We have backyard chickens and they’re in a run, or yard, within our backyard. While we don’t anticipate having any crazy predators come through our little San Antonio suburban neighborhood, it’s always a good idea to install bird netting for your chicken run. In this article I’ll break down what bird netting is, why you want to use it, and how we did our install. Enjoy our article and the demo build video at the end!
I do have affiliate links in this article which means you don’t pay anything extra but I get a small percentage. I appreciate you and thank you!
What is Bird Netting?
Bird netting is a nylon cord which is manufactured to have about a two inch square shape. You can purchase it in various lengths. The most common color is black. Nylon doesn’t hold a shape so you’ll need to think about how to hang or attach it over your chicken run, and what size that you need.
Why Should You Use Bird Netting For Your Chicken Run?
There are a lot of reasons why bird netting for your chicken run can be really helpful for your little flock. Some of the reasons include:
- Keep aerial predators, like hawks and falcons, out of your chicken run.
- Keep your chickens inside your chicken run (they can’t hop over and out, and can’t fly out either).
- Wild birds like doves, who often carry disease, cannot get into your chicken run.
- Other small animals like squirrels cannot get into your chicken run to take food or dig holes.
Ultimately, the bird netting for a chicken run keeps your flock safe and gives you peace of mind.
Is There a Downside to Having Bird Netting in Your Chicken Run?
Honestly, the only major downside that I can think with bird netting for the chicken run of is that it’s a bit of a project to install – in total it took our duo about four hours including preparing the wooden stakes.
You will also want to consider the fact that wild birds (including predatory birds) might get caught in the netting if you install bird netting for your chicken run. There is a fix for this, though: Simply tie colored ribbons or small pieces of fabric throughout the bird netting so that it stands out to birds more, and they can see it before there’s a collision!
Finally, if you have a bad storm, that you might get some debris stuck in the bird netting, like a tree branch. I haven’t had this happen to me before but I realize that it’s a possibility; in that case I’ll just remove the stuff by hand and get a ladder if necessary.
I love the convenience of my bird netting and I get the same peace of mind from my new automatic chicken coop door. No sponsors here, just a great product that is helping out my flock and I. Check out my honest review – and demo video, of course! – right here.
How Do I Install Bird Netting?
Bird netting can be a bit of a pain to install over your chicken run, but with careful planning and a good strategy, hey you’ll only have to do it once! (Make sure that you watch my video at the end so you can see how we worked together!)
Supplies that you will want to gather when it’s time to install:
- Bird netting (don’t open it or handle it until you’re ready to install)
- Staple gun
- Ladder
- Pliers (to remove unwanted staples)
We also used
- Steel utility posts to make a taller “maypole” in the middle of the chicken run
- Wooden stakes to extend the poles’ height
- Zip ties
- Garden wire
As a side note, I’ll mention again that you don’t want to unpack your bird netting and play around with it until you’re actually ready to install it. You’ll potentially tangle it or get stuff caught in it, and ain’t nobody got time for that!
Open the bird netting. I’d check it for any tears or damage, and I’d find the corner. You can hold it up, roll it, or find another way to keep it from tangling. We chose to keep it up off the ground, draped over my shoulder, and I followed my husband around giving him slack as he stapled it to the fence.
Decide where you want to start. I’d choose the part of the chicken run that’s the most essential (where a chicken might try to hop out, or where there’s an open area that would be an easy swooping spot for a hawk or falcon). We picked a corner of the chicken run where the girls spend a lot of time because it’s shady.
Attach the bird netting to the fence or structure. For us, that meant using a heavy duty staple gun and going off the corner in one direction. (We actually had to redo this because we went down a long side of the rectangle first, and ended up making it crooked, so we went back and did a short side first.) If a staple gun isn’t an option, consider something like a screw hook, or a nail that’s hammered in at an angle and then bent to “hook” the bird netting in place.
Follow the edge of the bird netting, attaching it to the fence. For us, this meant lots of staples! We fixed it to the fence about once every foot, and will continue to watch it over the next few months to see if we need to adjust, or staple in more places.
When you finish one side, go back to the initial corner (where you started), and go the other way.
Finish the other two sides, being mindful of slack. We did have those utility posts in the middle of the run, so we had to stop halfway through – as we pulled the bird netting up and over the center of the chicken run – and attach the bird netting to the posts themselves. It’s easier shown than explained, so check it out in the video below. (We just used wooden dowels and zip ties. Super fancy here, people.)
Finally, finish up at the final corner. We ordered a 50’x25′ bird netting, but our run is a bit wider than that in the center (think more of a diamond than a true rectangle), so we had to get creative. Again, you can see it better in the video, but we used garden wire and string to “pull” the bird netting over to the boundary fence, and make it look sort of like a spider web!
A Few Final Notes About Installing Bird Netting for Your Chicken Run
I’m really glad that we did this. I am not a fan of the “They’re probably ok without it” mentality, but in the three years I’ve had chickens this is the first time I’ve done a true bird netting cover. Now I have peace of mind and I know that I’ll keep the girls in, and the bad guys out!
- Be watchful and make adjustments as necessary. You might have to reattach, or tighten the bird netting.
- Keep it clean! You don’t want anything weighing down the bird netting so try to remove leaves and branches promptly.
- Consider tying something onto the bird netting to make it more visible. We have wild birds like doves who are, how shall I say, less than intelligent. Okay, they’re downright dumb. And they can’t see the black nylon that well. While I do want to keep my little flock safe, I’m not looking to catch birds! So think about tying some white fabric strips, or maybe something like shiny metallic ribbon, throughout the bird netting so it’s easier for others to see.
I hope that this has all been helpful! Do you have bird netting for your chicken run? Let me know how you did it and what you think! And check out the video below!
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