I hate chicken wire!

[jeanne25]

Hardware cloth is a wire mesh, but much sturdier than chicken wire. We bought ours at Home Depot and I have seen it at Lowes too. It is pricey though. We got 3'x25' rolls, and I did see that they had 2', 3' and 4' wide by 10', 25' and 50' lengths. Good luck, 225' will not be cheap!
Jeanne

 

[cpwhip]

Quote:
really? I didn't think anything could be as hard to work with as this chicken wire. I may have to rethink this.
thanks for your help.

 

[CupOJoe42]

Hardware cloth is a type of welded wire (not a cloth). You are better off picking it up from somewhere. Because of it's weight, shipping will cost you an arm and a leg if you order it, IMHO. Tractor Supply will order it for you and ship it to the store, I believe.

 

[cpwhip]

you've got a point Dobieslady this is why I ask questions. so there's pretty much nothing else out there thats not a royal pain to use? sorry I was hoping for a easier solution to CW

 

[EggAuct]

Quote:
Nicely done looks great.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Hardware cloth is easier in that it won't wooble all over the place the way chicken wire does. It's quite rigid, so it won't take as much effort as chicken wire to stretch it smooth. Also, if you could add additional pieces of wood to the sides of the run (vertical and/or horizontal) to give less space between supports it will make it easier to stretch any kind of fencing. Hardware cloth however does have sharp edges at the ends of the roll and anywhere that you have to cut it, and these edges can leave a nasty scrape if you aren't wearing protective clothing.

Hardware cloth is the gold standard for runs. Properly installed, it will keep out pretty much anything but bears. But it is expensive to cover a large run. A lot of people (myself included) will cut costs by using a larger welded wire (such as 1x2" welded wire fencing) to fence the run and put chicken wire or hardware cloth along the bottom few feet to keep chicken heads in and prevent predators from reaching through (they could still destroy the chicken wire and reach through, but in the time it takes them to destroy the wire hopefully the chickens will be smart enough to move away from the fence so that the preds can't reach them). If your chickens will be locked in the coop at night and the coop is secure, you could get away with deer netting or chicken wire for the top of the run as the main purpose for covering a run is to prevent predation from hawks and other areal predators. If the chickens are locked up at night, a raccoon and other predators can easily climb into a run but won't stay long when they don't find a meal.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

The reason people recommend hardware cloth is not because it is easier to work with but because it is more effective for predator control. i am in the process of building a 32'x20' run that will have hardware cloth all around and across half of the pitched roof (the other half will be roofing panels). it is expensive (I bought 200 ft of 48" wide and it cost me close to $280, including taxes and I think I miscalculated and I will need another 50').

Sometimes you have to do what's right in your situation. If you have a lot of predators (hawks, racoons, possums etc) shell out the money and use HWC to keep your chooks safe. If you don't = keep the chickenwire. It doesn't look so bad on your pictures.

 

[LivingRootsFarm]

Like everyone else is saying hardware cloth is expensive. I bought mine from Home Depot. 2' x 25' was $27.00 and the 4' x 50' was $52. The hardware cloth will keep all the predators out. To save on money though you could go with a weld wire. The weld wire might not keep snakes out though.

 

[SmokinChick]

If you dislike chick wire you will HATE hardware cloth. $.02
1\\2" x 1\\2" hardware cloth will be much more visible to you then the chick wire is. Although it is duller.
Your run looks great. Like a poster said, add a few more 2x4 for support and pull the chick wire tighter. You may need a come-a-long or rachet strap. It looks worse (to you) because it is alittle floppy and is reflecting light at different angles. Try to tighten it. You'll be happier. PS add hardware cloth to the bottom 18" for maximum protection.

 

[SmokinChick]

Quote:
Hardware cloth is a type of welded wire. The other type is twisted wire. That is mainly used for cattle, much stronger. You may have ment that the OP can use a 2"x4" welded wire in place of the chick wire. Less visible and cheaper, easier to work with also.
Hope I don't sound uppity. Have a great day.