Will half inch hardware cloth protect against coons?

[tarbac85]

Greetings from Florida! Finally getting the coop and run built. My 9 week old girls have overstayed their welcome in my laundry room! Whilst getting building supplies for our project, we bought 1/4 inch hardware cloth to use for the entire project. I am quite concerned living in east central Florida that the long HOT summers will be intolerable for my chickens! I am also concerned about raccoons that are in the area. I figured that the smaller mesh would be safer for the chickens and provide the most ventilation, too. However, when we attached the 1/4 inch cloth to the foundation, creating the skirt which we buried, we found that the pneumatic staple gun (dialed down to the lowest setting) was actually tearing the thin 23gauge cloth. I searched high and low for a thicker gauge 1/4 mesh but had no luck. It seems that 1/2 inch hardware cloth is readily available in 19 gauge thickness. So, my question -- Will the 1/2 inch mesh be adequate to protect the birds from raccoons?

 

[True Grit]

I sure hope so!

That's what I used.

 

[kcfuerst]

That's what I used also and it's working great. I live on the edge of a year 'round creek with all kinds of critters. In four years, nobody's gone missing, nor has anything tried to break in. We get crazy hot here in the Sacramento Valley, too.