Whole flock gone~!

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You are not the First to Learn the Hard way .. It can be hard to protect them from every possible predator .. Even by putting my young chicks in at night I had a fairly Flimsy Door that didn't lock tight and a Coon was able to actually paw the door open enough to gt some. Of Course I had it improved after the Fact .. Wouldn't it be nice If Right on Chicken Wire they wrote a Big Label saying Warning !! Sorry for your Loss .. When we know Better We do Better.. Thank Heavens we can speed up the learning process on sites like this . Rather than all by trial and Error ~
 
Do you know if a cat or dog or raccoon could get through chicken wire? It would be good to have the background info incase I run into anyone else with the same problem or a question related.
 
I went through the same thing when I first started keeping laying hens.something went through my (chicken) wire and killed five of my hens that had been laying for two weeks or so,I had raised them from chicks,First thing I done was totally wrap my pen with hardware cloth,made a skirt 18 inches wide around the base of the pen with steel wire to prevent dig ins,next I ran a very powerful electric fence around the bottom and another strand about 12 inches higher,ran electric fence up and down each post and around the top of the pen,put a steel wire cover over the top of pen,totally enclosing everything,Next I purchased 4 of the niteguard lights,two havahart steel wire traps,two boxes of 22 ammo and started trapping raccoons,I know raccoons have to eat,,but not my chickens,thats been 3 years ago and I have not lost another bird plus I been giving the raccoons hell,and also saved a lot of my sweet corn that raccoons also love to eat and destroy..Good luck
 
bailey, a raccoon can reach its very dextrous and strong hands through chickenwire, grab whatever part of a chicken it can reach, pull a piece of that bird through the 1" opening and chomp on it, bit by bit, while it's still alive. It doesn't even need to get into the pen to kill your chickens.

Dogs will rip right through chicken wire, house cats probably cannot tear it, but they can reach paws through the opening and grab a small chick, for sure.

Chickenwire is not meant to keep predators out, only chickens in. It's practically useless except as an overlay of 2x4 welded wire to close up the larger openings or laid out as a dig barrier, but it does rust and break down over time. Hardware cloth/wire has 1/2" openings (some have 1/4", but that's usually not necessary) and is much stronger, IF attached properly.
 
I can't think of a good use for chicken wire.It doesn't keep predators out,and it is a hassle to work with for fencing.Sorry for your loss.
 
I won't get into the fussing, you already know what happened and why, but if I were to start over on the pen, I would first cover the sides with 2X4 welded wire at least 6 ft tall. Then cover the bottom 2 feet of the run with 1/2 inch HC. The skoirt works and I have 12X12 pavers on top of that. If you have a strong frame system this will deter just about anything short of a cougar or a bear. I think even then they would have to go over the top to get in. And by all means lock the chickens in at night. Unless your run is as secure as Fort Knox, never leave them outside.

I can only imagine what it feels like to lose all your chickens.
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