Rusted Poultry/Chicken Wire

[ladyfeather]

So we are brand new chicken owners and we are working on the run/coop this week.

We have a raised garden bed 7.5ftx 12ft mostly fenced in with poultry netting. While I know that we need something far more predator proof I was going to leave that up, put hardware cloth along the bottom edge (we have 1/2inch), and cover the whole shebang with wooden lattice (Trying to keep it a low key coop).

Unfortunately I was inspecting the wire to make sure it was secure to the wood raising the bed and it is all rusted out. I decided it would need to be replaced with something else for safety reasons. Other people have told me this isn't necessary and it would be a waste of money.


Can anyone give me a direction or some advice here? I'm exhausted with arguing and trying to educate all involved.

 

[animallover505]

Personally, I would buy new wire. I don't have chickens yet, but I'm doing research first. If it saves your chickens, spend some extra money.

 

[animallover505]

but first, test its strength. Sometimes the rust is only on the outside.

 

[ladyfeather]

We've been messing with it trying to manhandle the coop frame in (these teenage chickens need to get out of my basement). It slouches a bit at the top but I added a few more stakes to tighten it up along the perimeter.

 

[animallover505]

It should hold with sturdy stakes. As long as you don't have lots of large predators, it should be fine.