How to Use Cloth for Chicken Nests

Hardware cloth can fill a variety of needs in a chicken nest. This durable galvanized metal is a steel mesh often preferred over chicken wire. It prevents predators from breaking into the nest and causing harm to the chickens. Hardware cloth can be used as a window screen, a barrier around windows, a subfloor beneath the coop and protection around a chicken run. Sold in rolls, hardware cloth can best be cut with aviation snips.

Things You'll Need

  • Hardware cloth
  • Poultry net staples
  • Aviation snips
  • Hammer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Secure a 2-inch frame of hardware cloth around the windows, cutting cloth to size with aviation snips. Attach cloth to the coop with poultry net staples, and hammer staples to ensure the cloth is secured. Make a window screen of hardware cloth if a solid window is not on the coop.

    • 2

      Create subflooring. Dig 10 inches beneath the coop. Bury 1/2-inch hardware cloth. Attach another layer of hardware cloth to the buried cloth with wire, securing to the frame of the coop with poultry net staples.

    • 3

      Secure hardware cloth to chicken run with poultry net staples. Bury the hardware cloth the full length of the run, 10 to 12 inches beneath the ground.