Predators love chicken. A proper fence sends them away hungry.
Almost every critter likes to eat chickens, and that includes our sweet dogs and cats, both domesticated and feral. For most of them, a running chicken triggers an instinct to hunt the way a matador’s cape calls a bull to charge. As your chickens’ security manager, you’ll want to make the right fencing choices to keep the carnivores in a constant state of disappointment. Read on for my tips on the tools, techniques, and materials that get the job done.
Predators love chicken. A proper fence sends them away hungry.
I’m particular about setting posts. I’ve seen fences where the posts are out of line and leaning all helter-skelter. These raggedy fence lines could have been prevented with judicious use of a taut string, a plumb stick, and concrete in the posthole. This first section describes how to set posts for your hen pen that won’t embarrass you in years to come. (Note that I use the terms “run,” pen,” and “hen pen” interchangeably.)
The 14-gauge welded wire on this pen will keep out common predators, including domestic dogs.
Buy pressure-treated posts, which should last as long as 40 years, from your local building materials supplier. They can be 4" × 4" or 6" × 6" thick (you’ll need to widen the posthole a bit to accommodate the larger posts) and at least 8 feet long. With 18" in the ground that leaves 6.5 feet above ground, enough clearance for a tall person to walk in the pen.
The term pressure-treated means that the wood has been bundled together and steeped in chemicals that repel rot and termites. The atmospheric pressure in the treatment chamber is boosted so that the chemicals penetrate the wood, ultimately mimicking the natural preservative that redwood, cedar, cypress, and other rot-resistant woods already have in their heartwood.
Post-setting tools: from back, plastic tub, wheelbarrow, water bucket, rubber boots, posthole digger, sharpshooter shovel, 1" × 2" stick, hoe, concrete mix, corner level, standard level
In the old days the chemicals included highly toxic products like arsenic and chromium. Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t allowed the use of arsenic and chromium in pressure-treated wood since 2003. Instead, you can now buy what’s called alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ) pressure-treated lumber at any construction supply house. For its fungicide, ACQ-treated wood simply has lots of copper, the same safe material that your water pipes are made of and that occurs naturally in the soil. ACQ treatment also stops termites with a mild chemical called quaternary ammonium, which is used as a disinfectant in kitchen products like Formula 409 spray cleaner. You wouldn’t enjoy drinking it, but what little might leach into the soil is very far down the list from the heights of toxicity that arsenic and chromium occupy.
Marking and digging the postholes can be a one-person job. So can mixing the concrete and setting the posts. But it goes a lot faster and easier with two people doing the work.
For novices, it is easiest to install one section of wire at a time from post to post. Otherwise, someone has to hold up an entire, heavy roll of fence wire.
What You Need
What to Do
Plan and dig the postholes.
Prepare the concrete.
Set the posts and pour the concrete.
Now that the posts are placed and ready, it’s time to get them wired: welcome to Fencing School. We’ll begin with the best choices to build your Hentopia.
Stella d’Oro keeps watch. Raccoons, possums, coyotes, and weasels are common predators, but domesticated dogs are probably a bigger threat to backyard hens.
For the most durable and cost-effective walls of a chicken pen, you’ll need what country folks call “hog wire” and city folks call “dog wire.” In hardware stores it’s called “14-gauge galvanized welded wire fencing” and has openings that are 2 inches by 4 inches. This fencing comes in rolls with a height of 2, 4, or 6 feet.
Chicken wire, with its hexagonal patterns, may seem to the novice like the obvious choice for dissuading wily predators. It is great for protecting garden beds from free-range birds and for keeping new birds and sick birds quarantined. But when some urban henkeepers I knew used chicken wire for their pen, a motivated pack of stray dogs had no trouble pulling the hexagons apart with their teeth and breaking my friends’ hearts.
Though it’s aptly named for keeping chickens in, chicken wire is no good against four-footed predators. Its main value is as an inexpensive roof over the pen: it will protect your birds from hawks and other raptors.
There are a variety of hand tools for cutting fencing to size: bolt cutters, side cutters, needle-nose pliers. Even most garden pruners have a spot at the base of the cutting blade that’s shaped for cutting wires as thin as chicken wire. It’s worth remembering that the heavier the tool, the quicker the cutting, and the less wear and tear on your hands.
If you want to speed up the cutting process, an inexpensive metal-cutting blade for circular saws will allow quick work. It has a smooth cutting edge rather than teeth so it won’t snag on the wires. Metal-cutting blades for jigsaws and reciprocating saws have teeth; they’ll work, but things can be a little herky-jerky when cutting fence wire.
Needle-nose pliers are handy for cutting 14-gauge wire fencing. They are also helpful in holding fence staples as they are hammered in.
The heavier the tool, the quicker the cutting, and the less wear and tear on your hands.
In most of the projects in this book the preferred type of fastener, especially for novices, will be a screw rather than a nail. For fencing, a better fastener is a 3⁄4" fence staple. As with fencing, staples will last longer if they are galvanized. Most staples are U- or V-shaped, with pointed ends. To secure a section of fence wire to a wooden post, position the points of the fence staple so that they straddle the wire, then hammer the staple in place. If you find it challenging to drive a nail, hold the staple in position with needle-nose pliers as you whack it with the hammer.
Alternative: Nails will work in a pinch if they are at least 11⁄2 inches long. If you have a bunch of nails handy and want to save the expense of buying staples, drive a nail next to a strand of fence wire, but only about halfway in. Then use the hammer to bend the nail over the strand and then flat against the post so that it holds the fence wire tightly in place. It’s not pretty, but it’s highly functional and cost-effective.
A galvanized 1⁄4" fence staple is the best way to attach fencing to a post or the coop.
How to Make It
Attaching fencing can be a one-person job, but it’s easier with two: one to hold the fencing upright and snug against the posts, and one to drive the staples. I recommend cutting it into sections long enough to reach from one post to the next.
What to Do
Roll the wire out on the ground, using bricks or cinder blocks to keep it from rolling back up. Measure the distances you’ll need for each section of wire before you cut, making sure each section will overlap the face of the post at each end.
Staple the top of the piece of fencing to the tops of the first and second post so it’s snug and straight. You can use pliers to hold the staples while you start them. The bottom of the fence should just meet the soil surface.
Set a staple at about every handspan (the distance from the tip of your thumb to the tip of your little finger with your hand spread as wide as possible, or about 7 to 8 inches).
Keep the fence as snug and straight as possible so that it doesn’t sag, which not only looks sloppy but also makes it hard to drive staples as you go down the line.
Some people recommend installing fencing below ground to keep predators from digging a tunnel under the fence. In the soil, however, as noted here, even galvanized fencing will last only 5 to 10 years (depending on moisture levels) before it rusts away. Since you can’t see that, you won’t know if your run has become vulnerable to digging predators.
A better defense is to lay an apron of fence wire on the ground at the base of the fence that surrounds your pen. When predators approach the fence, they will try to dig right next to it but will be foiled by the apron. Yes, the apron also will eventually rust away, but it will be easier to replace than fencing buried under the ground.
If you can scavenge some fencing, your apron won’t cost you anything. Metal is never trash. Over many years, I have collected miles of leftover fence wire from the curbside. Most I reuse, sell at the scrapyard, or pass on to a friend for a project. At home, I use a variety of scavenged fence wire to keep critters from digging under the fence into our chicken run.
A better defense is to lay an apron of fence wire on the ground at the base of the fence that surrounds your pen.
How to Make It
What to Do
Cut the fencing and bend it into an “L” shape.
Give your defense some “teeth.”
Wrap the apron around the base of the pen.
Secure the top of the apron to the run fence.
Anchor the bottom of the apron to the ground.
Depending on your chickens’ needs and your wishes, there are other options for safely containing your flock.
Some henkeepers with a larger budget and extra time use hardware cloth to fence their run. This is not, in fact, cloth at all, but fencing material of very sturdy steel with a coating of zinc — in other words, a galvanized fence of welded wire. The small openings are 1⁄4" × 1⁄4" or 1⁄2" × 1⁄2" squares.
When working with this material, wear leather work gloves: hardware cloth is stiff yet springy, and it likes to bite. It is also about three times more expensive than 14-gauge wire for the same coverage.
On the plus side, it is a good material to cover openings in your coop. It allows good ventilation (important in all four seasons), yet the openings are small enough to keep snakes, mice, rats, and predatory birds out of the coop and away from the eggs.
Heavy, expensive hardware cloth, like this metal mesh, is best used to cover windows and gables in the coop. Its openings are small enough to block snakes, mice, rats, and predatory birds.
Chain-link fencing is familiar, with its diamond-shaped openings. It’s commonly used for property-line fences, but because it is a much heavier gauge than welded-wire fencing, it costs a lot more. Unless you have access to some free chain-link fencing, such as that from an old dog kennel, I wouldn’t recommend using it for your run fence. Welded wire costs less and will be strong enough.
Domenica, Mezza Luna, and Stella d’Oro believe the weeds are always greener on the other side of the corral fence.
You might be tempted to let your chickens forage in your yard so that they can eat bugs and weeds. Yes, some bad insects and seeds will be devoured, but at what cost? Well, just these eight little problems, which will plague small gardens in a very short time:
A brace of chickens would be thrilled with the resulting swept-dirt yard punctuated by a few hardy shrubs. But most gardeners wouldn’t be too happy.
Short of building fences around every garden bed or patio, what’s a gardener and pro-foraging chicken-keeper to do? The answer: Install a simple chicken corral where your hens can forage without destroying your gardens. Plantings of established shrubs and trees are big enough that they can withstand foraging. Their branches will protect your hens from hawks, too. If you can corral your chickens there, the rest of your yard can thrive.
After we got fed up with the amount of destruction our three hens wreaked free-ranging in the garden (which took just a few days), we decided to sequester them in a bed composed of five mature ornamental shrubs. With a location selected, I needed a way to corral the birds. I wanted a secure enclosure that either looked good or was nearly invisible. But I also wanted to save time and money. Sounds like a set of conflicting goals, but that sort of thing often inspires the best results.
Since a 4-foot chain-link fence already encloses our yard, I didn’t need something strong enough to keep stray dogs out. I just needed something stable enough to keep the hens in during the day. A conventional fence with a gate and posts would have looked nice but would have been expensive and time-consuming to build. A prefabricated electric fence wouldn’t have been cheap either, and the white strands of wire would have been an eyesore.
I wanted a secure enclosure that either looked good or was nearly invisible. But I also wanted to save time and money.
I settled on using a couple of 3' × 50' rolls of 14-gauge welded wire fencing that’s coated with black plastic. This fencing has 2" × 4" openings, the same as recommended for the hen pen. It’s long-lasting but cheap, costing less than $1 per linear foot. And since black objects reflect little light, the fence doesn’t catch your eye from a distance.
In the open, chickens can fly over a fence only 3 feet high. By running the fencing along the outer branches of the shrubs, I created a “no-fly zone” along the top of the fencing. The shrubs’ branches also keep hawks and other predatory birds at bay. At that height, I could just step over the fence on the rare occasions I needed to get inside. Using a few designer tricks, I installed this fence in a couple of hours without posts or a gate. We call our corral the Forage Grove. The chickens are happy, and the rest of our yard has recovered.
By combining the Forage Grove with the Chunnel, and investing just a small amount of money and time, you can sit in a garden chair and enjoy watching your hens scratch around in their very own corralled paradise.
Here’s how to install this low-tech, low-cost, easy-build enclosure.
How to Make It
What You Need
What to Do
Use the circular saw with the metal-cutting blade, or the pliers, to create prongs at the bottom edge of the fence. After step 4, these prongs will be pressed straight into moist soil; that will anchor the fence and make it 4 inches shorter, thus easier to step over.
Using the pliers, cut the fence into more manageable sections, about 4 feet long. That length also makes it easier for the fence to follow the slope of the ground as it rises or falls.
Note: The wire is springy, so you may need to set something heavy on it to keep it from rolling back up.
Use the pliers to cut off the vertical strand of wire at the right-hand end of each section, leaving prongs. To assemble the fence, you’ll bend these prongs around the vertical wire at the left side of the next section, as shown here.
Every 12 to 18 inches, snip a couple of vertical strands for your feet between the two horizontal wires just above the prongs, and bend these strands up and out of the way.
Hold each fence piece in place and step into the openings you’ve cut to push the bottom prongs into the ground. Bend the side prongs to tie the fence pieces together as you go.
With the corral completed, it is now a matter of getting the hens from their hen pen to this idyllic Forage Grove. You don’t want to carry the chickens from pen to corral by way of the gate. You want them to carry themselves: more exercise for them, less hassle for you. In my case, the chicken corral was about 25 feet away from the pen’s gate, but the corral was less than 6 feet away from the closest part of the pen. Hmmm.
The solution is to install a small, chicken-sized gate, with hinges and a latch, at the point in the pen nearest the corral. Then cut a chicken-sized opening into the corral fence.
Linking the hen pen to the corral with a “Chunnel” — short for chicken tunnel — allows the birds to come and go on their own. You can move the Chunnel aside temporarily to get a wheelbarrow by. When you don’t want the chickens in the corral, simply move the Chunnel and close the small gate to the hen pen.
Poppy enters the Chunnel through an opening at the base of the pen. This opening gets closed at night or when we go on vacation.
What You Need
What to Do
