is a staple-gun strong enough?

[BawkinOnTheBench]

I live in an area that we have a regular racoon that comes to our backyard. There's no getting around it, and tomorrow we put our chicks into their coop for the first time. Now, I know that the crafty devil is going to try and get into that coop every way that he can. I've pest-proofed the coop as best as I can, but had a question for everyone....
I primarily put 1/2" staples in about every 4-6 inches on the chicken wire that's around the framed in part of my coop. Is that going to be strong enough to keep our pesty Racoon out, or will he be able to just rip that out of there?
Thanks... PS Check out my webpage here, and you'll see the coop we built for them.
Wes

 

[Eggseronious]

Are u talking about the ones that u buy lose and hammer in or the ones that you use a staple gun with??

 

[BawkinOnTheBench]

oh, sorry I didn't clarify - I used a staple gun on it. I did buy a box of the "U" shaped nails, but I didn't use it on all the parts of the chicken wire thinking that the staples would be strong enough.

 

[gypsygirl1421]

Why don't you catch or kill the raccoon. One tried to get into my coop, a big male. He was just wrenching away at anything he could get a hold of with those paws. I was amazed at how strong they are. I knew the coop wouldn't stand up to that very long and fed him a .22

 

[rooster-red]

Chicken wire will not keep a coon out of your coop, they can bite right through it.

1/4 inch Hardware cloth would be a much better material. Hold it in place with screws and large diameter washers, a coop can pull hard enough to rip staples out.

If you trap or shoot the coon, be aware that while that coon won't bother you again, another coon will move into it place.

 

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
Also that one coon you have now is likely to be 2 coons. It or they will not stop trying to get until you either stop it or it gets what it is after. If they want a chicken dinner they usually get a chicken dinner.

 

[dogzrule5]

This concerns me. I cut two "windows" in my solid barn walls and used the 1/4 inch h/w cloth but held it in place with tons of staples - the U shaped kind. They're in the wood all the way; I used a hammer to make sure they were tight.

The bottom of the windows are about 5' off the ground with nothing around for an animal to climb up on. Although, now that I think of it, I used the same method on a brooder sitting on the ground.

Now I'm really concerned. I guess I'll be back out in the heat again this evening making even more improvements!

 

[wegotchickens]

Something to watch out for with staples is that they rust! So even if something stapled is safe now, it may not be later.

DH noticed that on our tractor and used the u-shaped nails on the swing set coop.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

If you want to add additional security to wire that's been stapled on, you can also add a few wood screws with washers. I'd drill a small pilot hole in the wood first, so it doesn't split.

 

[dangerouschicken]

The 1/4" welded wire really does work. I have had wild dogs try to get at my chickens through the run, and that run held VERY TIGHT. I would like to think NOTHING could get in there, but I don't want to jinx it.

On that note, though, I just built a turkey pen with only chicken wire and zipties. It is holding tight, though. If I start having problems again, I will reinforce.

Sometimes you just have to take risks