Coop advice

[Ace_king_brahma]

For years I have had kennel wire on my chicken pens and had small hex chicken wire stretched along the lower half to prevent chick escapees. But when my flock got too old to breed and I had no time to set eggs I found myself chickenless for the first time in 11 yrs. I put my goats in the pens as a temp answer since they escaped their pen. And during the few months my doe beat the crud out of the wire trying to get out.

I have decided to fix the goat pen and then tear down my chicken pens and rebuild. I plan to go with 1/2 inch hardware cloth for the bottom portion, kennel wire for the upper half and flight netting over the top. I figured to keep them from flying out and hawk proof the pen at the same time. But recently a friend who also raises chickens warned me that my design will be not strong enough to keep raccoons or possums from ripping their way in. I started wondering if he is right.

Since he doesn't breed or raise birds directly but rather helps his father I began to wonder if he is right. He claims a raccoon or possum can pull hardware cloth apart. And that they would chew the flightnetting.

Since I recently found possums on my property I have been thinking my design over. Before I had no top tp my pens and anything could just climb over including my chickens so I figure something is better than nothing to keep preds out my chickenyard.

If anyone has any sugguestions or knows for a fact that a predator can rip through either material could you let me know.

 

[BeckyLa]

Congratulations on the new (near future) pens!

I have never heard of anything, but maybe a bear, ripping through welded hardware cloth. And, if when you say kennel wire you mean 2"x4" welded wire, I've never heard of a problem there, either. Now, yes, varmints can chew through the bird netting in a heart beat. It's mainly to keep chickens from jumping out and preditory birds from flying into the pen. I use deer netting on top as it's very strong and much cheaper than bird netting. I've used it for 2 years without any problems and, now, only loose chickens to birds if I allow them to free range. But it's always wise to lock the chickens up very securely in their coops at night as a precaution. Also critters can dig under any fence unless the wire comes out a foot or so at the bottom. Many problems come from insecure gates they can go over or dig under or through unsecured windows.

Have fun with your project!

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

Thanks. I was getting little worried since my determined doe Lindi has managed to butt apart gaps in the 2"x4" wire. And just today my buck fully escaped the chicken pen. And now I have several chicks brooding and want to keep them safe once they get old enough to go into those pens and once I get everything fixed up.