Coon vs. chicken wire

[Iowa Farm Boy]

Do you guys think that if i put chicken wire alone on the top of the rafters in my coop, that if a coon was on it would it break, or could it make it break?

 

[Avlana]

Racoons can chew through chicken wire. Get hardware cloth.

 

[GarthRyan]

Coon tore right through my chicken wire and made about a three inch hole and pulled a whole chicken through and only left a few feathers so I got some traps and put two more layers of chicken wire on. Little while later caught a coon, must of came back for another meal I guess. Let's say, he got disposed of. Also had a coon pull a chicken through chain link fence. Caught him wandering around the pen one night and shot him too. I guess I at least got revenge for the losses.

 

[Ridgerunner]

GarthRyan, on that chicken wire, how did it fail? And do you know the gauge of the wire you used?

A couple of years ago, someone posted some photos of what dogs did to her chicken wire when they got her chickens. Two different things happened. In some cases, the wire broke, pure and simple. But chicken wire is made by twisting the wire together at the loops. In some cases, her photos showed that the wire just untwisted and came apart so she had two different failure modes. Just curious which failure mode you saw.

A few years back I found some no-dig kennel wire at Tractor Supply to use around my garden. It’s made the same way as chicken wire but a heaver gauge. I can’t remember what gauge it was, but it was heavy enough that dogs could not break it or untwist it. The holes were 1-1/2” so a raccoon could do some damage reaching through, but it was heavy enough to stop him from going through as long as it is attached right.

I’ve read a few posts on here where a dog or raccoon tore through light-gauge hardware cloth too. I didn’t see photos of it so I am not sure if the wire itself failed or if the attachment failed, but I do think gauge of any of it makes a difference. How well it works also depends on how big the dog or raccoon is and how bad it wants what is on the other side.

IFB, if where you are talking about is high enough up that a raccoon cannot reach through to get to your chickens, you don’t need to worry about a raccoon reaching through and pulling them through in parts. You can use heavier gauge wire with bigger holes and maybe save some money. Depending on how big those holes are, snakes and maybe other things can get through, but if they can get in other ways, does it matter? There are always trade-offs.

 

[GarthRyan]

I'm not sure what gauge it is but it's not very thick at all. My failure was that it just tore through it, breaking the wire. I'm not sure whether it was the wound part or not, I think it broke at the ends of the windings. Here's what my wire looks like. It has 1 inch holes.

 

[Going Quackers]

I'm not sure what gauge it is but it's not very thick at all. My failure was that it just tore through it, breaking the wire. I'm not sure whether it was the wound part or not, I think it broke at the ends of the windings. Here's what my wire looks like. It has 1 inch holes.

The only thing that stuff is good for is keeping birds in, keeps nothing determined to get in pred wise out whatsoever. You need hardware cloth or since it way up and mentioned that a reach n grab isn't possible you could try utility wire... what kind of opening are we speaking of?

 

[GarthRyan]

My problem has been solved for a while. Both sets of my chickens are in chain link fence.

 

[REDNECK TRAPPER]

Coon can get through just about everything.

 

[speckledhen]

Coon can get through just about everything.

Yes, they can, unless it's hardware cloth, properly secured (that last part is key). They are crafty and persistent and a big boar coon is stronger than most people think. One just tore open the pop door on one of my friends' coops that was secured from the inside with a bar across it on the outside as well. When they have all night to work at it, you'd be amazed what they will accomplish.