Does chicken wire not protect against predators?

[allieloveschickens]

So I am in the middle of building my playhouse style chicken coop, right now the frame is completed but I still need to build the house and put wire on. I bought poultry wire from Home Depot, but after reading some posts on the forum here I am not sure it is a good choice. My yard is fenced in and safe from dogs and coyotes, but there are opossums and possibly raccoons- though I have not seen one yet. Should I return it and use hardware cloth instead? Sorry if this is a silly question but I am new to chickens and I just want them to be safe!

 

[FireTigeris]

Poultry wire keeps large chickens in, nothing bigger then a cat out

 

[debo4702]

We do use chicken wire but use rabbit wire along the bottom about three feet up and this has seemed to stop most of our opossom and raccoon losses. Believe me we have fought with those with boogers! They will reach through the wire and snatch and chick or chicken through the wire, but they cant get their hands/paws/mouths through the rabbit wire. It has been a big help for us. Now if I can just find a way for them to quit digging under!

 

[Qi Chicken]

I have read that a raccoon can unravel the chicken wire. I personally don't know, that seems kind of hard to do. But we are using harware cloth and welded wire on everything just in case. Also an apron to protect against digging animals.

 

[rancher hicks]

I have screening and hardware cloth screwed over the windows and lock the chickens in at night. Especially if there are chicks cuz they chirp all night long. A dead give away to predators.

 

[allieloveschickens]

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I'm definitely going with hardware cloth, we are burying the wire a foot deep too to protect from anything that might dig in.

 

[mediazeal]

Quote:
I think you need to bury it 2 feet deep.
hardware cloth is your best protection
if you need to upgrade from there after an attempt, add a hot wire/electric fence
good luck!

 

[J.Pryce]

Poultry wire is not sufficent. Hardware cloth or a Rabbit guard garden style fencing works much better.

 

[ChooksChick]

I have a neighbor who had a chicken extracted bit by bit through chicken wire.

The raccoons came back for more another night and just pulled apart the twists in the wire. Not a good solution for overnight, but often accepted if they'll be locked in a predator-proof coop at night. How to avoid a chicken dinner

 

[CityChook]

I find that if you lock the chickens up at night -- and I mean closed door and LOCKED -- you will find a significant decrease in the activity at night of predators trying to get to the chickens. We have a lot of night-time preds here in our suburban lot and yet no casualties yet because the girls are locked up and secure every night. And just so you know, raccoons will totally just tear that chicken wire apart, so don't rely on it for security for your chickens.

cc