Chicken wire mesh or welded wire fencing ?

[Ggg]

Due to covid, everyone is putting up animals, there is a shortage here for hardware cloth 1/2 x 1/2 squares. we are building a chicken tractor and I am trying to decide if I use chicken wire (not my first choice). PVC covered chicken wire or 2 by 4 in welded wire. we have no racooons or snake predators to worry about but we do have a fisher cat that routinely prowls through our area. Which do you all recommend and why ? My husband thought we could simply double wrap with chicken wire

Chicken wire? To keep predators away? Never. Cheap chicken wire was designed to keep chickens confined not to keep them safe. 2 x 4 welded wire could be a problem unless the chickens stay well away from the edges otherwise something is going to reach in and grab one and it won’t be pretty.

 

[Phoenixxx]

A Fisher cat will get through the 2x4 wire. 1" chicken wire is the way to go, but keep in mind that quality varies! The wire that we wrapped our tractor with started rotting after only two years, but the wire we fenced our quail aviary with (a different brand and different supplier) is still in amazing shape, and super strong! I know everybody says to use hardware cloth, and yes, it is more heavy-duty, but it's also way more expensive, but I've never had issues using chicken wire, only with the staples used to attach it (you need the hammer-in fencing staples, not the cable staples you buy for a staple gun).

 

[ShrekDawg]

I got mine from this place. They’re sold out of a lot of sizes but do still have some left including a 3 ft by 50 ft roll.

https://m.audew.com/search.html?keywords=Hardware cloth

https://m.audew.com/1-or-2-inch-Mes...provement-Projects-p-401511.html?rmmds=search

 

[tool172]

Only use hardware cloth. I can post pictures of coons not able to tear it open in an attack. They would have ripped the wire open and eliminated your flock.

 

[gtaus]

My husband thought we could simply double wrap with chicken wire.

There is the perfect plan, and there is what's available plan. I think your husband is on the right track given what you have available. I would double the chicken wire and try to make sure that it is half-overlapped, reducing the 1 inch round holes to about 1/2 inch holes.

FYI, my daytime only chicken run is made from 2x4 welded wire with bird netting on top and that has been good enough to keep the chickens in, and the neighborhood dogs out. The bird netting is protection against hawks and eagles we have in my area. At night, I lock my hens up in their Fort Knox coop. I consider my chicken run predator resistant, but by no means predator proof. However, It would take a bear to break into the coop at night.

Like you, I was faced with decisions of what was available to me at the time and what my budget would support. I decided to go with a more secure coop at night, and used what wire fencing I had for the daytime chicken run to save money. So far, my comprise plan has worked out well for me.

Don't let the perfect plan that you cannot build get in the way of a good plan that will probably work. Good luck on your build whatever you decide.

 

[momof12]

I got mine from this place. They’re sold out of a lot of sizes but do still have some left including a 3 ft by 50 ft roll.

https://m.audew.com/search.html?keywords=Hardware cloth

https://m.audew.com/1-or-2-inch-Mes...provement-Projects-p-401511.html?rmmds=search

thank you

 

[slat]

I used this to keep small critters out.
https://www.menards.com/main/buildi...g-metal-lath/87828/p-1492410102362-c-5695.htm

 

[aart]

I used this to keep small critters out.
https://www.menards.com/main/buildi...g-metal-lath/87828/p-1492410102362-c-5695.htm

That stuff is sharp!
Make sure you birds can't get at it.

 

[casportpony]

2 by 4 in welded wire

Skunks and small opossums squeeze through 2 x 4 welded wire.

 

[slat]

That stuff is sharp!
Make sure you birds can't get at it.

I know. That's what helps keep the critters out. I have it attached to the outside of the 2x4 welded wire fencing that is on my run.