How to cover run to protect from aerial predators?

[Sueby]

I also use bird netting. I have 3 posts that hold it up in the middle, you can see them in the pic where I circled. They just sit on the ground, the weight of the netting keeps them up, they've never moved a bit. The netting is hog ringed to the welded wire & stapled to the wooden fence.

It's a bit of work with leaves in the fall & wet sticky snow (dry snow falls right through) but I can't believe the weight it will hold.

 

[journey137]

I don't know if this would work in your case, but I'd seen people concrete support posts into buckets, so they're not sunk into the ground but the bucket base provides more stability than just the butt end of the post.

We could even concrete a support pole in a bucket and dig a hole for the bucket that way we could move it later if needed. I like that idea!

 

[journey137]

I also use bird netting. I have 3 posts that hold it up in the middle, you can see them in the pic where I circled. They just sit on the ground, the weight of the netting keeps them up, they've never moved a bit. The netting is hog ringed to the welded wire & stapled to the wooden fence.

It's a bit of work with leaves in the fall & wet sticky snow (dry snow falls right through) but I can't believe the weight it will hold.

View attachment 2704834

We have no trees or bushes or anything in our yard so leaves wouldn't be an issue. I'm glad to hear from multiple people that bird netting is effective.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm glad to hear from multiple people that bird netting is effective.

It's very effective for aerial predators as long as it's well secured, above all else - that's the main point of failure when you see stories about birds of prey getting in somehow. I used UV resistant zip ties every 12" or so around the perimeter of the run, PLUS I weave the netting itself into the chain link fencing, so it's essentially secured every few inches. Makes it much less likely for something to somehow sneak in as they'd have to break or tear the netting (and I have quality heavy duty netting).

 

[Huntmaster]

I used the metal hog rings like @Sueby to attach netting to fencing. Very fast and easy to use and you can put them as close together as you feel needed.

 

[tbcorum]

Could u send me more info on ur system bc my turkeys are in the orchard & although the trees are semi dwarf they are really tall and I have a massive pole for the center of the orchard and I was thinking about ordering strong double knotted netting & no way will one do it but was going to weave a light wt fence wire through it and use the fence puller and come-along to make the wire really tight and anchor it outside outside my orchard fence with the netting somehow coming over the elec fence and this I have not figured out yet bc I don't want to short out elec fence !! Plz help bc I need to keep my turkeys away from predators and home and away from the rd bc they are my pets and just like my big babies
Thanks in advance

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I really like this guy's netting product and info on covering large areas. I might end up taking a similar approach eventually, and only let the turkeys, guineas, and waterfowl free range.

https://pinnonhatch.com/poultry-sup...hicken-pen-fencing/poultry-protection-netting