Hardware Cloth—what size and gauge

[aart]

I just finished designing and building on a book about cardboard and am using cardboard for all sorts of things now.

I was an equipment designer for 20 year, used cardboard and plastic corrugated for mock ups all the time, great design tool.

 

[donddon]

WOW! 4 ft. hardware cloth is really scarce now. Even decent sized rolls of 3 ft. are hard to come by. My keets' pen is just about framed out and I noticed the stuff on Amazon has about a 3-4 wk delivery time. I'm pretty sure it's coming from China. I'm going to be driving an hour to a Home Depot in PA early tomorrow. They have 36 in. x 25 ft. rolls in stock. Oh well...

 

[Cluckingham Palace Ranch]

I just got done putting up 1/4" that I got on Amazon. But from what I'm reading, I bought the wrong kind?!?!?!?! I'm a brand new chicken Mommy and don't know what the different gauges mean...but I just got done wrapping my 20'x30' enclosure with the 3' high 1/4" 23-gauge mesh hardware cloth and then 1" poultry netting for the entire roof of the enclosure. ????

 

[donddon]

I just got done putting up 1/4" that I got on Amazon. But from what I'm reading, I bought the wrong kind?!?!?!?! I'm a brand new chicken Mommy and don't know what the different gauges mean...but I just got done wrapping my 20'x30' enclosure with the 3' high 1/4" 23-gauge mesh hardware cloth and then 1" poultry netting for the entire roof of the enclosure. ????

19 ga. 1/2 in. would have been ideal, but you should be okay for now.

 

[JHFinnegan]

We are currently building the coop and run. We spaced the posts 4 ft on center, because I told hubby we could get 4’ hardware cloth. Now, I’m having trouble finding some. I was going to get 1/4”, but it is only available locally in 23 gauge. Will that be sufficient? Do I need to get 1/2“ 19-gauge instead. I was hoping to use 1/4” to help keep snakes out of the coop. Any suggestions on where to buy hardware cloth online that has fast shipping? It is a large space (10x20’), so I don’t want to have to redo the hardware cloth later.

Hi. We just completed our coop about a month ago. Ours sounds very similar to what you are building. Our run is very large because they cannot safely free range because of hawks. I strongly recommend 19 gauge or lower hardware cloth. I personally think 23 gauge is too thin. We got ours from a place in New Jersey called Academy Fence. We got 1/2" x 1/2", 19 gauge (galvanized steel core wire) - then Vinyl PVC Coated, Black. It is such great material, very strong and looks great. It was also reasonably priced. Shipping is a lot though because it is so heavy. But shipping is quick. I included a link to the place where we bought ours. Happy to send you pics too if you like. I researched it a lot and am so happy with my decision. Our chicks have been very happy and very safe
https://www.academyfence.com/welded-wire/hardware-cloth-wire-mesh/galvanized/1/4in-x-1/4in-23-gauge/

 

[donddon]

Hi. We just completed our coop about a month ago. Ours sounds very similar to what you are building. Our run is very large because they cannot safely free range because of hawks. I strongly recommend 19 gauge or lower hardware cloth. I personally think 23 gauge is too thin. We got ours from a place in New Jersey called Academy Fence. We got 1/2" x 1/2", 19 gauge (galvanized steel core wire) - then Vinyl PVC Coated, Black. It is such great material, very strong and looks great. It was also reasonably priced. Shipping is a lot though because it is so heavy. But shipping is quick. I included a link to the place where we bought ours. Happy to send you pics too if you like. I researched it a lot and am so happy with my decision. Our chicks have been very happy and very safe
https://www.academyfence.com/welded-wire/hardware-cloth-wire-mesh/galvanized/1/4in-x-1/4in-23-gauge/

THANK YOU! You just saved me a July 4th trip to a Home Depot an hour from home, in PA. I'm 40 minutes away from Academy, they have my sizes, and their prices are very competitive.

 

[schmedlap]

We are currently building the coop and run. We spaced the posts 4 ft on center, because I told hubby we could get 4’ hardware cloth. Now, I’m having trouble finding some. I was going to get 1/4”, but it is only available locally in 23 gauge. Will that be sufficient? Do I need to get 1/2“ 19-gauge instead. I was hoping to use 1/4” to help keep snakes out of the coop. Any suggestions on where to buy hardware cloth online that has fast shipping? It is a large space (10x20’), so I don’t want to have to redo the hardware cloth later.

if yer going 4' high, you could run 1/4" by 2' around the bottom, and top it with 1/2".

 

[lacrandall]

We have 1/4 inch hardware cloth on ours and it's held up well over the last 4 years. I just ordered some from home depot for a separate project and they shipped it, arrived in about a week.

 

[elmo]

which is about $25 more than amazon.

Be sure you're comparing apples to apples though. Galvanized after weld wire is better than galvanized before weld wire (which is usually cheaper). When wire is welded after it's been galvanized, the welding will burn away a bit of the galvinization, and that leaves the metal open to rusting at the weld points.

I bought some galvanized before weld wire from Amazon, too, just for the apron for my run. Some of the welds were already coming apart when I got it.

The rest of the wire I used came from http://www.wadavidson.com/. I bought the vinyl coated 19 gauge. After ten years, it's still in great shape. The only place the vinyl has started to come off is on the top of my chicken tractor which gets sun exposure all the time.

 

[Gooseface]

Be sure you're comparing apples to apples though. Galvanized after weld wire is better than galvanized before weld wire (which is usually cheaper). When wire is welded after it's been galvanized, the welding will burn away a bit of the galvinization, and that leaves the metal open to rusting at the weld points.

I bought some galvanized before weld wire from Amazon, too, just for the apron for my run. Some of the welds were already coming apart when I got it.

The rest of the wire I used came from http://www.wadavidson.com/. I bought the vinyl coated 19 gauge. After ten years, it's still in great shape. The only place the vinyl has started to come off is on the top of my chicken tractor which gets sun exposure all the time.

the stuff I bought from amazon was weld before galv. It’s good quality. I know a lot of people don’t like amazon and that’s fine. I wasn’t going to invest the money in vinyl coated for some chickens.