Questions on hardware cloth/aviary mesh

[The Backyard Bantams]

I recently got chickens. We were in a rush to set up the coop. It is set up against a fenced corner of around 60 degrees. It is flimsily made of a few stakes, some wood, a partial laser lite roof, bird netting (thread, not wire) and very weak chicken wire. I do not feel comfortable about my chicken's safety, even though I lock them up at night. I am worried I will forget. My area has a major fox problem. All of my neighbor's have lost chickens to them. Also, small birds like minour birds and pigeons can fit through the chicken wire and gaps and I am worried they will give diseases to my girls. This, I have decided to re do it. Our next door neighbors are re building the house and they gave us HEAPS of 2-3m offcuts of wood for free. We won’t have to buy any.

I just bought some mesh from Bunnings. I believe it is called hardware cloth in America. It is called aviary mesh here. It is about 1/2 inch spacing I think, a bit over 1cm. It is light duty, but welded. I hope to create a strong frame of wood and attach this wire on the sides and roof of the coop, and to lay a predator apron of stronger chicken wire around the perimeter. Is the mesh I bought strong enough to be predator proof? Foxes are my only worry, nothing bigger, I live in the suburbs.

Here is a pic of my coop. It is kind of embarrassing, but my parents didn’t have much time to help me build it, and I don’t have much money. This weird little corner was a dump of wood, plastic, metal, tools, tarp and rubbish until I cleaned it, so that’s why there are weird bricks. The lowest level 2s originally grass, but the chickens obliterated it in weeks. (I usually let them free-range to eat grass and dust-bath, but only supervised (my yard isn’t 100% safe, one chicken already escaped, thankfully I got her back and she’s fine))

 

[AquaDuck]

Hardware cloth is much more secure towards predators than chicken wire, a lot of people use it on coops. It's not gonna withstand a bear or a wolf of course, but I guess you don't get a lot of those where you live anyway.
You should definitely have it on the ground, dig 20 cm down around the fence if you can, put down the net and fill with earth and rocks. It's also sturdy and stands up on its own, so it will help you making the fence more stable.

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

Hardware cloth is much more secure towards predators than chicken wire, a lot of people use it on coops. It's not gonna withstand a bear or a wolf of course, but I guess you don't get a lot of those where you live anyway.
You should definitely have it on the ground, dig 20 cm down around the fence if you can, put down the net and fill with earth and rocks. It's also sturdy and stands up on its own, so it will help you making the fence more stable.

Will chicken wire be ok for an apron? I imagine it’s harder to get through when on the ground then taught and standing up. It would be pretty hard for a fox to dig under anyway, but I’m taking no chances, even though I still plan on locking my girls up at night. I have HEAPS of spare chickens wire, but not much hardware cloth. It is ver expensive. I could even double-layer the chicken wire on the ground.

 

[AquaDuck]

Will chicken wire be ok for an apron? I imagine it’s harder to get through when on the ground then taught and standing up. It would be pretty hard for a fox to dig under anyway, but I’m taking no chances, even though I still plan on locking my girls up at night. I have HEAPS of spare chickens wire, but not much hardware cloth. It is ver expensive. I could even double-layer the chicken wire on the ground.

Yeah, chicken wire is good in and on the ground as it's more flexible to work with. Use what you got!