Building a chicken fence seemed like a really big deal until I did it. Here’s the recipe:
-Enough 4 or 5 foot “T” or “U” posts at Depot or Lowes to space them about five feet apart. (This is the pricey item.)
-ton of long zip ties
-50 or 100 foot roll of 4ft chicken wire, depending on how far you need to go
-hammer
Pound posts into ground at five feet intervals. Attach chicken wire with zip ties, making sure at least six inches of wire folds toward the inside of the pen.
About 40 feet of fence was about $80 for me.
I would, however, you come up with a more sophisticated gate system than me. I twist wire around concrete nails in the side of the house. not very nice looking once the kids climb over it a few thousand times.
You need two more posts to finish your gate and make it easy to open and close (this is what I’ve done). One post pounded into the ground against the wall, the other post with the chicken wire attached to it with your zip ties – but not pounded into the ground (actually you could just as easily use a garden stake or some such). Then just loop a bit of string or wire at the top to hold the two posts together. Just slip off the string when you want to open the gate.