wire ???? is there a such a thing as over kill

[murdoc rose]

I was thinking of doing chicken wire as an inner layer then outside of that hog wire then putting sheet metal around the bottom.
Too much or not enough?

 

[canada-goose]

If there's such a thing as overkill, I haven't heard of it yet.

Your plan sounds pretty good to me.

 

[patandchickens]

I do not believe there is such a thing as overkill, except where your checkbook is concerned.

However I am not sure whether your proposed arrangement is the wisest use of money.

Hog panels usually have pretty big spaces, don't they? Anything inclined to go through, and able to get up over your band of sheet metal along the bottom, is going to easily be strong enough to rip apart your chickenwire IMHO. So I am not sure the chickenwire serves much purpose there.

Second, will this run have a top on it, or at least a very well-installed frequently-checked hotwire above the top of it? Because unless the answer is "yes", many many predators will just go up *over* the fence rather than bothering with your fencewire.

I would suggest putting a SECURE STRONG STRONGLY-SUPPORTED top on the run -- meaning nothing larger than 2x4" mesh, and nothing weaker than maybe 16 gauge wire for it -- if at all possible. If already have, or if you cannot (b/c of size/shape of run) but want to run an electric wire on the fence to mostly climb-proof it, then I would suggest using 1x1 or 2x4 wire instead of chickenwire, and probably skipping the hog panels altogether.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[fancbrd4me02]

If the sheet metal is buried around the run, it can cause flooding/mud in the run by trapping water. I would suggest a hardware cloth skirt around the bottom of your run, buried 12" deep and then turned out along the bottom in an apron, outwards about 10+". Then you can bury that portion of the wire. This is good protection against digging animals, and most people who have electric on thier runs report few predator problems, so you might want to try electric.

 

[murdoc rose]

that was a hurried message so now i can go into more detail what i called hog wire is 4"x4" mesh ( I think) there is a roll of it out back so no cost there. I didn't plan on burying the sheet metal only burying the wire, just have the sheet metal as a guard. As for run top thats undecided. As many of you mentioned cost I have a lot of scraps to work with so that helps some. Ill draw something up post some pics excreta.