Can raccoons reach through half inch hardware cloth?

[tarbac85]

Greetings from Florida! Trying to get the new coop and run built. My gals have overstayed their welcome in my laundry room! My question is about hardware cloth. We bought and used 1/4 inch hardware cloth on the skirt around the foundation, burying it around the perimeter. We had planned to use the quarter inch for the entire project but unfortunately, it is 23 gauge. We are using a pneumatic stapler, and have found that, even after dialing it way down, the staples are actually cutting thru the cloth. I have hunted high and low for a thicker gauge, but have come up empty handed. We have found that half inch hardware cloth is readily available in 19 gauge thickness. My concern is whether coons can reach through the half inch grid?

 

[kkaymci55]

If you make sure the chickens won't be roosting against the wire where the coon get get a few feathers through the wire, you should be fine. Only trouble I had one time was with a couple baby doves against the wire. Coon can get a couple fingers through but I doubt a whole hand. One that was out here trying for an hour to get into one of my pens made of 1/2 inch hardware to get at some baby chickens didn't have any luck after an hour. I couldn't shoot him because I would have made holes in the neighbors shed and he wasn't very understanding about things like that. I wired up a piece of 1/4 inch hardware just around the nest where the baby doves were and never had any other problems. Karen

 

[Talihofarms]

I had a coon reach in on 1/2" galv. poultry wire.
Killed 10 pea fowl. They can reach just fine.

I ran a hot wire 4" off the ground 12"and at 36" never had a break in since.

The top of our runs are 2" HD poultry net.









just my .02

 

[sourland]

Use 1/4" hardware cloth and be safe for sure.

 

[Gray Ghost]

1/2" is pretty darn small. I think that's plenty secure against coons reaching through.

UPDATE: I was referring to 1/2" hardware cloth, not poultry wire.

GG

 

[sourland]

Misinformation is worse than no information. Be assured that a coon can reach through one half inch mesh.

 

[dawnjoennikki98]

the difference is hardware cloth is much more secure than poultry wire, or mesh

 

[Liamm_1]

Quote:
wow! darn those little bastards!!!

 

[sourland]

Coons or those giving misinformation?