Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens (21 page)

Buying ready-built new cages may be cheaper than making your own, unless you have an inexpensive source for wire. You’ll need 1-inch by 1-inch (2.5 by 2.5 cm) or 1-inch by 2-inch (2.5 by 5.0 cm) galvanized 12- or 14-gauge welded wire. You’ll also need J clips, or ferrules, ferrule-closing pliers, and wire side cutters. If you buy used cages, you may have to redesign them, for which you’ll still need the clips, pliers, and cutters.

Use the accompanying table to determine what size cage you need. Lighter breeds appreciate a roost 6 inches (15 cm) off the cage floor, in which case you may have to make the cages 6 inches higher than you would otherwise so the birds won’t rub their combs or topknots against the ceiling.

From welded wire cut four sides, a top, and a bottom, and clip them together along the edges. Around the top and bottom edges, add lengths of 10-gauge wire as reinforcement to keep the cage from sagging.

To make a door, cut a 14-inch (35 cm)-square opening in the center of the front wall, 2 inches (5 cm) from the bottom. File the cut ends smooth. From a separate piece of wire, cut a door 14 inches high and 15 inches (38 cm) wide. Using loosely attached ferrules as hinges, attach the door at the bottom, side, or top — the hinge position is strictly a matter of preference, though a door hinged at the bottom so it drops down when it’s opened will leave your hands free for working inside.

Latches may be fashioned from all sorts of things, but nothing beats the standard cage-door latch in the illustration. As a safety measure, secure the shut door with a spring clip, hung from a chain attached to the cage to keep the clip from getting lost.

CAGE-BUILDING TOOLS

To build or redesign a cage, you will need (A) a latch, (B) wire side cutters, and (C) ferrule-closing pliers, as well as the wire and clips.

A stout fence keeps chickens from showing up where they aren’t welcome and protects them from predators. Even chickens confined within a range or garden shelter need protection from being harassed by dogs, coyotes, raccoons, and the like or having their shelter rubbed on, climbed on, and bumped by livestock.

Consider the ease of maintenance — spending more time and money now may save you from spending additional time and money later on repairs. Choose a style of fence that blends in with the surroundings, and check for local restrictions that may determine what is and is not allowed. Where an agricultural-style fence or electrified wires are not permitted, a solid wooden fence, a high picket
fence, or an attractive rail fence backed with a less visible wire mesh are some possible alternatives.

The ideal chicken fence is made from tightly strung, small-mesh woven wire. The best fence I ever had was a 6-foot (1.8 m)-high chain-link fence that came with the first house I owned. In the 11 years I lived there, I lost few birds, most of which were chicks that popped through the fence and got carried off by a neighbor’s cat.

I now live on a farm where we enjoy the wildlife as much as we enjoy our poultry. Trouble is, the wildlife have as much interest in poultry as we do. Our large chicken yard (pasture, really) makes the cost of entirely enclosing it with chain link prohibitive. For years we fenced our chickens with the same high-tensile, smooth-wire electric fence that contains our four-legged livestock. It does a good job of keeping out the larger predators but does not keep out the smaller chicken-or-egg eaters and certainly does not keep the chickens in. Occasionally, we lose a bird that wanders into the orchard for lunch and meets a fox with the same idea.

So we have returned to chain link to create yards designed for housing setting hens and growing birds that are more vulnerable to predators than mature birds. Chain link is expensive but virtually maintenance free. It excludes most predators, provided it is properly constructed. The bottom must be stretched tight with a tension wire or bottom rail, or attached to wide boards turned on edge, to prevent predators from pushing underneath.

The chief disadvantage to chain link is that you’d better be sure exactly where you want your fence before it’s installed. If you decide later to make the yard larger or move it over, you’ll incur a big expense.

If the expense of chain-link is prohibitive for you, the next best kind of fence for chickens is wire mesh with openings small enough that neither chickens nor predators can get through. Of the many kinds of wire mesh available, one that works well for chickens and is relatively low on the cost scale is yard-and-garden fence with 1-inch (2.5 cm) spaces toward the bottom and wider spaces toward the top. The small openings at the bottom keep poultry from slipping out and small predators from getting in.

The fence should be at least 4 feet (1.2 m) high, higher if you keep a lightweight breed that likes to fly. Bantams and young chickens of all breeds are especially fond of flying.

To deter raccoons and foxes from burrowing into the poultry yard, dig a trench along the fence line and bury the bottom portion of a fence. Or create an apron by sinking a 12-inch (30 cm)-wide length of wire mesh at the outside bottom. It should be perpendicular to the fence and extend from the bottom of the fence outward, away from the yard. To prevent soil moisture from rapidly rusting the apron, use vinyl-coated wire or brush the apron with roofing tar to slow rusting. Cut and lift the sod along the outside of the fence line, and clip or lash the apron to the bottom of the fence. Spread the apron horizontally along the ground and replace the sod on top. The apron will get matted into the grass roots to create a barrier that discourages digging.

Hexagonal net
is a type of wire-mesh fence also called poultry netting, hex net, or hex wire. It consists of thin wire, twisted and woven together into a series of hexagons, giving it a honeycomb appearance. The result is lightweight fencing that keeps chickens in but does not deter determined predators from breaking through with brute strength.

Hex net comes in mesh sizes ranging from 0.5 inch to 2 inches (1.5 to 5 cm). The smaller the mesh, the stronger the fence. The smallest grid, called aviary netting, is made from 22-gauge wire and is used to house chicks and to prevent wild birds from stealing poultry feed. A 12-inch (30 cm)-wide strip of aviary netting securely attached to the bottom of a wire-mesh fence will keep baby chicks from straying out of the yard.

Hexagonal net is included here only because it is so common, but I do not recommend it for permanent fencing. Although the wire is relatively inexpensive, all the necessary support to make it sufficiently tight adds to the cost of erecting the fence. And when all is said and done, the fence has a short useful life, during which it tears easily and requires constant repair.

One-inch (2.5 cm) mesh, woven from 18-gauge wire, is commonly called
chicken wire.
Rolls range in length from 25 feet to 150 feet (10 to 50 m), in width from 12 to 72 inches (30 to 180 cm) The narrowest wire is used to reinforce the lower portion of a woven wire or rail fence to keep little critters from slipping in or out.

So-called
turkey netting,
made of 20-gauge wire, has 2-inch (5 cm) mesh and is used for mature birds. Heights range from 18 inches to 72 inches (45 to 180 cm), length from 25 feet to 150 feet (10 to 50 m). Mesh this large is difficult to stretch properly. For a tall fence, therefore, many fencers run two narrow rolls, one above the other, either stapling the butted edges to a rail or fastening them together with cage-making ferrules.

A less common variation, called rabbit netting, has 1-inch (2.5 cm) mesh at the bottom and 2-inch (5 cm) mesh toward the top. It comes in 25-foot (7.5 m) rolls, is 28 inches (70 cm) high, and may be used to pen chicks.

Unless you treat hex wire with great care, don’t expect it to last more than 5 years, if that long. Options in protective coating are galvanizing and vinyl. Some brands are galvanized before being woven, some afterward. The former is cheaper but should be used only under cover, since it rusts rapidly in open weather. Plastic-coated wire is a bit more rust resistant, and some people find the colors more attractive than plain wire.

Hex wire is easy to put up, although it tears readily, and slight tears into big holes grow. Netting also tends to sag. You’ll need to erect a stout framework of closely spaced wood posts with a top rail for stapling and a stout baseboard, both for stapling and to deter burrowing; make sure no dips at soil level leave gaps for sneaky critters to slip under. To keep the wire taut on a tall fence, add a rail in the middle as well. Hand stretch the mesh by pulling on the tension wires — the wires woven in and out at the top and bottom of the netting. Taller netting has additional intermediate tension wires. To avoid snagging skin and clothing, especially around gates, fold the cut ends under before stapling them down.

No matter how secure your fence is, it’s only as secure as your gates. Our commercially installed chain-link poultry run left us to deal with predator-size gaps at the sides and bottoms of the gates.

Even when a gate is initially installed close enough to the ground, traffic from walking, wheelbarrows, mowers, and so forth eventually wears grooves under the gate. Adding a sill solves that problem.

A gate without a sill eventually develops ruts underneath that let birds out and predators in.

Sink a pressure-treated 4-by-4 under each walk-through gate and a 6-by-6 under a drive-through gate, or pour reinforced concrete sills of similar size. This small investment prevents soil compression from creating ruts beneath your gates — helping keep your birds in and predators out.

Adding offset electrified scare wires to your fence gives you both a physical barrier and a psychological barrier. Should the physical barrier fail (that is, the power goes off), you still have the psychological barrier.

To deter climbers, string an electrified scare wire on offset insulators along the outside bottom of your fence, 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 cm) above ground level. As insurance, especially if your area experiences winter snow, add a second scare wire 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) below the top of the fence.

FENCE WITH ELECTRIFIED SCARE WIRES

Attach wire mesh fencing to the side of the posts away from the chicken yard. Electrified scare wires toward the top and bottom will discourage four-legged predators.

Using a plug-in electric controller to transmit energy to the wires will give them plenty of zap, especially when fast-growing weeds drain away power before you get around to weed whacking. Out in a field a portable option is a battery-operated or solar-powered energizer of the sort used to control grazing livestock or protect gardens, but you’ll have to be more mindful of weed loads.

An all-electric net fence designed specifically for poultry sounds great in principle but in practice is not ideal. It must be constantly electrified so poultry, pets, and predators won’t get tangled in the net; if you live in an area prone to power outages, you must use a battery- or solar-operated energizer and make certain it’s always fully functional. Even with the best high-impedance energizer, chickens get tangled in the polywire net and electrocute themselves, in the process tearing the net and thus reducing its useful life.