Chicken bald back

[emmalou]

Hi all. I am new to the forum so hi everyone! I have yet to get any chickens. We have a huge chicken run in our garden and inherited it with our new house. The run is a great size but because it is so big the roof covering is an issue and none existant atm. We are looking to make the run smaller but the coop is 2.2 metres high and is making it difficult to build a run around it as the coop is so tall. The previous owner had a ridiculously low fence around the run and Mr Fox did catch them unfortunately. We can sort out the perimiter fencing but due to the weight of the material needed for the roof means that this is the tricky part as the distance between the fencing would be quite wide, even with just chicken fencing. Is a roof completely necessary? I was thinking our only option would be to put some barbed wire around the top of the run, or maybe use just flimsy netting for the top. Any ideas gratefully received. We did look at a metal framed run but the ground is not terribly level, hence the need to use fencing as opposed to a fixed framed pen.

[mullethunter]

Hi emmalou. Welcome to the forum

 

A roof isn't always necessary, I think a strand of electrified wire around the top is often used as an anti-fox measure.

[Luvachicken]

Welcome from me emmalou

Lucky you inheriting a massive chicken run

 

 

How about if you put that edging wire around it ?

I don't know the exact name but the kind that sticks outwards at about an angle of 45 degrees to what you have.

[emmalou]

I think so too. I am going to try and can the whole roofing idea. The neighbours here don't seem to have them and will use edging wire or at the very least make the qire around the top loose so the foxes etc cannot use the top as a platform. Will see how it goes. Seems the easiest bet for such a big coop. Yes were are lucky but the exisiting fence is 4 ft high hence why his chickens didn't last for long! Many thanks for your replies.

[sjp]

if go down the no roof route and just put a high fence in with an overhang on the outside of the fence then you'll need to use something like No.460 Barbed Wire Brackets but use mesh wire not barb wire as the gap between the strands of wire is just wide enough for cats and foxes to get through plus stringing barb wire isn't much fun along these brackets

I came close to losing an eye on one job when one of the strands pulled out of the tie off as we unrolled it

[emmalou]

If we make the large run secure with a 2 metre high fence all the way round I was wondering how many chicken owners on here actually have issues with foxes climbing them? The run is near the boundary fence and we have trees there. I am reading mixed answers as to whether foxes can climb trees? Our pitch on the roof of the coop is 2.2m high so do have issues with the roofing. Also the pitch of the roof is not exactly an apex, so is not uniform so cannot just do a V shape roof with chicken wire or even do just a flat roof as the expanse of run means it would be difficult to use suvh a lot of chicken wire over such a big area. The ends of the coop measure 5 metres wide and the length is 8 metres so you can see what a large area we are dealing with and that is half the original length of the run!!! Would post a photo but being a newbie, not sure how.

[Adams Egg]

By the time you have made uprights and beams to support the roof, the weight of the wire roof will be quite heavy so you will need to think about that too, the cost will be high and imagine the strain on your back if doing diy, we used a roll of 1m high weld mesh to enclose the area we wanted, it gives a good resistance to fox attack. foxes will grab chicken wire and twist themselves around until it snaps.

Above the first row of weld mesh we used rolls of chicken wire with a 45 degree projection to make it around 8feet high, just make sure there are no overhanging branches. Hills of Devon were very reasonable on price and delivery

[emmalou]

That is another issue for us, we have overhanging branches as it is on the perimeter of the garden. We cannot move the coop anywhere else as our garden does not have any level areas so poses a problem when it comes to fencing or using a ready built run.

[sjp]

That is another issue for us, we have overhanging branches as it is on the perimeter of the garden. We cannot move the coop anywhere else as our garden does not have any level areas so poses a problem when it comes to fencing or using a ready built run.

 

building a fence on uneven ground isn't a problem as such just a challenge you just work to the ground levels you have normally if it's just a boundary fence it get's stepped ( tops of panels end up at different hights) up or down the grades sometimes with a bit of ground leveling along the bottom of the panels as and when needed

in your situation personally I'd think about keeping the top level (if you go with a roof you'll have to anyway)

[Casey76]

You're probably going to have more issues with foxes digging under the fence than climbing over the top tbh.

 

If you include an anti-dig skirt around the perimeter of the fence you will be better protected. If you are really paranoid about foxed going over the top, then you can include an anticlimb skirt on the top - it doesn't have to be very wide - approx. 30cm - bent at a 45degree angle away from the interior of the pen. This can be either stapled of cable-tied to the top of the existing fencing.