Can deer netting work in addition to chicken wire on the top of a pen to deter predators?
A couple years ago when my chickens were crossing the road (I don't know why) I whipped up a quickie fence made of metal posts and deer netting doubled over so it was about 3 feet tall. It did its job, kept in the ducks and most of the chickens who didn't figure they could fly over. And it held up to all those crazy blizzards. I have welded wire fencing now with picket fencing awaiting.
Black rat snakes kept getting stuck in the netting though . I suppose they're vision isn't so good, they would try to get through head first and couldn't back out because of their scales. A few snakes died before I realized what was going on then over the summer I extricated a few more. I forgot about all that until I picked up a mushed up bunch of the deer netting and found a dead snake tangled in it. I had wadded up a bunch of that netting plus the 1 inch nylon netting plus mangled bits of chicken wire all in the back of my bird pen to deter the mink or weasel that got and killed my Tom Turkey.
My 20' x 50' pen is hardware cloth up to top on 3 sides. The back is chain link with chicken wire over it. The top was a hideous mix of wood cover, 2 x 3" welded wire, chicken wire and 1" nylon deer netting which I took off yesterday. There is not a lot of structural support as I wasn't planning on roofing at all when I made it and the overall terrain/slope will make that difficult, however I can do a lightweight top but can't afford a thousand square feet of hardward cloth. Do you think chicken wire with deer netting would confuse/tangle a mink or weasel, even with their teetch, enough that they would abort attempts to get in the top or back of the pen? My chickens are safe in their coop, it's the ducks and turkeys who overnight in the pen (with dog houses and truck caps for cover/nesting) Foxes, coons, dogs, et al aren't my concern-I know they can't get in or reach through.
Thanks
A couple years ago when my chickens were crossing the road (I don't know why) I whipped up a quickie fence made of metal posts and deer netting doubled over so it was about 3 feet tall. It did its job, kept in the ducks and most of the chickens who didn't figure they could fly over. And it held up to all those crazy blizzards. I have welded wire fencing now with picket fencing awaiting.
Black rat snakes kept getting stuck in the netting though . I suppose they're vision isn't so good, they would try to get through head first and couldn't back out because of their scales. A few snakes died before I realized what was going on then over the summer I extricated a few more. I forgot about all that until I picked up a mushed up bunch of the deer netting and found a dead snake tangled in it. I had wadded up a bunch of that netting plus the 1 inch nylon netting plus mangled bits of chicken wire all in the back of my bird pen to deter the mink or weasel that got and killed my Tom Turkey.
My 20' x 50' pen is hardware cloth up to top on 3 sides. The back is chain link with chicken wire over it. The top was a hideous mix of wood cover, 2 x 3" welded wire, chicken wire and 1" nylon deer netting which I took off yesterday. There is not a lot of structural support as I wasn't planning on roofing at all when I made it and the overall terrain/slope will make that difficult, however I can do a lightweight top but can't afford a thousand square feet of hardward cloth. Do you think chicken wire with deer netting would confuse/tangle a mink or weasel, even with their teetch, enough that they would abort attempts to get in the top or back of the pen? My chickens are safe in their coop, it's the ducks and turkeys who overnight in the pen (with dog houses and truck caps for cover/nesting) Foxes, coons, dogs, et al aren't my concern-I know they can't get in or reach through.
Thanks
