible to make it predator proof. We've been seeing some tracks around the house lately, so we set up the trail camera and put the Easter turkey carcass out and this is what we caught:

There were more pics than that but it gives you the idea - so we know we have possums around! I'm pretty sure we have raccoon prints and skunks too. Not a huge surprise since we live in the country, but seeing that made me that much more nervous about making sure the chickens will be safe when they move out there.

I've heard different things as far as what to use - from what I've understood, the best plan is to use welded wire fencing and then chicken wire over top for strength and size purposes. When I told my husband that he didn't think we needed all of that and I think doesn't want to spend the extra money for both, so if this really is the best plan please let me know so I have backup! I'm planning on putting a top on the run so no one can climb over - what is everyone's suggestion for the top? And then I was planning to put the fence down into the ground a foot or two - any advice on the best way to stop things from digging underneath or is that pretty much it?

Any advice or experience anyone has would be great - I'm already attached after just a week and would be really upset if anything happened to them that I could have prevented!

 

[schellie69]

I have welded wire on the whole pen then have hardware cloth on the bottom part of the pen. The coop is attached to the run. I made sure to cover the top of my run with welded wire its high enough that raccoons can't reach through and get a chicken and nothing can get in.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Quote:
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Also take the fence and bury it at least 12" deep to prevent predators from digging under. I also have a 12" fence apron laying on the ground on the outside of the run to further deter digging.
I have rabbits, so I have 1x3" welded wire laying on the bottom of the run everywhere too.
Chicken wire does absolutely nothing against predators. I think they use it for dental floss.
If you really have problems, you can run a hot wire (electric fence) around the outside of your fence.

 

[hockeygirl56]

Ok, so as I said, I'm new to this - I've heard of the hardware cloth but what exactly is it/why is it useful? Do I not need to do the chicken wire on top of the welded wire? What is fence apron made of? I'm assuming that is to cover the ground so if someone really wants to dig under they have to dig across first too?

 

[AlbionWood]

Welded wire is stronger than chicken wire, so I can't think why you'd need both. Just make sure the welded wire mesh is small enough - 1/2" or less - so the blasted raccoons can't reach through it. (They will reach through, grab a bird, and tear it to pieces small enough to pass through the wire...) Hardware cloth is 1/4" square-mesh welded wire - good stuff!

I strongly recommend the electric option, it makes life so much easier! No need to dig down 12" to bury fence wire, no aprons, etc... just string two hot wires, one about 4" off the ground and another at 18" or so. Get a good charger that makes at least one joule, make sure you have a good ground rod, and sleep well at night. Nothing sweeter than the sound of a raccoon having its first experience with 4000 volts.

 

[cptbahama]

This is what I used. I couldn't find anything near as good in the local stores so I had to buy it online. They shipped it fast though and the black vinyl coating makes a really nice finish. There are pics of it on my page.
For the bottom part of the run I used the half-inch stuff so raccoons couldn't reach in. It is not as strong though. It is 19 gauge versus the 16 gauge for the one inch mesh. In my opinion a perfect product would be the half-inch mesh in 16 gauge but I wasn't able to find it anywhere.

 

[hunter109]

chicken wire and set traps and kill them nasty things

 

[Judy]

It really depends on what's in stock, and what they haven't been able to sell, around here. I have a large yard that's fenced with what looks exactly like chicken wire -- but it's heavy gauge galvanized stuff, feels as strong as the wire mesh I have elsewhere, has never rusted or been breached. I figure people were passing it up because it looks like chicken wire.

Personally I wouldn't do the apron and the burying both, too much like work. I've read that 3' is a good idea for the apron -- and this kid ain't digging that far.

 

[schellie69]

Dh buried the fencing about 6 inches deep, I got the welded wire that is one inch by 2 inch and the hardware cloth is like really small, I use the welded wire for most of pen except the bottom half. It has worked for 2 years now, I did cover top of my run with a tarp for some shade and a dry place outside in the rain. I would not even buy chicken wire except to put where you don't want chickens. Don't waste money on buying chicken wire just use welded wire and hardware cloth. IMO

 

[colebarnhart]

I'm new to this also, I have (had) chicken wire with very small quarter size openings and put it all around my coop and run as well as under in the ground. I was so confident that my chix would be safe and nothing could get them...... Well, found one in one corner ripped up and half of it's body missing, no head and only a few drops of blood, but feathers all on the outside. Another one just the head torn off and laying next to it, the body intact but the insides had been pulled out of the body thru the small holes in the chicken wire. So I knew it had to be something very quick and aggressive with strong tiny hands, I was thinking raccoon. I have since put up a 16" border of hardware wire all around the bottom perimeter of my coop/run and bought a trap at Tractor supply for $30 and have since caught 1 cute little black kitten & 3 possiums, 1 per day. Pretty sure it wasn't the cat, I let it go, the possiums weren't so lucky, but still not sure if it was or wasn't a raccoon or sure if possiums are smart and/or capable of doing what was done.