Fencing Your Chickens

A key thing every chicken owner already knows by now is that every chicken flock must have its own chicken house. However, it is also vital that your chicken house has fences set up around the perimeter to help keep intruders out. Chickens are easy prey for many of the more common predators and keeping them safe from these is of utmost priority. Nonetheless, constructing a solid chicken fence does take a little planning, effort and perhaps a small amount of money as well.Fencing for your chicken house can come in a variety of styles and prices. They range from a simple line of wire, to state of the art electric fencing. Pick a type that you are comfortable with and can afford. Fortunately enough for the more frugal ones among us, building good chicken house fencing is not an overly complicated task.

To start things off, you will probably need to get yourself some of the following materials.

Some galvanised iron sheets, a good supply of chicken wires, a few pieces of planks and basic building tools to put them together. The main idea here is to construct a fence solid enough to keep your chickens in, and the predators out.

When building your chicken house fencing, bear in mind that predators like foxes, wild dogs and cats are able to dig their way in. To prevent this from happening, ensure that your chicken house fence is bottom buried into the ground at least 20 inches deep. Do not let predators easily burrow under and enter your chicken house. You can also sink planks of wood into the ground in certain areas as an added precaution.

In addition, many animals can easily jump far higher than their standing height. A good example of this is cats, which can very easily jump over a low fence in order to get to your chickens. Foxes have been seen climbing the chicken fence. Try to build the chicken house fencing to be as high as 7 feet tall if possible, to deter such actions. Should you not be able to do that, wrapping some chicken wire or barbed wire over the top of the fence can also help deter predators from jumping over your fencing. Try also to place some galvanised iron sheets between the fence posts and bury 15-20 inches in the ground as further protection. Placing iron sheets there will also protect against rats and snakes.

Another idea is to have a roof with eaves coming at least 15 inches out. Alternatively, you can have some solid roof made out of corrugated iron and the rest made out chicken wire. A roof is not just a feature. A solid roof provides a good shelter for the chicken and the nesting boxes, while the chicken wire part of the roof offers security from predator birds.

Try also to place some galvanised iron sheets between the fence posts as further protection.

Chicken wires should also be wrapped around the most susceptible parts of the fence. Do not try to skimp in this area as animals such as foxes can easily chew through thin chicken wires. Get the thickest and highest quality wires you can possibly find to ensure that predators cannot chew their way through them.

Your final chicken house fencing might not win you any prizes in terms of design, but it will more than suffice in terms of keeping your chickens safe.