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as the litle darlings have destruyed the garden we have decided that we need to knock up a permanent enclosure, Im assuming that some of you may have done it yourselves. Would 2x2 timber be strong enough and what size chicken wire be best 1" or 2"?

cheers
Rob

I assume you don't have wild mink in Newmarket ?
If not the 2" netting is fine and it's cheaper too., and 2"x2" would be OK .. or even smaller 1.5" square or 2"x1" is strong enough.

it depends, are you trying to keep chickens in or foxes out ?

2x2 will be strong enough, get whatever you can afford, I have foxes around here, I need to build a mini fort knox

We've just finished building a chicken/duck enclosure...

I've not got pictures of it finished, but this gives you an idea of what we've done.







It's made of release pen netting, bought from a game suppliers and treated timber. It's about 100sqm and we've put the netting over the roof as well. 3 sides have stock fence (which was there already), the netting and a layer of chicken wire; the other side has next door's 6ft fence and the netting on it.

Our chooks and ducks free range in there, and the rabbits hutches are there (and they free range occasionally as well).

Just a word of warning if you do have foxes. Make sure the hens can't get their heads through the mesh of the wire. I lost three hens when they stuck their heads through the wire to get to the grass on the other side. The fox just bit their heads off. Two were bantams but one was a full sized ex-bat.

Zoe

thanks for all your help, I opted for 2x2 and 2" fencing, I'll get some piccies up for you all to have a mooch at soon.

If you keep them in the same enclosure all the time without moving it around, doesn't the area just turn to barren mud?

Rod in Japan wrote:If you keep them in the same enclosure all the time without moving it around, doesn't the area just turn to barren mud?

Definitely worth bearing in mind. When we built our run, we staked out an area for a second one. The house has two doors, so we can let them out in the run currently in use. I think it's called the Balfour method and by rotating the runs the ground has a chance to rest and replenish itself.

Rod in Japan wrote:If you keep them in the same enclosure all the time without moving it around, doesn't the area just turn to barren mud?

We have been fencing part of the run off every week or so to rest the ground... once the conditions are better, we'll re-seed the fenced off bit...

Actually, OH is pricing up building a second, larger run (double the size of the one in the pictures) this year, as he has plans for turkeys, and more chickens....

Yes, mud is a problem. My solution is to keep chucking in prunings, grass clippings, shredded paper, leaves and twigs. The absolutely love it as they can scratch and get all the bugs out. Several large rocks and some planks give them somewhere solid to walk on when it's really wet. A couple of times a year, I dig out about six inches of mud and put it on the veg patch.

Zoe

thanks all for your advice, we are lucky and havent had any foxes in the garden, in the 4 months we've had the chickens so the 2" wire is ok.

i think that its not you havent had foxes in your garden but one day you might and prevention is better than cure when you have to pick up several dismembered corpses.