Need help/encouragement

[MROO]

Yes, chicken wire was used for the outer perimeter of our yard/run extension so that we could manipulate it around the trees (see pic). All year, we’ve let them free range our whole yard from sun up to sun down with no problems so once we saw one hawk, we immediately set up this tunnel/outer perimeter run to keep them covered. We live on a small island with typically no hawks nearby- they stay on the mainland to prey. However, one obviously found our chickens and has flown over the bay. Do you have any suggestions on improvement if you don’t favor chicken wire? For obvious reasons, we are currently only keeping them in the main run which is very secure. I know they will eventually be grumpy at me for keeping them in as they have had so much freedom in the past.

Despite, its' misleading name, chicken wire is NOT a good choice for coops or runs! It's designed for keeping chickens in, not keeping predators out. Unfortunately, the proper fix can get be costly. Ideally, you need hardware cloth, aka rabbit hutch wire mesh. It's welded, not twisted, so it keeps predators from "stretching" holes to get in. There's no need to remove your existing wire, but you will need to overlay it with something sturdier.
One option is stock fence - like the tunneled wire bent over in your second pic. The smaller the openings, the better. Coons, opossums, cats, foxes and such can get through four-inch square gaps. For the top, hardware cloth or roofing panels work well. You can mount clear roofing, like that used for awnings and sheds, right overtop of your chicken wire cover.

 

[lagrange chicks]

My girls had a hawk trying to get to them through the side of the run 2 days in a row. It took a good week for them to feel comfortable in the run, stayed in the coop the 1st couple days and then stayed hidden under the coop for a few.