Aviary netting... need help!

[greekbioguy]

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breaking strength has nothing to do with resistance to being chewed by sharp predator teeth. plastic polypropylene and polyethylene is a piece of cake for any fox or other animals(for example rats love to eat plastic, dogs too) . no animal would try to chew metal chicken wire because it will shred its gums and mouth to pieces. i don't think that predators push nets to cheque their breaking strength unless u have strong toothless predators around

i have raised ducks and other birds as a hobby for 15 years now and i have come to the conclusion that the only safe (predator proof )materials used to built an aviary are :
brick walls
stones built
cement
and metal chicken wire
even wood is not safe (wood is softer than claws and teeth)
try to use materials harder than teeth and your ducks will be safe so u dont have to worry about their well being

I would like to introduce you to our local Racoons. They have learned to tear normal Chicken wire. It is local wisdom that chicken wire is to keep chickens in, not to keep the preditors out.

so i guess replacing it with plastic net that even a mouse can chew through solves that problem, instead of using rabbit wire that is even hard to cut with wire clippers. adapt your defence methods to the predators you have around. by saying that it is like saying there is nothing you can do, i completely disagree with this approach i would not keep any birds if i thought that there is nothing i could do to keep them safe

maybe we have different quality chicken wire around here but Daphne my Greek Shepard dog (60 kgr female) tried to tear the wire when she first saw the ducks and i had to take her to the vet to fix her mouth because she was bleeding.of course the wire was not cut. i think the raccoons just open the edges of not properly nailed chicken wire or just expand already existing gaps . human strength can tear metal wire it would need a bear to cut through it. but having read about raccoon intelligence it would not surprise me if they could open doors unless they have a lock of some sort

 

[KansasKid]

Quote:
I would like to introduce you to our local Racoons. They have learned to tear normal Chicken wire. It is local wisdom that chicken wire is to keep chickens in, not to keep the preditors out.

so i guess replacing it with plastic net that even a mouse can chew through solves that problem, instead of using rabbit wire that is even hard to cut with wire clippers.

I don't think many of us put our net all the way to the bottom where it can get chewed threw, and granted some can still climb and get to the top to chew threw it. If i were to not have a net i would go greekbioguy's way and use the rabbitwire/welded wire on sides and bottom, and if don't build a frame for the wire and use a net might i recommend putting up a site barrier like tin that predators can't climb then going ahead and burying wire so predators don't dig under.

 

[greekbioguy]

yes i think tin around the edges of the top would eliminate any climbing attempt,nothing can get a grip on tin .you can bury the rabbit wire in the ground or you can build it in the cement and create a small wall around your coop.of course you either need rabbit wire on the bottom too or you can make the wall 30-40 cm deep

use cement mixed with cement mix polymers to make it crack proof and use it anywhere you think there might be a gap for example around the door frames

use hard materials for the night coop for example bricks

if you use tiles for the roof cement all the gaps carefully

coops are built to keep predators out not birds in ,if that was the case nobody would built a coop for their birds you would just let them roam free and feed them
it would be funny to watch a racoon trying to get through that. actually this could be a racoon cage if you decided to keep one as a pet, you can be sure it would never escape

 

[redhen]

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Those all look like GREAT ideas to me...

 

[greekbioguy]

no aviary can be considered safe if there is even one gap large enough for a rat to get in. i use the finger method (means if my finger can get through then rats can too). rats have tried to get in my aviaries but have failed miserably .some even made a tunnel parallel to the wire that protects the bottom (the tunnel was 2 m long ) trying to find a way in underground but they gave up ,if they insisted they would just dig another 2 m and come out the other side out of the aviary (the whole building should be a closed cube).i cant get rid of small door mice though (they don't live in the aviaries but visit them at night) they can go through the wire. they are not a threat to anything and the pheasants kill and eat them but i am afraid they can carry diseases. will figure a way to avoid them too and keep you informed