Chicken wire or hardware cloth

[bigmrg74]

Hardware cloth will fend off about everything up to coyotes or large dogs. You gotta remember that those critters want lunch, and they want it now.

 

[RonP]

Chicken wire is great for containing chickens.

You don't mention if you need to keep predators out.

If so, better use hardware cloth.

 

[jbnf]

I stapled chicken wire to a sheet of lattice, which was then screwed to my 2 x 4 runners. Hopefully nothing will get through this. Plus it looks nice too.

 

[RonP]

I bet the lattice looks great!

What are your predator concerns.

I once lost a rooster to the prying little hands of a raccoon through 2x3 fencing.
Lesson learned.

1/2 inch hardware cloth recommended for good reason.

 

[Joe Gonzalez]

Everybody is saying hardware cloth but to be honest it just depends on what kind of predators you have in your area. Like some might say that weasels can get through chicken wire, but not everybody has weasels, where they live. And not everybody has large predators roaming their backyards like: bears, foxes, and coyotes. In my opinion you have to understand what your protecting against ( what kind of animals are in your area, that pose a threat to chickens/ poultry?) from there you can decide wether to choose hardware cloth or chicken wire.

Not all chicken wire is as weak as described there are such things gauges when buying wire. Personally for me chicken wire works great no problems. It all depends on what your protecting against so don't go out and buy a 100$ roll of hardware cloth if all you have in your area are chipmunks. You get the point...

 

[LindaB220]

I stapled chicken wire to a sheet of lattice, which was then screwed to my 2 x 4 runners. Hopefully nothing will get through this. Plus it looks nice too.

Glad to have you. Love the lattice. I plan to get some. I have dog kennels with 2x4" welded wiring. If you can believe it a mink got in and got one of my 10 wk old roos. We add more but still can't afford the hardware cloth until next month. Pour a gallon of ammonia to keep snakes away or put out mothballs. They hate the smell of both. I have really hard clay dirt and lots of stones so no digging. I put grates like out of a fridge or oven around and put blocks on top.

 

[Rani]

This could be true. I would still try to find something that a raccoon can't reach through. A friend lost all her ducklings from a raccoon that reached through the holes of the chicken wire and pulled them out one by one. Very brutal and messy way to go. But if you can get away with chicken wire in your area - you will save some money, too. Hardware was more expensive for us.

 

[jcinadr]

Funny (or not) story. Ag teacher I got my brooder from told me at one time he had sugar gliders. His cage was 1/2" x 1" welded. One day he found a snake stuck in his cage. It was small enought got get in, but once it ate his sugar glider it was too fat to get out. Definitely have to match the wire with the predator. Not to mention the design needs to work as well - no mesh on a wall is going to stop a digging predator - you either need mesh on the ground or a floor.

My current coop has a bull wire fence around the yard - reinforced with a couple feet of 1x2 wire on the ground and 1x2 wire up 3' (and then chicken wire up to 7'). I have still lost 3 chickens. I thought they were flying out- so I raised the walls. Eventually figured out the dumb things decided their dust bath needed to be up against the wire - and had dug under it. Wire on the ground was on the OUTSIDE of the fence - did not slow the chickens down one bit.

 

[TESouthern]

Funny (or not) story. Ag teacher I got my brooder from told me at one time he had sugar gliders. His cage was 1/2" x 1" welded. One day he found a snake stuck in his cage. It was small enought got get in, but once it ate his sugar glider it was too fat to get out.

That is exactly what happened with our chicks (sooo glad I walked out there to check on them and not the kids) but the snake had gotten in and eaten one chick......and killed the other (not sure if it had a heart attack or what) then was too fat to get back out.....

 

[RonP]

Seems the snake got what he deserved, you unfortunately did not

.