I have surrounded my entire run with 2"x4"x6' welded wire. Around the bottom of the run I put 36" hardware cloth, about a foot of it laying on the ground and covered with about 4" of dirt and running up the fence as far as it would go attached with zip ties. I also used the hardware cloth to fill in any gaps around the run where I thought anything might try to get in. My son even thought it might be a good idea to bury a piece under the ground where the gate is so we did that too. Here is my question. I have so much of this 2"x4"x6' wire left would it be okay to use that on the top of the run or do I need to go and get more hardware cloth for that as well. I will do whatever it takes but I am thinking this wire will be okay. What do you think? Can a hawk or raccoon or owl get through that wire at the top?
I think that'll work just fine. There are certain predators that can squeeze through the smallest holes, but not hawks or owls. Now, raccoons will reach in through the wire if their hands fit, and literally pull a chicken's head off. (Gross, I know.) If you lock your chickens up in the coop at night, you should be fine. What I do, is each evening when I'm doing the head count and locking things up, I check for signs of anything that might have been digging or pulling at the wire.....then you'll know if you need to reinforce things.... Sounds like you've got a real good setup!
The only concern that I see with using the 2x4 wire is the expense. You might want to save that for a future coop and go with the 1" chicken wire for the top. The top is mainly for hawks or owls so the chicken wire would work fine and its a lot cheaper. That being said...there is nothing wrong with overkill to keep your birds safe.
The 2" x 4" wire on top will keep anything out that can't already get in. If you do that you will be doing better than a whole lot of people on this forum. The 1" chicken wire will help deter predators, but a raccoon can still climb up top and rip it apart to gain access. The 2" x 4" wire will hold up better under snow and ice load too. If you are going to put something on top of your run and you already have the 2" x 4" wire, I'd sure use it.
i covered my run with the fencing wire... i believe its 1x4.. but it might be 2x4... i cant rememeber... but i wanted it enclosed for their safety
i imagine it would be a whole lot better than any kind of netting! i'm more for security - cost is not the issue. i do not want to be on the predator page asking "boo hoo - what got my chickens?"
Yeah sure it's great idea even when you already have a bunch left, all of our run's are covered as they should be. AL
If it were me and I wanted a wire top on the run (which is definitely more secure!) I would indeed use your 2x4 wire. Yeah, the occasional baby raccoon or baby possum can go thru, along with a slew of other small predators that would probalby find a gap somewhere ELSE even if you had a hardwarecloth top... but if you close the coop popdoor at night that's not a big issue. And in exchange for some small-predator permeability you get quite a LOT more STRENGTH than hardwarecloth or chickenwire. Hardwarecloth will act as nearly a solid surface in a big wet snowstorm. I see you live in KY so you KNOW about wet snow Chickenwire will also catch a considerable bit of wet snow and will come down even easier than hardwarecloth. So I seriously would not recommend using either of them in a place that gets snow, unless you used hardwarecloth with REALLY VERY SERIOUS support structure under it (equal to what you'd use for a proper roof. At which point, you may as well use roof tin and MAKE a proper roof, it's no more expensive ) Mind you 2x4 wire will still catch some snow and needs reasonable support. But nowhere NEAR what the other options would. Good luck, have fun, Pat
