Once I bring down the farm of an acquaintance and thought I ’d step onto the grounds of a county fair . An open area was festooned overhead with long ribbons of orangish , pink , yellow and green . It turns out his loose - range chickens eddy through the 1⁄2 - acre open region of fence in run . The ribbons were inexpensive surveyor ’s tapeline ( also called flagging ) attach to posts and tree diagram branches and bunk horizontally at least 7 foot above the dry land . He ’d decorated the plot this way after losing a couple of hens to war hawk . The random crisscross convention of colorful flagging incite in the jazz and persuaded the fly predator to look for their poulet dinner party on some other property . And the ribbons were high enough that wimp keepers could walk underneath unimpeded .
I ’ve probably conform to half a dozen former chicken keepers who ’ve told me they gave up the hobby after suffer chickens to predator — some with two wings , some with four understructure ; some wild , some domestic . That ’s a deplorable story to have to recount , much less populate through . But as in the story I just mentioned , of the chicken custodian who invest a few bucks and a few hours in string surveyor ’s mag tape , persuade predators to hunt elsewhere does n’t have to be hard .
Before You Build
Here are a few technique that do n’t involve make thing . If you’re able to sustain these , you might be able to avoid the clock time and expense of build predator barriers .
This paid off for me when my wife and I sweep up a 4 - year - sure-enough yellow lab . Our dog has almost zero prey drive and a healthy desire to please us , so our chicken are good in the yard with her . On the other hand , she believes that fresh chick are squeaky toys for her to play with , so we have to keep them separate .
What to Build for Which Predators
Because chickens are pop with many form of predator , you ’ll require dissimilar feature for different creatures .
Raptors
You need to persuade hawk , falcons and bird of night that dive - bombing your flock wo n’t ante up off . The cheap , yet expansive , array of surveyor ’s tape cite previously works because it would either snag a wing on the way in or on the way out .
For smaller runs , covering the top with poulet telegram — or charge card netting — will also work . Note : If your run is under tree diagram , horizontal fence will be unfold and damage by light branch and piles of leave-taking . It will pay to add 45 - degree diagonal wooden frame over the run to sequester the fencing to . It will look like the outline of a cap except with chicken wire instead of shingles . This angle will allow offset and leaves to jounce off and louse up off , so your “ roof ” will last longer and appear better .
Dogs
These are the critters most likely to stamp out urban and suburban chicken . A property surrounded by 4- or 6 - infantry - gamy fence will keep most stray dogs at bay . Without that , or if your own dogs are a risk factor , then the side of the run should be enclosed by fencing that is warm than wimp wire . An average , motivated dog can rip chicken wire asunder with their tooth . The best alternative is 14 - gauge , weld - wire fencing with opening that are 2 - by-4 inches . Some people use dense , computer hardware textile to enclose a wimp streak , but I think that is overkill and it can be expensive — more on that subsequently .
Climbers
raccoon , possums , weasels , etc . can climb all over a run and a henhouse at night . They ca n’t chew their way through fence wire like a dog can , but they can chew their way through plastic netting if you utilise that over the run .
Even if your chickens are safe in their coop at night , one of these predator might gnaw through the credit card gauze and hunker down in the discharge until dawn , patiently waiting for its breakfast . The same goes for windows and ventilation openings on the hencoop . It ’s best to plow these with wimp wire or roll up some volaille wire to hooey in any gaps in the frame . get a nail or screw through these rolls of telegram to keep critters from moving them out of the fashion .
Diggers
The common suspects include racoon , opossums , Fox , coyotes , weasel and dogs . Many source advise set up the run ’s fencing 12 inches underground to block travail predators . This is a lot of work , and the fencing will only be in effect for a few years .
Wire fencing is made of steel that is coated with a fragile layer of zinc to keep the steel from rusting . This work in the open air , but when this type of metal ( shout out “ galvanized ” after the process ) is in contact with soil , constitutional acids oxidise the Zn and expose the steel so that it will corrode in a few years . How long ? That depend on moisture : The wetting agent the primer is , the quicker the underground share of the fence will rust . If yours lasts five years you ’re lucky . And remember , dig out the trench for that piece of underground fencing material is a lot of work , as will be the drive to supersede it after it has rust away to brittle bits of alloy .
A effective practice is to permit the fence only reach as far as the surface of the ground . Then wrap the understructure of the fence with an “ apron ” of 14 - gauge galvanized telegram fencing that extends 12 inches over the open outside the fence and 12 column inch up the streak fence . you could bribe a 2 - substructure - gamey roll of fence and cut it into manageable length of 3 to 5 feet . Bend the wire at it ’s halfway at a 90 - degree angle so the fencing looks like an “ L ” from the side . Then snip off the bottom and top horizontal telephone circuit of wire , leave behind “ fingers ” of wire at the top and bottom . localize the lambert against the rivulet fencing and bend the top finger’s breadth over the fence to apply it in space . bow the bottom fingers down 90 degree so they can be push into the ground . Spread mulch over this apron or seed supergrass seeded player .
When a hollow predator get to the run fencing and tries to dig under it , your apron will block them . Yes , it will corrode away after a number of years , too , but it will be far easier to see its condition and to replace it when the time amount . A longer - hold out alternative barrier to an apron fence is a bed of tennis - glob - sized Stone covering the 12 inches outside the fence .
Reachers
Weasels and raccoons are crafty enough to seize a chicken ’s head if it reaches through the rivulet fence . And a chicken can poke its head through the 2 - by-4 - inch opening of 14 - standard of measurement fencing wire . That ’s why some sources notify using expensive and stiff hardware cloth , with its small openings of ¼- or ½-inches for the run fencing material . This is where the apron you instal ( described antecedently ) does double duty . Not only does it keep cut into marauder out , but if overlap in good order , the opening in the run fence will be too little for this kind of fateful fundamental interaction .
This tale originally appeared in the September / October 2017 issue ofChickensmagazine .
