Truth About Raccoons & Chicken Wire? Please add your experience

I have seen coons pull a chicken right through chicken wire.  A coon can definitely get into just about anything it wants to bad enough in my opinion.  Best remedy is a lot of trapping, and a good chicken dog!

The 2 inch chicken wire is very easy for a coon to rip apart. The 1 inch chicken wire is a little harder for them to tear apart, but if they want what is on the other side of the chicken wire, it will not stop a coon from getting in.

They will tear the wire apart. They don't care if it is where it is connected to wood or in the middle of the pen. They don't check for weak spots, they rip it apart at the spot where they want to get in at.

If roosts are next to the wire, a coon can actually get a hold of a chicken and pull it through the wire, usually in several pieces.

Many years ago, and I mean MANY years, when chicken wire was made from heavier gauge wire, it would protect your chickens from coons, but sadly those days of quality chicken wire are gone.


Jean

electric fence maybe? :o

This is first-hand, in a way.

I saw first-hand chicken wire (2" poultry netting) that a rooster tore through to attack another rooster. He ripped a hole bigger than a basketball. If a rooster got through it, I have little doubt a raccoon could too.

The chickens and cages belong to a poultry breeder we buy from.

Coons are very strong, and super smart.  I honestly believe that there is no NORMAL pen that you can make to be coon proof.  They can rip through poultry netting.  They push on it with their front feet, while pulling on it with their teeth until the rip it apart.  That's why I say to keep the population control is the only solution.

Had a coon peel though the 1 inch mesh on one coop about 4 inches above the bottom, dig under a run on another, and open the door on the coop after I sealed up the wire... lost the whole flock.

Nifty
I read your response to DH and this is what he said:
"Be prepared to be amazed if you have coons and no other protection other than the chicken wire."

Coons don't pull the wire in two, they cut it in two. I guess I should have been more clear. Their canine teeth are razor sharp. It would be like taking a wire cutter and cutting the wire.

DH says your best bet would be to put electric fence 6 to 8 inches from the ground all the way around your chicken pen using regular insulators that would put the electric fence 2 to 4 inches from the fence using a pulsating pet fence charger.

He also says to have the kids to test the fence daily! 
(He has a warped sense of humor) LOL

I vote for Great Pyrenees dogs.


Jean

My neighbor uses about 6 to 8 strands of hot wire all about 3 inches apart.  He also has a Great Pynerees dog.  Another thing he does is keep a box trap set at all times.  He never has problems with racoons, but his guard in never down.