Question about what kind of "chicken wire" to use?

[Shikens!]

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Ah!!! This is what I needed! So the stronger wire is welded, weaker wire is twisted! Got it! With all the names of the different wires I needed something concrete to go by!

 

[Shikens!]

The next cheapest wire I can find is- 1/4-Inch Mesh 23-Gauge Hardware Cloth. I think that's the ticket! Thanks guys!

 

[latebloomer]

is the 23 gauge heavy enough?

 

[Shikens!]

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Are you asking me? Because I have no clue! LOL!

 

[latebloomer]

Shikens! :

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Are you asking me? Because I have no clue! LOL!

i'm asking those with more experience​

 

[m_shuman]

Here is a link to a wabsite that illustrates the difference thicknesses between gage of wire. I hope this helps!

http://www.whimsie.com/gauge wire.html
Also price the hardware cloth out at different feed stores in your area they can usually special order it for you.

 

[georgiagail]

A couple of weeks ago someone here posted about ordering hardware cloth through csn stores (www.csnstores.com).

100 foot roll of 24 inch wide hardware cloth is $70.

100 foot roll of 36 inch wide hardware cloth is just under $100.

The shipping is free.

Gail

 

[Shikens!]

Thanks for the info guys! Its funny you posted than link to CNC, I was planning on getting my wire through them on amazon! lol! That wire gauge guide is very helpful since I'm ordering online and I can't touch the wire and see how strong it is.

Even after finding reasonable prices, I feel kinda silly going to all this trouble with the heavy gauge 1/2-1/4' mesh wire. I mean, my 3 hens will be in the wooden hen house at night when most predators are out and I highly doubt that a raccoon is going to walk up to my run in broad daylight with my dog patrolling the yard on a regular basis. My family keeps laughing at me and acting like I am being really silly. I think I am starting to agree with them.

 

[georgiagail]

Well, I've just been reading postings over on the "predators and pests" section and I believe my hair has turned a bit grayer...

Here's the thing..folks spend lots of time and effort building their coops and runs...and caring for their babies. Maybe they go for the poultry wire or plastic stuff as the covering because it's less expensive. Maybe because that's what they've always seen coops covered with.

Things go along fine for a while...and then, one day, disaster. Doesn't have to be a coon; might be a stray dog or a cat...or those hawks or owls you mention you have around. Something tears through the wire, damages or destroys the birds...and you're back to square one. Gotta rebuild the run and start off with new stock. It would be very disheartening to have to do that.

Can we cover "all bases" in terms of predators? Nope. But we can try to build the most secure run the first time around and then stand back and say we've done our best.

For what it's worth, I live in the city and even here we've got coons (one year we trapped over a dozen trying to save some exotic bulbs we purchased), possums, snakes, stray cats...even a fox. We have a family of owls that raise babies nearby and we'll frequently see them during daylight hours. One year we had a pair of hawks building a nest in one of our huge backyard pine trees (and I came home from work one afternoon and saw one of the hawks sitting in a tree across the street, calmly eating a squirrel it had caught while tenants living in the apartments came and went, never noticing this fellow a dozen feet from them).

So predators can be out during daylight hours (like you, my chickens are locked in the coop each night.

Gail

 

[Player Hater]

if i could do it all over, i'd seriously consider hardware cloth despite the cost

chicken wire is a pain in the ass