Chicken Yard Predator Proofing - Thoughts?

[fuzzi]

I will have to do a sort of "reverse apron" on the back side, since it is built basically right next to the neighbor's fence. My only concern here is that the chickens might dig up the hardware cloth with their scratching, so I'm thinking that I should maybe put patio stones over it and then possibly cover with mulch so that the stones aren't visible.

I could technically bring the fence inward slightly, but a little bit would make it very inconvenient to maintain the area in between and a lot would drastically reduce their space, which I don't want to do.

Photos might help us understand.

 

[aart]

It is their chicken yard that I am trying to run an apron around, not their run.

Oh, well that's where some pics would have helped.

 

[WingsysRoost]

Yes, I will get some pictures tomorrow. I meant to do that this afternoon and then forgot. My apologies for the confusion!

 

[WingsysRoost]

Basically, my fence has three sides and it is beside the neighbor's fence, which forms the fourth side. It had to be put up in a hurry since the previous solution failed, and that happened to be the quickest way. It was always the plan to add a fourth side on my side so that I'm not relying on their fence, but I was hoping to make it so that there was little space between the two fences to hopefully limit maintenance (due to vegetation overgrowth along the fence line). It seems that might not be possible at this point. I'll have to go take a close look in daylight to see if there's anything I might be able to do.

 

[fuzzi]

Basically, my fence has three sides and it is beside the neighbor's fence, which forms the fourth side. It had to be put up in a hurry since the previous solution failed, and that happened to be the quickest way. It was always the plan to add a fourth side on my side so that I'm not relying on their fence, but I was hoping to make it so that there was little space between the two fences to hopefully limit maintenance (due to vegetation overgrowth along the fence line). It seems that might not be possible at this point. I'll have to go take a close look in daylight to see if there's anything I might be able to do.

Make the distance between the neighbor's fence and your fence wide enough to get a lawnmower through. Once the hardware cloth apron is pinned down (landscape staples) you can mow over it. I do.

The grass grows through, you can hardly see the HWC.

 

[WingsysRoost]

Make the distance between the neighbor's fence and your fence wide enough to get a lawnmower through. Once the hardware cloth apron is pinned down (landscape staples) you can mow over it. I do.
View attachment 3665137
The grass grows through, you can hardly see the HWC.

This is good to know. Thank you!

Unfortunately, it is impossible to really get a mower through this particular area even without a fence in the way, due to the large tree that sits close to the fence on that side and because of how damp it usually is. It was one of the reasons that side was chosen for the chicken yard, since it was so difficult to get the mower through all the time.

I'll definitely need to make enough space that I can at least get through and trim by hand as needed. There are a lot of bushes there and it all grows quickly because of how much water is there.

 

[Penpal]

We had a couple of red tailed hawks that perched the electric poles. They had a full view of my yard, pasture, and pond. Never bothered a chicken, duck, chick, or duckling. Whatever their mother brings them is "food" and I guess she stuck to mice.

I don't think your hawks will attack, but it might give you immeasurable peace of mind to put a cover up.

 

[WingsysRoost]

We had a couple of red tailed hawks that perched the electric poles. They had a full view of my yard, pasture, and pond. Never bothered a chicken, duck, chick, or duckling. Whatever their mother brings them is "food" and I guess she stuck to mice.

I don't think your hawks will attack, but it might give you immeasurable peace of mind to put a cover up.

This has also been my experience. They don't normally bother my chickens either, which is why I'm assuming the one that was checking out the spot where my chicken was found was likely not actually at fault. I would definitely feel safer with a net, though, especially since I have some smaller chickens that might be targets to a particularly brazen hawk. I'm also hoping a net might help deter the starlings from taking the layer feed during winter, because going through an entire bag of feed in two weeks is completely ridiculous. Nothing else kept them out, so it seems like physically blocking them is the only option.

 

[WingsysRoost]

What if I was to put the hardware cloth farther down rather than out? Would this have the same effect? I suspect not and that I will likely have to find a different solution for this whole fencing issue, but I figured it doesn't hurt to confirm with others who have more experience first.

 

[Nomadicus]

I have netting to put up over runs. It has 1" openings I think. If you don't have yours yet look for netting at memphisnet.net. Mine 12.5 feet wide. They have much wider too. Out to 25' at least.