Will this be sufficient to keep things out or do I need to add electric fencing around?

[duluthralphie]

Mine was 25' x 50' - trying to get that squarely stretched out in grass and then cut perfectly in half was a bit of a head scratcher!

What I do is set four steel fence posts in the ground at the size I need. Then I start moving the ends/sides and hook to the top of the post so the netting never touches the ground.

as you said PITA... but nice once in place.

 

[dgrr29]

Thanks everyone for the support. I'm hoping the bird netting I have is plenty strong enough to keep the hawks out (should be for the price). I've only got 10 chickens and have no plans of getting more than that. The coop will be relocated over to the other side of the garage to keep the odors down. My question now is will the run have a lot of odors also? They'll be free range out of the coop and run for the most part all summer since my wife is a teacher and will be home with them all day all week and the kids will be outside most of the time with them. It is on the down wind side with our prevalent winds out of the SW so I'm keeping my fingers crossed the smells are at a minimum. If not the kids will be busy turning mulch once a week

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks everyone for the support. I'm hoping the bird netting I have is plenty strong enough to keep the hawks out (should be for the price). I've only got 10 chickens and have no plans of getting more than that. The coop will be relocated over to the other side of the garage to keep the odors down. My question now is will the run have a lot of odors also? They'll be free range out of the coop and run for the most part all summer since my wife is a teacher and will be home with them all day all week and the kids will be outside most of the time with them. It is on the down wind side with our prevalent winds out of the SW so I'm keeping my fingers crossed the smells are at a minimum. If not the kids will be busy turning mulch once a week

You won't notice the smell.... and it might keep pesky relatives away....


If you are worried about Birds of prey, a few CD's hanging by mono-filament fishing line shiny side up will keep them from even testing the netting.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Ditto, there should be no smell at all if you've got your chicken "housekeeping" taken care of.

Runs are inherently messy because the chickens will decimate any plant life. And they poop. And precipitation happens. You'll have to come up with a run management plan that works for you and your family. There are a lot of different ways to approach it. More reading to do

My five chickens annihilated their 500 sq ft run and garden in about 5-6 weeks

So we have big plans on how to changes things this year! As soon as the snow melts and the friggin ground thaws. Ridiculous Maine weather...

 

[duluthralphie]

Ditto, there should be no smell at all if you've got your chicken "housekeeping" taken care of.

Runs are inherently messy because the chickens will decimate any plant life. And they poop. And precipitation happens. You'll have to come up with a run management plan that works for you and your family. There are a lot of different ways to approach it. More reading to do

My five chickens annihilated their 500 sq ft run and garden in about 5-6 weeks

So we have big plans on how to changes things this year! As soon as the snow melts and the friggin ground thaws. Ridiculous Maine weather...

Rotating runs??? I free range so I have no good ideas.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Rotating runs??? I free range so I have no good ideas.

My solution (I hope) will be:

• Protected plantings of a few shrubs and bushes
• Protected plantings of perennial clovers and fescues (under frames to protect roots, but the tops can grow through the frame to be grazed on).
• Gravel paths for high-foot-traffic areas
• Rotating annual crops (buckwheat, oats, cereal rye, etc) protected by temporary fencing
• 2019-2020: 6" of aged wood chips everywhere else. I have to age the chips a year after their first full summer so they partially rot; there have been reports of fresh wood chips in warm, humid environments (which I definitely have in the summer) breeding aspergilli resulting in fatal cases of aspergillosis in chickens. So I'll collect chips over the next 18 months, age them and install them each spring until I get that 6" done. Until then
• Autumn leaves and clean straw in fall/winter/spring until I get the wood chips done.

A "rotating run" solution could be like a chicken paddock solution. But even with just five birds, that would require far more space than I'd be willing to manage for them (I'd estimate I'd need ~6000 sq ft, ~80 foot square). But that's just me.

Deep litter method is a great run management method generally speaking, but it doesn't work well with how we garden and manage our compost.

And free ranging doesn't work for us either because we are overrun with predators.

Ah the joy of chickens!