Welded wire and predators???

[Nicole01]

My husband used welded wire for our run. I could not talk him into hardware wire at all! His reasoning was that it's more difficult to view the chickens from the outside with the hardware wire.

. My hubby is pretty convinced that nothing can get through the welded wire. He buried it into the ground also.

Can weasels get through the openings of welded wire? We did use chicken wire at the bottom on top of the welded wire, so the cats couldn't swipe at the chickens and scratch them.

Because of the welded wire and not trusting it, I did not allow hubby to cut a pop door through the steel door leading out to the run. I close the door each night to ensure the safety of my girls. I'd like to leave the door open during the hot days, but I'm afraid weasels and other predators can get through the welded wire.

 

[stubbornhill]

Oh, do I know about stubborn husbands! Mine will not listen about the hardware wire. Unfortunatly, I may have to prove my point the hard way as we did have two fox in the yard this morning

Don't have an answer to your question, but wanted to sypathize!

 

[smarquis86]

i agree it is harder to see through but i will trade having to walk a little closer to the coop then giving any sort of predator a slight chance. hardware wire is the way to go much sturdier and durable.

 

[Over Easy PA]

We're just putting finishing touches on our brand new run and coop. The run is 8ft x 12ft enclosure and is 6ft tall so I can go inside to take care of my 10 chicken. We'll put a metal roof across the whole thing.

We put hardware cloth on the lower 1/2 of the "walls" and welded wire on the top half. I wanted hardware cloth on the full 6ft height, but that obviously didn't happen! I'm hoping the welded wire will do what it is supposed to do!!!!

To prevent predator digging, we put 18inches of welded wire on the ground around the perimeter (attached to the sill plate that the whole thing is built on top of) and then that's covered with several inches of wood chips. Hope that's going to be good enough - but I confess I'm worried about it.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Can weasels get through the openings of welded wire?

Many weasels will fit through any opening larger than one inch.

Welded wire is strong enough to stop most predators though.

Unless your run is totally enclosed, even hardware cloth won't stop climbers (which is most hungry predators)​

 

[bobbi-j]

Because of the expense, my run is enclosed with welded wire, with 2' hardware cloth around the bottom. No, it won't even slow down a weasel, and only cause a mink to hesitate, but so far so good. I've had this setup for just over a year. I've had weasels get into what I thought was an enclosed coop before. As Bearfoot mentioned, they can fit into some pretty small spaces. I do have a pop door going from the coop to the run. If you're worried about it, just make it so you can close and lock it at night. I leave mine open for ventilation purposes (and because the chickens get up earlier than I do). Maybe, as you can afford it, you can buy rolls of hardware cloth and start attaching it to your welded wire.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

First, welded wire is simply how it is made; welded wire can have openings as small as 1/2 x 1 (possibly smaller, although that is the smallest I am familiar with) to as large a 4" x 4" or larger, big enough for a chicken to easily squeeze through. It is the size of the openings and the gauge of the wire that determine strength and whether or not a predator could get through it.

Welded wire is typically (but not always) a heavier gauge than hardware cloth. As important as the wire strength and penetrability is how well it is fastened to the coop or pen framing. I not that heavy wind ripped the hardware cloth off the top side of our original coop a couple of weeks ago. One corner of a tarp for shade was attached to the wire. It was held in place by reguar staple gun staples; there are now a lot of large head screws holding it to the framework.

 

[Nicole01]

Quote:
Thank you! We had a storm with 100mph+ constant winds for 30 minutes a few weeks back blowing right into the run. Amazingly the run stood strong untouched. We had several uprooted trees on our property and our childrens wooden playset was blown down and mangled.

We will have buy a screen door or make one if I need to keep the coop door open during the night. Since our coop is fully insulated, it tends to keep the heat in. I worry most about weasels, as the welded wire has a couple inches in between each space. Installing a screen door would probably be the safest and replace the screen with hardware cloth.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Don't replace the screen with hardware cloth, ADD the hardware cloth (or small opening cage wire, which in my experience tends to be a much heavier gauge) on either the outside or inside of the screen. That way you screen out insects as well as "wiring" out predators.

 

[Nicole01]

Quote:
Your absolutely right, thank you.