Is this kind of wire fox proof?

[Denisea3465]

It is like 2x4" (5x10cm), insure of gauge but much thicker than chicken wire.

Full story: We have lost so many chickens to foxes in the last year. She/they come/s to feed her pups every few weeks and five or six times now she has succeeded in getting two or more chickens. 2 days ago she took two more during the day while I thought they were safe. I was in the house.

I have been trying to fully enclose their chicken run but it's impossible, so now I'm trying to just make a sort of chicken tractor out of our old trampoline. I surrounded it with this wire. But now I'm wondering if it's actually enough.

They have a fully enclosed Chicken Run outside of their Coop where I used something like the tiny Square hardware cloth that people talk about, but I didn't have that this time. But that run is only about 60 ft2 and outside Chicken Run is about 1500 square feet. It hurts me that I can't give that area to them anymore but it hurts more when they get taken. So would this work as at least semi Fox proof during the day? slightly movable (for me, it's really really heavy, takes me and my two oldest daughters to move it), and has the trampoline cloth as a roof.

Obviously the fox could dig under it but how long does that take? Are we talking 20 minutes or do they come back and dig a little everyday?

Thank you in advance.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I would say no that it is not fox proof.

The wire itself isn't the worst but not having a wire apron makes it sketchy. The fox around here are SMART. I have personally seen one clear a 6' fence with no running start like it was nothing. I have seen evidence of one digging into my old run leaving just a 4" deep gap. That means they don't need a big hole to get in.

Can you add sections of wire to the sides that you can raise when moving it and lower when you get it where you want it?

Brainstorming ideas....

Cattle panels covered in wire making a hoop run would be fast, easy and can have aprons added. It's an investment since nothing is free these days. Used cattle panels can sometimes be found for cheap. This article has links to some really great hoop coops. The one by aart has info on an apron that can be lifted for moving the structure.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/top-10-hoop-coop-ideas.76490/

Movable electric fencing can help deter most critters. It can be expensive.



Another observation...
The cover isn't rain proof. Do you plan on having nest boxes in there if they are spending the day in there?

How do YOU get in to tend to feed, water and such?

 

[Denisea3465]

I would say no that it is not fox proof.

The wire itself isn't the worst but not having a wire apron makes it sketchy. The fox around here are SMART. I have personally seen one clear a 6' fence with no running start like it was nothing. I have seen evidence of one digging into my old run leaving just a 4" deep gap. That means they don't need a big hole to get in.

Can you add sections of wire to the sides that you can raise when moving it and lower when you get it where you want it?

Brainstorming ideas....

Cattle panels covered in wire making a hoop run would be fast, easy and can have aprons added. It's an investment since nothing is free these days. Used cattle panels can sometimes be found for cheap. This article has links to some really great hoop coops. The one by aart has info on an apron that can be lifted for moving the structure.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/top-10-hoop-coop-ideas.76490/

Movable electric fencing can help deter most critters. It can be expensive.



Another observation...
The cover isn't rain proof. Do you plan on having nest boxes in there if they are spending the day in there?

How do YOU get in to tend to feed, water and such?

Sorry I didn't expand on my explanation. This is just a supplemental little run area that is meant to be fox-proof during the day. The girls have a chunnel along our workshop garage which leads to the other fully enclosed run, which is 2x3 m2, which is attached to their coop which is actually in the workshop. They go in through a window. So that is super safe, as long as the door doesn't get left open or something dumb like that.

I was wondering about a skirt, that was why I was asking about digging. The chunnel and enclosed runs are skirted. The plan was that since I cannot seem to let them out to the larger run anymore, that I could supplement their space in the meantime with this connected to their chunnel. In the attached picture, the coop is inside the building and the little enclosed run is safe. The Chunnel comes if off it and wraps around to the edge of our property. They HAD a fenced off area around the entire perimeter which is 2-4m wide by 100m+ long which they lived but it is just chicken wire fencing and do many bushes and trees it would be impossible to cover and fox-proof.

It has to be fox proof AND hawk proof, as we have the occasional hawk attempt also, that was why I put the trampoline tarp over it. Maybe that is not fox proof? It is very thick and sturdy though so I thought it would be.

 

[21hens-incharge]

So they would have access to their coop and this would be stationary?

 

[Denisea3465]

So they would have access to their coop and this would be stationary?

Yes, it would be connected to the Chunnel on the end of the workshop, between the workshop and the cherry tree

 

[21hens-incharge]

Yes, it would be connected to the Chunnel on the end of the workshop, between the workshop and the cherry tree

In that case I think it's ok as daytime run expansion. They have a route to get away from fox before the fox digs in.

Kind of an out of sight out of mind escape.

 

[Kiki]

It is like 2x4" (5x10cm), insure of gauge but much thicker than chicken wire.

Full story: We have lost so many chickens to foxes in the last year. She/they come/s to feed her pups every few weeks and five or six times now she has succeeded in getting two or more chickens. 2 days ago she took two more during the day while I thought they were safe. I was in the house.

I have been trying to fully enclose their chicken run but it's impossible, so now I'm trying to just make a sort of chicken tractor out of our old trampoline. I surrounded it with this wire. But now I'm wondering if it's actually enough.

They have a fully enclosed Chicken Run outside of their Coop where I used something like the tiny Square hardware cloth that people talk about, but I didn't have that this time. But that run is only about 60 ft2 and outside Chicken Run is about 1500 square feet. It hurts me that I can't give that area to them anymore but it hurts more when they get taken. So would this work as at least semi Fox proof during the day? slightly movable (for me, it's really really heavy, takes me and my two oldest daughters to move it), and has the trampoline cloth as a roof.

Obviously the fox could dig under it but how long does that take? Are we talking 20 minutes or do they come back and dig a little everyday?

Thank you in advance.

No, this is NOT fox proof.

 

[Denisea3465]

No, this is NOT fox proof.

Would replacing the wire with hardware cloth help? Or are there other issues?

 

[Kiki]

Would replacing the wire with hardware cloth help? Or are there other issues?

If you covered every opening with 1/2" hardware cloth it would be expensive but worth it.

 

[Kiki]

If you covered every opening with 1/2" hardware cloth it would be expensive but worth it.

It would probably be easier to just build something from scratch with the hardware cloth.