Twice we have had red fox go after our hens in the middle of a sunny day. It was shocking and horrible. I chased the fox screaming blue murder, and was crying and shaking when hubby got home from the hardware store. Luckily our hens were ok. They were free ranging at the time, but NO way would chicken wire keep them out of a run. We have a coop like Ft. Knox, and the run is 1/2 inch hardware cloth all the way up, and with a plastic corrugated roof. (The hardware cloth is buried underground all around coop and run as well.) We have never had anything get through. The day of the fox fiasco, hubby went right back out to Walmart and bought a .22 shotgun. We have predators here in NH, and our house is up against a steep wooded hillside, woods behind, and no area at all for electric fencing. We have some leg traps just in the woods at top of hill, and do all we can to keep our birds safe. We've had to dispatch some predators we caught. We have a responsibility to our animals, so it's got to be done sometimes.I know in america you have far bigger predators for which this wire is insufficient but does anyone know about foxes? They are not very strong, it's the only pest I have and like the OP pointed out hardware cloth is twice as expensive as this cheap rabbit fencing.
I can squeeze a hand through a hole on the rabbit fencing but unles the fox started chewing through the wire I don't think they'd have the force to break it so does anyone know if a fox specifically would consider chewing through the wire?