I know, I know, I am hard headed.....Chicken wire question

[elmo]

It's not just the strength of the wire, it's the size of the openings, too. Racoons can reach through openings larger than 1/2" by 1/2", grab part of the chicken and pull the part through the wire, dismembering the bird. Notice how frightened chickens pile up in a corner? That's where the racoon gets them.

We have doves, also, and folks on the dove forum have had racoons grab their birds through 1/2" by 1" openings.

My parents never locked their doors for decades, and no one ever broke into their house. Does that mean it's safe not to lock your doors no matter where you live? Nope. Same thing for chicken wire. If you use it, you have to understand you're taking a risk.

 

[ssteiner]

No raccoons but I had my 12 pound doxie charge right through chicken wire like it was paper and kill one of my girls before I stopped it.

I switched to hardware cloth and find it much sturdier.

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
My neighbor had a chicken ripped apart this way. I remember also reading on here how someone witnessed a trio of raccoons moving around the pen to get the birds to the spot where they could be reached- through the chicken wire.

My coop is solid wood with double locks and piano hinges. My run is made out of cattle panel, and they are locked in the coop at night- but my banty shanty is out of 1/2" hardware cloth, because the windows are close enough to the roost to get the birds if something could get through, and I don't trust anything at night.

 

[Fruit Juice]

If you lock the bird up at night, is chicken wire okay? No predator can gen into the coop part.

 

[BushHog936]

My family had chickens for the longest just running in the yard. So what I first started with my own, I had them in a 6 ft pen, with no top. An opposum crawled in, caught one chicken, and then several barred rock hens in fright flew out of the 6ft pen. I now have covered pens only.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
That should work, as long as you lock the chickens in the predator proof coop at night and dogs can't get into your yard during the day. Racoons will sometimes prowl during daytime hours, particularly when they have young to feed, though.

I've been considering building a tractor with chicken wire because I'm too chicken (sorry!) to let my birds free range during the day. They're bantams, and would be prey to any of the neighborhood cats that can get into our fenced back yard. I've built a coop/run with hardware cloth, but I want to let the chickens have more area to roam.

 

[hac1224]

Quote:
That should work, as long as you lock the chickens in the predator proof coop at night and dogs can't get into your yard during the day. Racoons will sometimes prowl during daytime hours, particularly when they have young to feed, though.

I've been considering building a tractor with chicken wire because I'm too chicken (sorry!) to let my birds free range during the day. They're bantams, and would be prey to any of the neighborhood cats that can get into our fenced back yard. I've built a coop/run with hardware cloth, but I want to let the chickens have more area to roam.

I was also considering building an additional run out of chicken wire to only use supervised during the day, and I'm not in an area where I can free-range them. I know it wouldn't be safe at night or when I'm not home to watch them, but it would give them some extra space to roam.