What fencing/netting is best?

[Jaxon4141]

Yes foxes love chickens. If the bottom of the run is secure you will have little trouble from foxes. You will likely have to weight down section of your predator guards with stone or some thing. If you use say five foot sections that are 18" wide, you will need to be weighted down the joints and corners.

Thank you for explaining gauge to me! I thought it was the diameter of the holes in the fence! I think what I planned for the bottom of the run is what you are explaining. Like a skirt that lays along the ground to discourage digging. I had planned to stake the wire to the ground with tent stakes just to ensure it didnt rise up. I plan on moving this run probably once a week. I like the idea of clipping the guards to the fence while moving. Would not have thought of that. I do not have any pictures right now. But the "kennel" is similar to the one in the picture above. I know I will have to do something wiht the top, if nothing else but to protect my girls from the resident hawk family. Was thinking just regular chicken wire, or something similar to aviary netting. Part of the run will be shaded, probably with a tarp. Will I have to worry about predators going over the top, esp in daytime?

Chainlink fence is not an easy type of fence to climb, so I doubt you will have a problem during the day from foxes. I have a den of foxes not far from where my chickens are. It's always a treat to see one come by, they are very shy, but very good looking animal and great hunters of rodents. I'm hoping to get a picture of one them this week. We have a camera set up to take picture at night when most of the visitors come around. Raccoons tend to be the biggest problem and they can climb a chainlink fence. If you close your chickens up at night and you coop is secure then that should take care of that problem. If you don't have a lot of hawks around you wont have to much worry from overhead predation. Hawks are not really big predators of chickens They will take one now and then but it's not there normal prey. We have a lot of hawk around here, so an occasional pick by a hawk would be hard if your chickens are pets like mine.

 

[MoriahQuilts]

Welcome QuiltinChick! I'm a quilter too! We have raccoons in our area, but they only are around at night. We used 2" x 4" fencing for the run, with 1" chicken wire 36" up from the bottom. The chicken wire alone won't keep raccoons OUT, but it will keep all parts of the chicken IN. And I left 12" of chicken wire beyond the base of the run, as a "skirt" which I buried to prevent digging under. Rather than leaving the coop door open at night, consider opening windows for ventilation with hardware cloth as a screen. The chickens will go in at night anyway, and you won't have to worry about securing the top with expensive material. I just have a nylon net over the top of the run to keep chickens in, tweety birds out. It will not stop raccoons.