Can a Raccoon or Opossum chew, or tear thru, secured chicken wire?

[RSmith]

I am a NEW EGG and have a question:

Can a Raccoon or Opossum chew, or tear thru, well secured chicken wire, and if so, how long does it typically take either one to do so?

With all due respect, I am not looking for opinions, I am seeking feedback from anyone / everyone who can speak from their direct experience with regarding either failed, or successful attempts, from either Raccoons or Opossums, VS Chicken Wire.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to reply.

 

[enola]

My experience with chicken wire.........

The only thing chicken wire is good for is keeping chickens where you want them. Dogs, coyotes, foxes, bears can all chew/tear through chicken wire VERY easily.

I had a pit bull chew through 1 X 1 welded wire to get to my white Araucana rooster........

 

[Michael OShay]

I don't know how long it takes them (I know less than one night), but either a raccoon or an opossum can tear through well secured chicken wire. I had an opossum tear once into one of my chicken wire (1 in. mesh) cages and a friend of mine had a raccoon tear into one of his chicken wire (also 1 in. mesh) cages twice. Now we both use 1/2 inch hardware cloth for our cages and neither of us has ever had a predator tear into one. Hope this helps.

 

[RSmith]

Michael OShay:

That is exactly what I needed to KNOW, Thank YOU!

My vents are merely screened with chicken wire, so during the night the risk remains, I'll get right on it, perhaps screw on some security bars in the form of aluminum or steel strips....

This BYC is just wonderful, thanks again.

 

[gander007]

I have had Bob-Cat's go through chicken wire in less then 20 minutes but coons can take up to several hours and they do not run far if you check through out the night but that is why I finally got some guinea hens to sound the alarm for me .....

 

[RSmith]

Thanks Gander007, no Bob Cats around here, just coons & possum.

We made & installed miniature security bars over the vents today and left the chicken wire in place too, so it is not going to be possible that I can see for either a coon or possum to get thru, especially with our German Shepherd who would surely hear such an attempt in the quiet of the night, I suppose that is going to be sufficient, hopefully so.

I am glad to have learned about chicken wire vulnerability before experiencing a disaster.

 

[gander007]

It s better RSmith to ask and find out then to experience it the hard way ....

 

[aart]

Thanks Gander007, no Bob Cats around here, just coons & possum.

We made & installed miniature security bars over the vents today and left the chicken wire in place too, so it is not going to be possible that I can see for either a coon or possum to get thru, especially with our German Shepherd who would surely hear such an attempt in the quiet of the night, I suppose that is going to be sufficient, hopefully so.

I am glad to have learned about chicken wire vulnerability before experiencing a disaster.

Sorry,
no direct experience with raccoons/possums chicken wire breach time studies, all my coop eave vents and windows are covered with 1/2" hardware cloth,
but am going to post anyway.

Curious as to what the spacing on your 'security bars' is. From what I've read, coons can squeeze thru pretty small spaces 2-3".

 

[RSmith]

The rule of thumb on security bar width is skull width; like humans, if a predator can get it's head thru, it can probably squeeze it's body thru as well. The skull itself, at least on humans cannot compress, so for human proof security bars 5" is OK, but when it comes to coons & possum that by predatory invaders by design, they may well be able to compress their skulls, at least possums might, as from my experience killing a coon once, I broke a shovel handle over it's head and it was only dazed, so I do believe their skulls are very thick & hard, & would not compress. My guess is 1 1/2 inch spread to be SURE.

Here are a few pictures of my vent security bars, its' work in progress with what aluminum scraps I have to use for free;





As you can see, I only had chicken wire when I learned it would not be sufficient, so I screwed in the aluminum flat-stock slats. and am in the process of wiring aluminum rods across to make it all one solid grid of resistance, leaving the chicken wire in place and tying it all in with wire. I don't mean to be so anal about this, but I do not want to come out and find our chickens dead.

 

[RSmith]

Elona,
Thank you for the input, I had no idea chicken wire was so easily circumvented.
I would like to apologize for my first knee jerk reply, that has now been deleted, and thank you again for alerting me to the chicken wire limitations, you well may have saved our chickens' lives by being the first to respond.
That very day I went out and started reinforcing my vent, and very early this morning, just before daybreak, our dog alerted to something out by the coop and chased it away. It was too dark for me to see, but by the sound of her bark it was no squirrel or neighborhood cat. I think something has discovered our coop, and I got the bars up just in time, thanks to your QUICK input.
Now that I think about it, what you said makes perfect sense, chicken wire quite effectively keeps chickens from passing, that's why it is called chicken wire.
Forgive me for being such a jerk in my moment of panic.
Thank you to BYC for straightening me out on this, I do apologize.
RSmith