Chicken Wire Question

[Farmer Doc]

i am in the process of building a small area to pen up our ducks at night. I know chicken wire is only effective at keeping birds in and I have built many a small/short chicken run with hardwire cloth for tops and sides...however...

Would chicken wire be efftive as a top screen for a four foot tall duck run? Would a raccoon chew out the floor from beneath it to get to a duck?

Thanks for the thoughts and time!

 

[Folly's place]

Hardware cloth is still the best option, and 2"x4" woven wire around the lower run sides.
Chicken wire is better than no wire, and will keep raptors out at least.
Hot wire around the outside of the run will manage ground predators, so they can't get to the run to climb it. Unless there's a climbable tree handy.
Build the best you can, and upgrade as you can.
Mary

 

[007Sean]

How long and wide is the run?

 

[aart]

Would chicken wire be efftive as a top screen for a four foot tall duck run? Would a raccoon chew out the floor from beneath it to get to a duck?

No, it would probably chew thru the chicken wire top.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chicken wire or poultry netting is a mesh of wire commonly used to fence poultry livestock such as chickens in a run or coop It is made of thin flexible galvanized steel wire with hexagonal gaps Available in 1 inch diameter 2 inch and 1 2 inch chicken wire is available in various wire gauges usually 19 gauge to 22 gauge Chicken wire is occasionally used to build spacious yet inexpensive cages for small animals though the thinness and zinc content of galvanized wire may be inappropriate for animals prone to gnawing and will not keep out predators

I found this definition of chicken wire. As you can see it comes in different gauge wire and the holes can be different sizes. The heavier the wire gauge and the smaller the mesh openings the better it is, but many animals like large dogs or big boar raccoons can tear most chicken wire if they can get a grip. Depending on the gauge of the wire, the mesh size, and the size of the animal they can often rip hardware cloth too. One big advantage to small mesh hardware cloth is that it can be hard for them to get a grip.

Your pen is 4 feet high. That should be tall enough that you can use a heavier wire with lager openings for the top and raccoons would not be able to reach through to grab a bird. Something like 2x4 welded wire or smaller mesh size. If you line that with a smaller mesh chicken wire that will keep smaller predators from going through. Be careful how you attach any wire. The connections are often the weak point.

I don't know what the bottom of your pen looks like so I have no idea if a raccoon or something else would go through.

 

[Farmer Doc]

Thanks @Ridgerunner that was timely advice as it reminded me that I was just gifted a small section of 2x4 welded wire! More than big enough for the roof and who doesn't love a freebie solution?!

Hopefully done tomorrow as ducklings are peeping from their eggs .

I will post pics of both soon I hope!