Hardware Cloth—what size and gauge

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Oldenburg Mom said:
You did a perfect link...and great! The reviews were wonderful for the .5 inch!! Anytime someone says it’s difficult to handle and a pain in the neck I know it has to be good! Thank you!!
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Helpful hint Ive found building a few chicken tractors with 1/2 inch hardware cloth and with a 100 foot roll you will need 2 people, Oh which reminds me DONT DO 100 FOOT ROLLS.... You are much better off paying an extra $5 or so IIRC for 2 50 foot rolls since they are so much easier to manage. I'm a 6'2" 280 lb guy and trying to lift, manage, roll and cut 100' is just not worth it IMO. You might think otherwise but Ill measure my runs or tractors to make 50 work.

OK back to the helpful hint and this is going to be a terrible thing to visualize but Ill do my best, place the roll on the ground and unwind the end in the opposite direction of the curl and pull off about 12 inches, stand on that section on the ground, grab the roll and stand up, unwinding til you get to waist level then start walking forward on the wire while putting tension on the roll, hold the roll tautly and right at your body ( actually leaning your body back some so you feet are out in front as you are walking forward) while allowing your feet to duck walk on the wire. This mostly reverses the curl effect and allows the wire to lay straight. Tension (pulling up on the wire) while you are walking on it is the key to making it lay flat, then its much easier to work with. Hope that helps.
 
bag12day said:
Helpful hint Ive found building a few chicken tractors with 1/2 inch hardware cloth and with a 100 foot roll you will need 2 people, Oh which reminds me DONT DO 100 FOOT ROLLS.... You are much better off paying an extra $5 or so IIRC for 2 50 foot rolls since they are so much easier to manage. I'm a 6'2" 280 lb guy and trying to lift, manage, roll and cut 100' is just not worth it IMO. You might think otherwise but Ill measure my runs or tractors to make 50 work.

OK back to the helpful hint and this is going to be a terrible thing to visualize but Ill do my best, place the roll on the ground and unwind the end in the opposite direction of the curl and pull off about 12 inches, stand on that section on the ground, grab the roll and stand up, unwinding til you get to waist level then start walking forward on the wire while putting tension on the roll, hold the roll tautly and right at your body ( actually leaning your body back some so you feet are out in front as you are walking forward) while allowing your feet to duck walk on the wire. This mostly reverses the curl effect and allows the wire to lay straight. Tension (pulling up on the wire) while you are walking on it is the key to making it lay flat, then its much easier to work with. Hope that helps.
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Totally agree with your technique. I’m 6’ 240 and had a hard time managing the roll by myself.
 
I ordered the same HW cloth on amazon. It’s still in the box out in my shop as I haven’t gotten the enclosure built yet (I’ll be working on that this week). I also ordered a 2x100 roll of the 1/2in size to finish out the top part of my 6ft fence and to add a skirt around the bottom of the enclosure. So let me know how it works out with this stuff!
 
bag12day said:
Helpful hint Ive found building a few chicken tractors with 1/2 inch hardware cloth and with a 100 foot roll you will need 2 people, Oh which reminds me DONT DO 100 FOOT ROLLS.... You are much better off paying an extra $5 or so IIRC for 2 50 foot rolls since they are so much easier to manage. I'm a 6'2" 280 lb guy and trying to lift, manage, roll and cut 100' is just not worth it IMO. You might think otherwise but Ill measure my runs or tractors to make 50 work.

OK back to the helpful hint and this is going to be a terrible thing to visualize but Ill do my best, place the roll on the ground and unwind the end in the opposite direction of the curl and pull off about 12 inches, stand on that section on the ground, grab the roll and stand up, unwinding til you get to waist level then start walking forward on the wire while putting tension on the roll, hold the roll tautly and right at your body ( actually leaning your body back some so you feet are out in front as you are walking forward) while allowing your feet to duck walk on the wire. This mostly reverses the curl effect and allows the wire to lay straight. Tension (pulling up on the wire) while you are walking on it is the key to making it lay flat, then its much easier to work with. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
UGH just ordred 100 ft roll, wish I saw this first. The helpful hint is great — I get it totally — have done this tip a lot. Hoping I can figure a way to handle the 100 foot roll, cut it down to smaller manageable lengths. I am only 5.1 120lbs ;)
 
Disecky said:
UGH just ordred 100 ft roll, wish I saw this first. The helpful hint is great — I get it totally — have done this tip a lot. Hoping I can figure a way to handle the 100 foot roll, cut it down to smaller manageable lengths. I am only 5.1 120lbs ;)
Click to expand...

Have the UPS guy drop it in your garage and roll it out in there. Have something handy to hold the end of the fencing down bc it will want to curl. I will say be very careful when you open it. When the tension let’s off the roll, it spins very fast and could cut you.
 

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