Don't skimp on the wire!

[bucks1chickens]

I haven't posted for a while, but tragedy hit my flock yesterday. I came home and found 6 of my 15 girls either dead or missing. Although I had heeded advice about burying the fencing 8-12" below the surface, (I used 2x4" galv. plastic coated mesh for this, over top of the 1" galv. mesh), I did not run it up higher than maybe 12 or 18" above the ground. However, that was enough for a dog (I assume) to pull/push/tear the netting and wreck havoc in my pen.

I share this simply to convey, from painful experience, that it is wise to spend the extra $ and use heavier grade wire around the base of the pen, especially to a height where a dog/fox/coyote cannot get in. A painful lesson, but hopefully it will help someone else out.

John in Bucks Co., PA

 

[fried green eggs]

Sorry for your loss

 

[cathscluckers]

So sorry to hear that. Thank you for sharing your painful news in order to help someone else.

 

[kmiller11]

Did it happen at night? Or during the day?

 

[chad-o]

Sorry for your loss! I agree a few dollars spent to protect your flock is money well spent! So many of us spend our money a nickel and the dime at a time. Only to find out in the end that we actually spent more trying to be economical. This applies to all the supplies we need coops, watering devices, feeders. The old adage of penny wise and pound foolish surely applies.

 

[bucks1chickens]

You guys are great! In the big picture, it wasn't my wife or one of my kids, just some hens. BTW, it happened in the daytime-I gave them some oatmeal (that's another story) in the a.m. before work and they were dead when I got home. Bummer. Time to call Murray McMurray I guess!