It's strong enough. But they will dig under and possibly climb over the fence. They're very naughty.

I'm building a new chicken run right this moment - or at least I would be if it hadn't just started raining.

I think Heras fence will be fine. Not very pretty but plenty strong enough. Perhaps do away with the normal couplings used to join panels as I think the gaps might be too big. I think the mesh on a Heras fence is about a 2" hole size. Is that what you have? I think some other makes have bigger holes.

As Peter suggests... put a "skirt" of rabbit wire (25mm mesh) about 700mm wide around the bottom. Stake it to the grass with 3mm wire hoops (cut the grass as short as possible first). The mesh will quickly dissapear into the ground/grass, particularly if you encourage people to walk on it or drive a ride on mower over it a few times. Much easier than digging a trench.

I'm using 75mm (3") square fence posts at 2.4 meter intervals with 75 x 38mm across the top. Took two afternoons to hammer in 15 posts using a pry bar and post hammer. I'm using a 6 foot wide roll of 50mm (2") chicken wire mesh with another layer of 25mm (1") on the bottom meter and for the skirt. This seems to be standard constuction in our area. There are a few people in our village who have chickens and they all say they have _heard_ foxes can climb a 6 foot fence but none say they have had a problem with foxes actually climbing their 6 foot fences. When we first got chickens "something" tried to dig under the wall of the temporary run I had set up so we added a mesh skirt and saw no further attempts.

As foxes tend to come out at night some people put one of these on the pop-hole so even if they do climb over they can't get into the chicken house..

http://www.forshamcottagearks.com/automatic-pophole-door-opener/option-gizmo.htm

If anyone is thinking of keeping chickens in a small run and letting them out onto the lawn in the daytime then be aware that three chickens can totally strip the grass off an average size lawn.

I don't know how much a chicken costs in the UK but for the price of that automatic pophole I can buy about 20 good point-of-layers at the local market. Yep, foxes are naughty but they don't seem to like the smell of stale human wee. To save time when working outdoors I pee in a bucket and when it's full (and a little fruity) I empty it into the composter which is never more than a stone's throw from, and usually downwind of, a lightweight non-fox-proof home-made run that I move every 10-14 days. I've seen martens taking a short cut across the plot during the day and the odd fox but so far no casualties in 4 years. Free, easy and less loo flushing. I don't even bother with the pophole at night anymore.

Thanks for all info and comments. I thought of using the Heras as we have 4 panels about to be redundant as our "plot" finally becomes our home. They're a bit tatty and I was thinking of Freecycling otherwise. The mesh is about 4" by 1.5.

thanks again
RobinB

Chickens and foxes can clear a 6 foot fence on a good day.