Has anyone ever had anything get through 1/4 in hardware cloth?

[ColoradoPip]

How'd you get it out?

Maybe this is your pic?
I can't remember where I 'stole' it from.
View attachment 2019050

That is not my pic but that is how it looked in the morning. It did not get out alive. When I arrived it was deceased so I wiggled it backward out of the mesh and tossed it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm surprised the chickens hadn't eaten it if they had access.

 

[ColoradoPip]

I'm surprised the chickens hadn't eaten it if they had access.

I know that now! Did not know at the time they would eat it and likely would still have removed it anyway. No automatic door (yet) so I see everything outside before they do.

 

[aart]

I'm surprised the chickens hadn't eaten it if they had access.

That was my thought too.
Tho my present flock has no interest in mice, even still warm from the trap.
Had live one in a trap(just caught it's shoulder) tossed it in the coop and they just looked at it hobbling around. SMH. It was caught in another trap the next day

 

[Rooapalooza]

That was my thought too.
Tho my present flock has no interest in mice, even still warm from the trap.
Had live one in a trap(just caught it's shoulder) tossed it in the coop and they just looked at it hobbling around. SMH. It was caught in another trap the next day

My chickens and ducks ran away from a large roach. It was pretty embarrassing to watch. Also disappointing because I thought they would help me out with our huge outdoor roaches (in the summer they run all over the trees and driveway and road at night.) On the other hand, they once caught a 2 foot long snake and had a gruesome feast, so I guess there's no accounting for taste.

 

[Rooapalooza]

Whats your need or goal? Only two foot high?
You can get what size you need on amazon .com for about the lowest price. Unless you are 100% enclosing 1/4 is not going to make a hill of beans over 1/2 wire. And if you are going to enclose 100% the less seams the better so go with four foot roll. Why 1/2 HC wire? Cost effective , can be found in 100' x 48"+ rolls in 19ga for under $150. It keeps out all the things you really need to so going for 1/4 HC is just not a big deal.
But it can be had so https://www.amazon.com/s?k=1/4+hardware+cloth+48+x+100&crid=3HEO8XPV5UDT9&sprefix=1/4+Hard,aps,192&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_8

That makes sense about the seams. I would prefer the 3 ft height for the design I'm trying to build, but I actually like the smaller heights because I really hate cutting the wire.

 

[Kessel23]

My dogs ripped through it easily to get to my rabbits. They put a hole right through it.

 

[Kessel23]

Here is what they did to the rabbit hutch wire. They also shredded through a lot of other wire to get to rabbits in another hutch. Luckily the wire on the chicken run is some higher quality stuff because if it was this hardware cloth or some cheap 2x4 wire or just plain chicken wire I probably would have came home to a lot of dead birds.

Here is the other hutch that they got to. This one was double layered with 2x4 wire. It's just the regular cheap crap you would find at home depot or TSC.

The run has some old reused 2x4 wire but I guess they made it a lot stronger back then because this stuff was not even bent. It's wrapped in chicken wire to keep some of the smaller birds in and you can see how easily they made holes in that. The dog that did this is not even very large. It was a female german shepherd and she only weighs a little over 80 pounds.

Dogs can get through most wire and I never even heard of them being able to rip hardware cloth like this until mine did it to my rabbits. They are also going to be a possible predator pretty much anywhere you are living. Electrical wire, dog kennels, chain link, or other heavy duty wire will work well to keep them out.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Pretty sure I mostly use 1/2" and like aart said, the mice can get through. Funny enough, I should have taken a pic. One morning I came out to let the girls out and a gluttonous mouse was caught in the wire. It had overstuffed itself and got stuck squeezing out. What a way to go! Gluttony can be a deadly sin!

1/2" can keep larger mice out at least (I have some wedged in the gap behind the cabinets on either side of my stove - we had house mouse issues and then pest control figured out where they were getting in) but I did find a rat wedged in a 1/2" gap trying to get into the run and it froze to death while stuck like that. I wouldn't even have seen it since it was partially covered in snow, but the girls were verrry suspicious of something so I just followed their line of sight until I spotted it.

 

[Rooapalooza]

View attachment 2019130
Here is what they did to the rabbit hutch wire. They also shredded through a lot of other wire to get to rabbits in another hutch. Luckily the wire on the chicken run is some higher quality stuff because if it was this hardware cloth or some cheap 2x4 wire or just plain chicken wire I probably would have came home to a lot of dead birds.
View attachment 2019133
Here is the other hutch that they got to. This one was double layered with 2x4 wire. It's just the regular cheap crap you would find at home depot or TSC. View attachment 2019134View attachment 2019135
The run has some old reused 2x4 wire but I guess they made it a lot stronger back then because this stuff was not even bent. It's wrapped in chicken wire to keep some of the smaller birds in and you can see how easily they made holes in that. The dog that did this is not even very large. It was a female german shepherd and she only weighs a little over 80 pounds.

Dogs can get through most wire and I never even heard of them being able to rip hardware cloth like this until mine did it to my rabbits. They are also going to be a possible predator pretty much anywhere you are living. Electrical wire, dog kennels, chain link, or other heavy duty wire will work well to keep them out.

Wow thank you for the pictures. I can't believe people have dogs this persistent! Of course, my dogs weigh about 12 pounds combined and were put in their place early on by a half grown chicken, lol. My chickens free range with no fence, and I've had a few dogs get into the lawn and chase/catch them, but luckily someone has always been there to save them so they haven't been killed. I was terrified about a year ago when a large pit bull got in, but the nice thing about free ranging is that the chickens are able to scatter. So he chased one then got distracted by another, etc. He had the time of his life and never managed to catch any . It was pretty cute minus the terror.

I can't believe dogs would be so desperate to get to rabbits/chickens in a pen! In my limited experience, they seem to enjoy the chase more.

I'm mostly concerned about nighttime predators, since that's the only time they are in the coop. We have foxes and owls, coyotes around but not on our property. I haven't seen a raccoon yet.