Wire Size Question

[Blue Eager]

I will probably wrap the whole coop w/ 1/2” welded wire. My motto has always been better safe than sorry. Here over kill is a good thing. You can see the 2x4 welded wire at the front (door side) base. I also shot a couple of pix where I sealed up the area between the block & chain link. I also need to seam up where the roof meets the chain link as well. I also plan to build the hen house in front & to the right of the door.

Great advice Ridgerunner! I too lock them all up tight at night. Thanks to all of you for the advice!

 

[cmom]

I have 2x4 welded wire with chicken wire around the bottom. So far no problems. Remember the birds have to get close enough and I mostly see coons around here at night when everyone is in their coop roosting. I have game cameras.

 

[sirrobyn0]

Take it from someone that started with a "run" that was little more than net, and the larger holed chicken wire. Proof it right to begin with! So as time went on that run came down and a new run went up with the smaller gauge chicken wire. Then a better roof came, then came hardware cloth, burried into the ground over a foot deap, and up on the chicken wire almost 2 feet. Why did I keep changing it so many times? Well it's because I kept having problems with various predators. Most recently we added an entire new run section, this section is chain link, with hardware cloth in the ground and partway up the side of the chain link, plus chicken wire roof. This I think is the best portion as I can stand up right in it and it's heavy duty as all heck. So take it from someone that learned the hard way. Proof it right the first time. Don't lull yourself into thinking, oh this or that predator won't be a problem, because one of these days it will and you'll end up scrambling to inprove your enclosure.

 

[Blue Eager]

I know where you are coming from when you say “take it from someone who knows”. I lost several to a skunk & then a dog. Now I have word from my neighbor across the street that he recently trapped a raccoon. Never in my wildest dreams did I think raccoons would be an issue where we live. Then it dawned on me that an irrigation canal is only about a ½ mile from where we live (on a mesa). So now when I plan my coops all these predators are definitely in the equation, & if I can build sufficient barriers against them then just about all other predators in our area should be taken care of as well.

 

[sirrobyn0]

Again not trying to get off topic, but I love having birds but having one die, whether be from a predator or old age is the hardest part. I let mine free range during the day and while I have come to realize that if I let them out there is risk, it' still hard when something happens, but if I was chicken I wouldn't want to live my entire life locked in a little pen.

Also I am lucky enough to have a couple of security cameras that live feed into my house. Which is great to see what' going on, but a lot happens outside their view too.

 

[Howard E]

I second the advice of Ridgerunner.

I would add that our neighbors keep their birds in a fully enclosed run made of chain link fence sides, with solid metal roof. The framing for this rests upon an old building foundation made of cement, so that keeps the diggers out. To keep small birds like starlings out of there, they then wrapped the whole thing in chicken wire.

Over time, there have been several instances where the chicken wire along the bottom was ripped off the chain link....was found wadded up....but whatever did that never got past the chain link fence. We have skunks, possums, coons, coyotes, foxes, dogs, etc. All the usual suspects. They have never had a predator loss I'm aware of.

The holes in my chain link fence are 2 1/2" square. I've witnessed cats, skunks, possums and coons go under it.....so fast they didn't even slow down.....but never one through it.

And FWIW, about a year ago, someone posted a video of Martha Stewart's coop and run. That run was made from 1" x 2" welded wire.

 

[jthornton]

The holes in my chain link fence are 2 1/2" square. I've witnessed cats, skunks, possums and coons go under it.....so fast they didn't even slow down.....but never one through it.

I've witnessed an opossum go through chain link and my buddy has seen 2 go through his chain link fence. They just wiggle through...

JT

 

[Howard E]

Was that one of those scrawny, emaciated, Ozark possums?

The one who used to hang around here had a forehead the size of a dinner plate. No way he would ever get through the fence.

He got his hiney kicked by a Jack Russell terrier we were dog sitting for back around Christmas and we have not seen him since.

 

[jthornton]

Naw, just a young dumb one. Dumb for coming into my yard. I killed a huge one once in my pole barn.

JT

 

[TK421]

Young Possums can and do squeeze through chain link. Maybe a skunk could but for me that means “yes.” I have a cl door and the openings above and below are big enough for lots of stuff so definitely check the place where the chain link joins other surfaces.