Chicken wire and 'coons

[Pitchfork]

I keep reading that chicken wire will not stop a coon so today I called my older brother to ask him what it was that we kept our pet coons in when we were kids. He was an avid hunter from the age of 9 or 10 and is 6 years older than me. If he was out coon hunting and came upon a den he would sometimes bring a young coon home and we would keep them as pets. Now before you go all Bambi on me remember this was 50 years ago, and we lived on a subsistance farm a long way from nowhere. We had Hawks in cages and Owls, set rabbit traps and fish traps. But back to the point. He tells me we kept the coons in pens of chicken wire. Also our chicken runs were covered with chicken wire and neither he nor I can remember a coon ever bothering our chickens. I am not argueing that they don't bother chickens I am just saying we were never bothered in those days. We did have trouble from the occasional possum.
So I am wondering if this falls into the same catagory as 2x4 lumber that then was 2x4 and now is 1 1/2 by 3 1/4.
Is chicken wire getting lighter or can you buy stronger chicken wire.

 

[arlee453]

Chicken wire is much less strong than it was when i was a kid. It's now very light gauge wire...

 

[Katy]

I think the chicken wire now days is much lighter. I've got a couple of panels that are old and the chicken wire on them is much heavier.

 

[Dawn419]

I'm in total agreement with arlee453 and Katy...they don't make chicken wire like they used too!

Our land lady has a mini-farm behind ours and is constantly replacing/loosing/replacing her birds due to coons and other local predators.

At the same time, we've had our flock outdoors in their coops/runs for about a year now with no predator losses. She free-ranges without supervision, we don't free range at all (I do go pick "yard salads" for our gang to supplement their diets, though).

We do use modern chicken wire that is covered with 1/2" by 1/2" hardware cloth around the bottom 3' - 4' of the runs though and she uses none at all. We are guessing that her coops/runs are easier pickings so the predators don't even bother with ours.

Another benefit for us is our 8 year old Australian Shepherd who has been a surrogate mom to all of our chicks.


Dawn

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Chicken wire is really light gauged these days, and the issue with it being light gauged is that because it's a twisted wire, it's so easy for predators to destroy, instead of lets say a welded wire.

 

[Cetawin]

The problem with chicken wire today is that it is too lightweight. Second problem, a coon will reach in and grab a chicken and pull the bird through the wire...it is a nasty mess and not something you want to find.

Use chicken wire and run hardwire cloth from bottom up about 2 - 3 feet high. 1" mesh or smaller.

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

It is definitely lighter gauge wire than it used to be. We still have some of the "old" chicken wire up in a few places and it is tough as nails.

I wish things were still made with pride first and profit next.

Jean