If you have many chickens, you may find it hard sometimes to keep them contained within your yard or farm. Oftentimes, your chickens may wander outside of the confines of your farm without you having any idea where they are or if they are safe from predators. That’s why it’s especially important to find the best chicken fencing for your yard so that they are safe from predators, and you know where they are at all times.
In this guide on the best chicken fencing, we’ll take a look at some of the best ones out there on the market. We’ve identified seven top-of-the-line chicken fences after reviewing over 25 different ones. The YARDGARD 889240A Fence appeared to be our most favorite product. This one is our top choice because it is incredibly easy to use, and the all-purpose mesh netting it uses is also very durable. We’ll also take a look at six of the other chicken fences, and we will speak more in-depth about why they are a great way to keep your chickens on your farm.
After countless hours of research, we’ve identified a few key features that make these chicken fencings stand out for us. They include the size, material, color, and mesh parameters. All of these factors are important to provide optimal protection for your chickens. After detailed reviews of each product, we’ll then take you through our buying guide, where we’ll speak more in-depth about the various things you’ll need to know about chicken fencing. To wrap things up, we’ll answer a few of the most commonly asked questions and then give you our top three recommendations for best chicken fencing in our verdict. Let’s get started!
More features: all-purpose mesh netting, easy to use, highly durable
Yardgard is one of the premier brands out there, and they arguably make the best chicken fencing products on the market today. It’s no surprise then that we’ve turned to a Yardgard product with our Editor’s Choice. While the manufacturer has tons of different chicken fencing we could choose from, we decided to go with the YARDGARD 889240A Fence.
This chicken fencing is made of PVC materials and is an all-purpose type of mesh netting, which is a great material to use to keep predators away from your chickens and also because of its durability. The mesh netting comes in a hexagonal pattern that is roughly three-quarters of an inch in size. This is helpful because it will prevent smaller rodents and even snakes from slipping in between the mesh pattern. It comes in a black color and measures out to 3-feet tall and 25-feet long, which is ideal for much smaller enclosures and not for an entire yard or farm.
More features: UV-resistant, 3-5 years of life expectancy, no sharp edges, durable
For chicken owners that are looking at the most cost-effective way of protecting their chickens from predators and from escaping their farms, you need to check the Tenax 090786 Poultry Fence. This chicken fencing measures out to 3 feet tall and 25 feet wide, and with this size, it is a good solution for chicken hoops and coops as well.
Like our Editor’s Choice, this chicken fencing is also made with PVC material, a type of plastic that will not rust over time, unlike more sturdy fencing that is made of metal. This particular chicken fencing comes in only the green color and boasts three-quarters of an inch hexagonal pattern shape. On top of the added bonus of its cheap cost, plenty of owners love it because it is not sharp at all, so it won’t potentially harm your chickens or you with sharper edges you can tend to find in most metallic fencings. Despite the materials being made of plastic, some owners have noted that some animals tend to chew the fencing, which may end up creating big holes in it.
More features: lightweight and flexible design, can be cut with wire clamp or scissors, corrosion-resistant, prevents snakes
For those that are looking for a mesh chicken fencing that is more sturdy and durable, you need to consider the Goplus Mesh Chicken Netting. This chicken fencing is much more durable than regular mesh fencing thanks to its galvanized, double zinc coated hardware cloth material. The mesh is 19-gauge and comes in a square pattern that is half an inch in between each square pattern that helps to prevent snakes from getting through. As for length, it measures out to 3 feet tall and 50 feet wide, which is great for smaller-to-medium sized enclosures.
Owners of this fencing absolutely love its lightweight and flexible design that can be cut with wire clamps or scissors. Another great feature of this fencing is that it is also corrosion-resistant, so it can easily cope with the weather elements. Since it is made of more sturdy material, the ends of the fencing can be particularly sharp, and you can easily harm yourself if you are not careful enough with it.
More features: UV-resistant, durable, reusable, no sharp edges, won’t harm animals
This fencing is designed to protect your landscapes from deer, but you can use that as chicken fencing too. Standing at 7 feet tall, this DeerBlock fencing will definitely help to keep all those predators away from your chickens.
This fencing is made of durable plastic materials and comes in one black color. The mesh comes in a square pattern that is five-eighths of an inch in size. Since the material of the mesh is made of plastic, the mesh will not have any sharp edges or any parts that could harm you or your chickens. As great as this product is to protect your chickens, a few people did mention that the mesh netting itself was not as durable as advertised, and they noticed a few rips and holes through the netting after a while. Still, this netting is quite flexible, so it’s going to be very easy to install it. Moreover, it is UV-resistant, making it more reliable and reusable.
More features: comes with 12 stands, 15 round posts, 19 corner/anchor stakes, 2 tie-down cords, and repair kit with brass ferules
Oftentimes, electric chicken fencing can lack a few important parts that you’ll need to put it together, but with the Powerfields P-89-O Electric 40″ Poultry Fence-Netting, you’ll set it up and running in no time. This electric chicken fencing stands 3.5 feet tall and measures out to 164 feet wide, which offers you excellent protection. The posts are made of PVC material, and the mesh comes in green color and has square patterns.
As we’ve mentioned, this electric chicken fencing comes with an assortment of things you’ll need to protect your chickens right away. This includes 12 stands, 15 round posts, 19 corner/anchor stakes, 2 tie-down cords, and a repair kit that comes with connectors and polywire to fix any issues. Electrical fencing can be difficult to install, but this one comes with its own installation manual, ensuring that the whole process can be completed in 15-20 minutes. A few people did mention that the posts were quite flimsy that could cause the fencing to collapse over time.
More features: pre-fitted posts, 13.5′ intervals with 6″ spikes at the bottom, multiple rolls of netting may easily be connected together
At the other end of the spectrum, we have our Upgrade Pick, the Premier 48″ Electric Chicken Net Fence. If you’re looking for a high-quality product, you’re hard-pressed to find one that can show better results.
This yellow electric fencing comes with pre-fitted posts with 6-inch spikes at the bottom, ensuring that it is secure in the ground and that the fencing won’t collapse. The posts are made of PVC material and come with stainless steel conductors. However, the energizer does not come with this fencing. This important part must be purchased separately to ensure the protection from predators. As for the size of the fencing, it comes 4-feet high and 164 feet wide, giving you plenty of coverage to wrap around your farm. As great as the quality of this fencing is, a few people have noted that the poles are a bit flexible. Still, this product does a great job of preventing animals from getting inside.
More features: 15mm (.60″) PVC posts are pre-fitted into netting at 10′ intervals, multiple rolls of netting may be connected
It’s almost impossible to talk about the best electric fences without including Premier Enhanced 42″ Electric Poultry Net Fence on the list. In fact, do a simple search online and you’ll find this fence enlisted on a large chunk of best-reviewed fences. And the reason for this isn’t far-fetched. Foremost, all you need is just about fifteen minutes to get this fence installed and there’s no difficulty whatsoever regarding its installation. Secondly, it serves as an easy shield for your poultry, ducks, livestock, and others, as it ensures that they’re protected against raccoons, dogs, foxes, and coyotes. However, it’s important you know that you need to energize the fence to guarantee its effectiveness and it’s advised that you utilize non-conductive posts at ends and corners.
The Premier brand is renowned for its premier collection of fences and its Premier 48 inches electric chicken net fence, Premier 1 Supplies Enhanced 35-Inches Electric Netting Fence, and Premier ElectroNet Sheep and Goat Netting Fence are some of its other awesome fences you’ll find on the market. However, we’re more interested in the Premier Enhanced 42″ Electric Poultry Net Fence because of its versatility and applaudable safety features. It’s also an upgraded version of the regular Premier 42″ Electric Goat Net Fence and as expected, it offers better safety as an upgraded version. It’s also a great buy for eco-friendly poultry farmers because it’s solar-powered.
More features: lightweight, multi-purpose product
If you commonly encounter many different and pesky predators that can climb over the short chicken fencing, you’re best off trying to find a product that is high and long enough to provide your chickens with proper protection. That’s why with our choice for the Best Large Size, the G&B Mat 308435B Mesh Galvanized Poultry Netting is our clear winner.
At 6-feet high and 150 feet across, it’s hard to imagine many of those clever predators that can find their way through this fencing that is made of galvanized hardware cloth material, making it very sturdy and durable. The mesh is 20-gauge strong and comes in a 1-inch hexagonal pattern that should keep snakes away. If the 6-feet height is too big for you, you can also bury this fencing into the ground to help avoid predators that can dig small holes under it. This fencing can also be multi-purpose as well as it can also protect your precious plants from being trampled over by your pets or animals. As excellent as this fencing is, a few people did note that you might want to have a few posts installed along the way as it is not strong enough on its own to stand upright for a long time and needs some extra stability.
Now that you have an idea of the best chicken fencing products out there, the buying guide section here will aim to inform you even more about the individual features of these products and why it’s important to have chicken fencing in place to prevent your coop from predator attacks. After this, if you still have questions, don’t worry! We’ll walk you through some of the most commonly asked questions and provide answers to them and then finish things off with our verdict, where we’ll give you our top three picks.
Aside from keeping your chickens in one big group and preventing them from straying too far away, the next, and probably the most important reason why you’ll want to set up chicken fencing is to prevent them from being attacked by predators. Depending on where your farm is situated in, some of the most common types of predators to protect your chickens from can be foxes, coyotes, and raccoons, and a variety of flying predators, like owls and hawks, too.
Chicken fencing helps to keep your chickens in a secure area and away from the gaze of predators.
If you’re mostly worried about land predators, such as foxes and coyotes, a mesh fencing is really what you’ll need to keep your chickens safe. For added protection against aggressive predators, you can turn to electrical fencing, which gives even more protection. This is a more suitable option against land predators. For flying threat, it’s best to probably fence your entire yard and to have chicken fencing over the top of their enclosure to better protect against owls and hawks.
For enhanced safety, it really is going to come down to understanding what it is you’re looking for in a chicken fencing. Which predators are you trying to protect your chickens from? Is price an issue for you? On top of these considerations, you’ll also want to think about a number of things that make these products great such as the size, materials used, and durability of that materials, color, mesh pattern, and of course, the price.
The size of your chicken fencing is a very important consideration because it really depends on what type of construction you want to create. There are a few different types of enclosures for chickens, and they include a chicken run, a coop, or a hoop. Chickens that are housed in a chicken run are enclosed in an outdoor space, and it is this space where they are free to roam around. A chicken coop is an indoor space where chickens rest and lay their eggs. A chicken hoop is kind of like a blend between a run and a coop and is often called a hoop coop.
Depending on the sizes of the enclosures you want to keep your chickens in, it will determine how much chicken fencing you’ll need.
For a larger area, it’s best to go for the G&B Mat 308435B Mesh Galvanized Poultry Netting because it offers you 150 feet of coverage. If you have a smaller yard, the YARDGARD 889240A Fence will do just fine.
In terms of the materials used in chicken fencing, the most common type of material used is PVC, such as seen with the Tenax 090786 Poultry Fence. PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride, and it is a type of synthetic plastic material. PVC is generally a well-regarded material for chicken fencing because it is highly durable and quite cheap.
Another common material used is hardware cloth. Hardware cloth is even more durable than PVC, but it comes at a much higher cost as well. Hardware cloth is usually used as a means to protect any gaps or holes you may have in your enclosure. The Goplus Mesh Chicken Netting is a great example here. Plastic is another material that is used for chicken fencing, although this is not as durable as the previous two.
Although these options are not as sturdy as fencing that is made of welded wire or chain-link, the chicken fencing made of PVC, plastic, or hardware cloth are still durable to provide enough protection for your chickens. Chicken fencing made of these materials are more flexible and cost-effective than wire or chain fencing, and they do a good job of keeping predators out.
Just note that aggressive predators can do significant damage to chicken fencing, especially if they repeatedly keep coming back. That’s where a chain-link or electrical fencing, such as the Premier 48″ Electric Chicken Net Fence, may be more suitable, but just keep in mind that it will cost you a lot more money to install. For the most part, the durability of chicken fencing is good, and this should be a reliable deterrent for any predators to prevent them from invading your chicken enclosure.
The best chicken fencing comes in a few different colors, although each specific product usually only comes in one color. Depending on the specific color you’re looking for, you can easily find chicken coops that are yellow, green, like the Tenax 090786 Poultry Fence, black, and steel. Once again, it really depends on whether you’re looking for a specific color as there really is no particular color that will discourage predators from trying to prey on your chicken.
While you may not realize it yet, but the mesh pattern of your chicken fencing can play a very significant role.
The mesh pattern is important because you’ll want to find a pattern that prevents smaller predators like rodents from slipping through the pattern into your chicken enclosure.
One of the drawbacks of chain-link fencing is that the holes between the pattern can be big enough for rodents to pass through. You’ll also want to find a pattern that is small so that it prevents your baby chickens (chicks) from escaping your coop. In our list of the best chicken fencing, we can see the spacing between the mesh patterns is very small, and this is great for preventing predators from sneaking in through these patterns. Some of the more common patterns we see are hexagonal, with the G&B Mat 308435B Mesh Galvanized Poultry Netting being a great example, and square shapes of varying sizes.
Like with any product, the price can often become a big factor when it comes to which of the chicken fencing to purchase. And like most products, the prices of the best chicken fencing tends to range quite a bit, and it will really depend on what you’re looking for. The materials used and the actual size of the chicken fencing can affect that. Also, the shorter the fencing is, the cheaper it will be, and vice versa.
You can get chicken fencing for as little as $21 with the Easy Gardener 6050 DeerBlock, and while the length of this fencing is great at 100 feet, it is also made of a thin, plastic material that can rip quite easily. On the higher end of pricing, there is the Powerfields P-89-G Electric 40″ Poultry Fence-Netting, which comes with a high price-tag of $231. That’s because this is electric fencing that includes various accessories you’ll need to install it to ensure it works properly and effectively.
Here, we are ready to present to you our top three choices.
Kicking things off with our Editor’s Choice, we love the overall quality and presentation of the YARDGARD 889240A Fence. Despite being on the shorter side in terms of length, this chicken fencing uses incredibly durable mesh netting that can be used for a range of purposes as well.
Next, we have the Tenax 090786 Poultry Fence, which is a great affordable option. It is UV-resistant, and it has no sharp edges, so the installation of this should be a breeze.
For those that are looking for mesh chicken fencing that is more sturdy and durable, you need to consider the Goplus Mesh Chicken Netting. This chicken fencing is much more durable than regular mesh fencing thanks to its galvanized, double zinc-coated hardware cloth material.
Now that you know everything about these products, all you have to do is to purchase the best chicken fencing and install it to ensure protection for your chickens.
