Courtesy of Barnyard in your Backyard, edited by Gail Damerow. Woven-wire fencing is ideal for chicken yards it is sturdy enough to protect against predators, is finely meshed to keep chickens from slipping outside, and offers a great view of the chicken yard culture.
It comes in 25′ rolls, is 28″ high, and may be used to pen chicks and poults (baby turkeys). Either staple the butted edges to a rail or fasten them together with cage making rings crimped with a clincher tool designed for the purpose (available at feed stores and small stock suppliers).Ī less common variation, called rabbit netting, has 1″ mesh at the bottom and 2″ mesh toward the top. For a tall fence, therefore, many fencers run two narrow rolls, one above the other. Mesh this large is difficult to stretch properly. Heights range from 18″ to 72″, length from 25′ to 150′. So-called turkey netting, made of 20-gauge wire, has 2″ mesh and is used for penning turkeys, peafowl, and geese. The shortest wire is used to reinforce the lower portion of a woven wire or rail fence to keep little critters from slipping in or out. Rolls range in length from 25′ to 150′, in height from 12″ to 72″. It’s used to pen chickens, pigeons, pheasants, turkey poults, ducks, and goslings. One-inch mesh, woven from 18-gauge wire, is commonly called chicken wire. The smallest grid, called aviary netting, is made from 22-gauge wire and is used to pen quail and other small birds, to house chicks, and to prevent small wild birds from stealing poultry feed. The smaller the mesh, the stronger the fence. Hex net comes in mesh sizes ranging from 1/2″ to 2″. I have used it to create breeder runs, although those enclosures were situated inside that long-ago chain link fence. The result is lightweight fencing that keeps chickens in but will not deter motivated predators from breaking through with brute strength.
#Fencing for chicken coop series
It consists of thin wire, twisted and woven together into a series of hexagons, giving it a honeycomb appearance. Bantams and young chickens of all breeds are especially fond of flying.Ī common type of wire mesh fence is poultry netting, also called hexagonal netting, hex net, or hex wire. The fence should be at least four feet high higher if you keep a lightweight breed that likes to fly. The small openings at the bottom keep poultry from slipping out and small predators from getting in. Of the many kinds of wire mesh available, one that works well for chickens and is relatively low on the cost scale is the yard-and-garden fence with one-inch spaces toward the bottom and wider spaces toward the top. The idea is to zap any animal that tries to either dig under or climb over.īarring the expense of chain link, the (next) best kind of fence for chickens is wire mesh with fairly small openings that neither chickens nor predators can get through. Unlike that long-ago chain link fence, this one has an electrified scare wire running along the outside bottom. It’s only a smallish yard, designed for housing setting hens, and growing birds that are more vulnerable to predators than mature birds. Last year, I realized my dream of once again having a yard protected by chain link. So, occasionally, we lose a bird that wanders into the orchard for lunch and meets a fox with the same idea. It does a good job of keeping out the larger predators, but does not keep out the smaller chicken eaters, and certainly does not keep the chickens in. For years, we fenced our poultry with the same high tensile, smooth wire, electric fence that contains our four-legged livestock. Our chicken yard (pasture, really) is fairly large, so the cost of enclosing it with chain link would be prohibitive.
Trouble is, the wildlife have as much interest in poultry as we do. I now live on a farm where we enjoy the wildlife as much as we enjoy our poultry. My biggest regret in leaving that property was giving up the chain link fence. Of those, one bantam hen was taken away by a hawk (that I know of for sure because I saw it happen) and the others were mostly chicks that popped through the fence and got carried off by a neighbor’s cat. In the 11 years that I lived there, I lost few chickens. Well, it did get better because the fences were all six-foot chain link. The chickens, in fact, came with the property. What swayed me to select the house I finally purchased was that it was fenced, cross-fenced, and loaded with chickens. To make sure the property was zoned for chickens, I looked for a place that either had chickens or had near neighbors with chickens. Way back when I was ready to purchase my first house, high on my list of must-haves was a place to raise chickens. A good fence for your chickens is more than worth the investment.
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