Is chicken wire good enough?

[pontoosuc]

Quote:
Harveyhorses: how did you secure the electric to your hardware cloth? I have a great run with 1x1 welded wire but also want to run electric around it when I cannot get home for a night.

 

[SED]

Just had a racoon (or something) rip a hole in my brand new 1" chicken wire and killed my son's pair of white silkies. I will never use it again, brand new or not.

 

[Zaxby's2]

Here's what I think. Chicken wire is not garunteed to keep anything out, nor would I expect it to. I imagine it would be fairly easy for a racoon to find a way in if it wanted it bad enough, however a rooster kicking through chicken wire is a little far fetched. A raccoon is not stronger than a person, but it's next meal depends on if it gets into that pen, so after a few hours it can probably find some way in. I actually have chicken wire around my pen, because when we built it we were new to chickens and weren't thinking about predators. We have two labs with a huge prey drive though and they scare away chicken predators, making it not a problem for us to have chicken wire. The labs themselves would rip apart a chicken if they could, but since it isn't neccasary for them to kill if they want to eat they don't try going through the chicken wire. Anyone who reports having huge success with chicken wire is either lucky or has some other factor(such as my dogs) that keep away predators. We are planning on replacing the chicken wire with something more sturdy soon. So, in conclusion:

1) chicken wire is not going to keep out predators, most animals can find a way in, however a rooster breaking chicken wire is not a big concern
2) anyone with chicken wire who has success with chicken wire has some kind of factor that if removed would result in predators getting in
3) a predator is very determined to get in and although after a few seconds during a test run a person may not be able to tear through it, a predator who takes the whole night can get in

Sorry if I sounded stand offish but that's just what I thought. Hope this helps someone.

 

[harveyhorses]

I had to be creative, but I used the insulators that are about 6 inches long so they are out from the fence, zip ties are a girls best friend. I had to drill holes in a few of them, and cut the hardware cloth in a couple of spots to wedge them inside. Most of them I was able to strap to the chain link or the posts.

 

[hardchines]

Well thanks to everyone that replied, I have my birds in a coop at night that has a auto closing stainless steel door and a window with hardware cloth so I can leave the window open for the summer. After reading every post I have decided to cover my chicken wire with hardware cloth after returning from my vacation, I used chicken wire because I could not find 4' hardware cloth, I will order it soon. One thing I would suggest is that some manufacturers may use Extra cheap brittle wire compared to other suppliers, China junk could make a big difference in being able to get through the wire (steel is not steel)! I trust people who respond here as they get no prize for lying about their personal experiences, Those who say I never say a dog go through a wire wall are not lying either they just have not seen it happen. I personally have never seen a million dollars but others have and I believe it exists! Thanks again to all who took the time to answer my post, this is what makes this a great forum ( especially for a chicken rookie like myself).