Is my hardware cloth defective?

[kcan2]

After all of that hard work on your coop, I think you owe it to yourself to work with a straight roll of hardware cloth. Yours seems to be riding a defect wave; it's no wonder its giving you such a hard time. The stuff is hard enough to corral without having a manufacturer defect to boot!

 

[mcycle12]

Are you attracting it all at the top then the bottom horizontally. I've found that if you attach it top to bottom as you proceed left or right keeps it straighter using your stud to keep it square. I agree with the rest of the comments.. It doesn't HAVE to be perfect...get as close as you can.

 

[mcycle12]

I put it on horizontally. As bad as this stuff is I wanted more wiggle room. As it was I had to hack two parts that were real bad. I tooK channel lock pliers and had to squeeze the hardware cloth together to take up material to get to work.

Oh well...so much for perfection.

 

[aart]

As it was I had to hack two parts that were real bad.

Was afraid you'd have to do that.

I tooK channel lock pliers and had to squeeze the hardware cloth together to take up material to get to work.

Hopefully the coating didn't crack there.

You are going to use something more than those staples, correct?

 

[mcycle12]

The plastic didn’t fare well after bending. I was going to hit them with some rustoleum.

The predator apron of 1x2 fence wire will come up about 30” over the top of the hardware cloth. After that I have 1x2 P/T strips that will be held on with deck screws to cover the seams and vertical 2x4’s. Where ever they won’t cover, I have wire staples. The T-50 staples on there now are just holding everything in place temporarily.

We have a family of raccoons on the property almost nightly, so I’m trying to make it secure as possible.

 

[aart]

The T-50 staples on there now are just holding everything in place temporarily.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I put it on horizontally. As bad as this stuff is I wanted more wiggle room. As it was I had to hack two parts that were real bad. I tooK channel lock pliers and had to squeeze the hardware cloth together to take up material to get to work.

Oh well...so much for perfection.

Still looks pretty good and you made it work - better than my solution which was to cut a defective section into 2, and then overlap it to try and get it to lie flat-ish against the fence.

 

[aart]

The plastic didn’t fare well after bending. I was going to hit them with some rustoleum.

Wonder if spraying that flex seal stuff would work better to keep the water from getting in behind the coating?

 

[SNims]

If you find you need more, I just got some after searching high and low on red brand's website direct.

Wavy wire is no fun! Good luck!

what is red brand's website direct? I'm new with chickens...thanks

 

[AgnesGray]

what is red brand's website direct? I'm new with chickens...thanks

https://redbrandstore.com/collections/welded-hardware-cloth