Chicken Wire VS. Hardware Cloth (WHEN DOES PRICE BECOME UNREASONABLE?)

[cmom]

I used hardware cloth on the window, door and vents in the coop. I used chicken wire for their run which is covered and fenced in their yard with chicken wire. There are pictures on my BYC Page.

 

[poltroon]

Quote:
I face this dilemma all the time, for all the animals.

Here's how I figure it:

I could buy the cheap option, or delay buying what I should... but eventually (when I least expect it) it will just result in injuries or death, expensive bills and a lot of time.....

And then I'll still have to pay for the expensive option.

Might as well just skip the part with the injuries and replacement.

 

[bigmike&nan]

We are incredibly tapped out financially after getting our coop and will be for some time. They built the run using welded wire. It LOOKS great, but the next morning we found a squirrel had gotten into the run... I hit Lowe's for 3 foot tall hardware cloth and spent just about every last dime we had in our budget on it and a staple gun. We raised these little babies since they were two days old, I'd starve myself and my wife would too, to do the right thing by them. It was $40.00 a roll and we had to get two rolls, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat... No more squirrels in the run and when we saw 4 hawks circling yesterday we didn't worry (well we did but no that much).

 

[ivan3]

bigmike&nan wrote: No more squirrels in the run and when we saw 4 hawks circling yesterday we didn't worry (well we did but no that much).

We get a lot of hawks during spring/fall migrations. Our resident Red Tails perch in the trees that are in and around the runs, but haven't `stooped to conquer' during the ~4yrs we've had poultry. Turkey hens are the best early warning system we have (have finally learned that the profile of B2 bombers aren't a sign of imprending doom).

But, there is an econmical (in the sense of free) method that has proved 100% effective at this location:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=44145

(used guitar strings make great squirrel snares...)

Take care and good luck!​

 

[CityChook]

Glad to hear that you went ahead and got the hardware wire. I know it's expensive, but you'll sleep so much better at night.

By the time we got to our run we were getting pretty low on our budget. We decided to do hardware wire on the bottom and chicken wire on the top. Unfortunately, over the winter it rusted and now I'm stressing about it's structural integrity, so we'll be covering the remainder of the coop with hardware wire this spring. See, you could do it now or you could do it later, but eventually, you'd have to just do it... You bit the bullet and got it over with so now it doesn't have to be a prolonged thorn. Good job!

 

[mmtillman]

Quote:
Yeah...what you said!! We had the same dillema and also broke the bank for the good stuff....We had a predator attack last summer and lost an entire flock...so it was not a difficult decision for us...Hindsight is 20/20....