Chick wire question.

[Gargoyle]

There is also now galved after weld with a PVC vinyl coat for about $200 for 20g 6'x150' and this I think is a really good buy if you think how long it will last.

There is also hard-wire PVC Vinyl coated welded after galvanized in 1" x 1" or 1" x 2" which is excellent for chicken runs and very predator resistant. For the 14 gauge 1" x 2" 100" long I've seen it available in PA are for under $400 per roll.

I've wondered about those. Will the chickens chew on the PVC vinyl coating, and if so how dangerous for them will it be?

 

[AllenWMiller]

It's been our experience that our PVC coated fencing products have been safe and easy to maintain. We use PVC coated hardware cloth for our brooding coop floors now as it is easy to steam power wash the floors as a brood moves on. We've review the safety of this type of PVC coating and have found that it has a fairly stable composition though as with any plastics there is s level of toxcity. We have used PVC coated fencing products for over 5 years now and have seen no difference nor any side effects.

Remember that the materials used to galvanize fencing are extremely toxic and any flaking of the galvanize can cause serious neurologocial disorders in a variety of Aves. We raise Gouldian Finch and a variety of Doves and Lesser African Parrots. Traditionally we used stainless steel wire for gages (because galvanized wire can be toxic to these Aves) and floors for these Aves. We switched two years ago to PVC coated wire and have thus far had good success and a tremendous cost savings in aviary construction; not to mention that it is easy to clean the aviairies too.

AW