New Fence/Pasture Construction

[eellsworth]

My husband and I have been talking about putting up a fence to create a pasture area, and a place where we can safely let the chickens roam. We finally got started this weekend! I'm so excited, I wanted to share our progress.


The posts are in the ground.


Supports and bottom layer of netting


Posts are cemented in. Waiting to cure. The building on the left side of the fence is our chicken coop. We've also got two other buildings. One is being "remodeled" to house our goats, coming in about 8 weeks.

Anyway, that's where we are so far. We still have to make the gate, do some modifications to the coop door, and a few other things. The fence is 8 feet high, and I'm hoping that's high enough to keep the hens from flying over, though I'm sure it's not impossible.

Let me know what you think!

 

[ImpulsiveFarmer]

Looks great! I'm super jealous, that's some nice fencing. Maybe if I had that I could get my goats to stay put.

 

[eellsworth]

Thanks! We're hoping that our goats will stay put when they get here at the end of May!

 

[ImpulsiveFarmer]

They should be fine. I have a much lower fence in the area I don't have electric and only one of my goats ever got over it. As long are you don't end up with a climber it will work great. If you do, a single stand of electric fence around the top will stop them. Most will stay put.

 

[spaceylocust]

Are you planning to add hardware cloth to the bottom portion of the fence? I've read so many reports of predators grabbing chickens from outside the fence and pulling them through the 2x4 holes. Hardware cloth should also be buried 1 foot into the ground to keep out burrowing predators. Prevention much easier than losing a bunch of birds! Otherwise, it looks great! I'm sure they'll love it once you're done.

 

[eellsworth]

We aren't going to add anything else at the bottom. They only free range during the day, and their coop is very secure. I haven't seen any evidence of predators, so I think we're okay. At least, they've been okay for 2 years without a fence!