Wire gauge minimums for determined raccoons?

[Howard E]

Nobody answered the question, which was WHAT GAUGE wire?

Maddening isn't it.

if using 1" x1" square, 1" x 2" or 2" x 4", then 14 gauge.

1" x 2" in a 14 gauge galvanized makes a good apron. You DO NOT need to bury it, actually bad if you do as it rusts out faster.

If using 1/2" x 1" cage wire, 16 gauge.

If using 1/2" hardware cloth, 19 gauge.

 

[Howard E]

BTW, while I suspect the OP is long gone, for those seeing this, in a climate like NY, I would suggest a metal roof on the run vs. any of the open wire options. Snow will accumulate on the wire and bring the whole thing down. A metal roof will also shed snow and rain to keep the run less wet.

 

[Western North Carolina]

Maddening isn't it.

if using 1" x1" square, 1" x 2" or 2" x 4", then 14 gauge.

1" x 2" in a 14 gauge galvanized makes a good apron. You DO NOT need to bury it, actually bad if you do as it rusts out faster.

If using 1/2" x 1" cage wire, 16 gauge.

If using 1/2" hardware cloth, 19 gauge.

So possums can't chew threw 19 gauge 1/2" hardware cloth? I ordered that size hardware cloth, but am afraid a possum or something similar will be able to chew through in near corners or something. I have read many people claiming that a possum chewed through it. I plan on covering it with something thicker, but no idea what gauge would be sufficient, and I don't want a thicker gauge than I need. Lots of gauge questions on here, but not many specific answers. I started a different thread about it. It is frustrating, and it's a question that is never answered fully on here. They should make an article about it or something. Lots of people have the same questions about gauge.

 

[Howard E]

Not many varmints can chew through 19 gauge hardware cloth (a possum can't), but many of them can rip it off if not fastened down properly. Light staples won't do it. Heavy fence staples might, but also consider screws with washers on the corners and sides, or completely cover the outside edges and corners with some type of trim to bury the seams and edges behind the trim so they can't grab the corners.

 

[Folly's place]

I have 1/2" hardware cloth, attached to the framing with fence staples. Over that on the lower four ft. is 2"x4" woven wire fencing, and over that boards screwed into the framing. All wire is overlapped, all framing is 4"x6" to support the roof.

Woven wire (horse or livestock fencing) is actually sturdier than welded wire. The attachments matter a lot!
The doors to my coop/ run combination are exterior doors, with locking doorknobs, and keys separate. No raccoon will figure it out!
For bears, I'd add electric.
Mary

 

[llombardo]

The biggest thing I see is gaps on the gates to the runs.

I had the same issue--could not get it flush. So I took a piece of hardware cloth and put it in the gaps with the sharpest points out. As I was looking at the gap, that was the first thing came to mind. Of course since then. Have added an electric fence too. The disturbing part is that when I got to the gate, there were claw marks and dried blood. I was relieved that my last ditch effort to cover thise gaps worked.

I have a pvc run so I used zip ties and screws/bolts. They were working in one area and taking zip ties off. As they were taking them off I was adding more bolts. I feel somewhat better with the electric fence but I still worry. I had one corner that was tight and yesterday I added hot wire looped around so it will zap them. Technically they could climb the small fence along one side so I put hot wire there(half way up) then a ground wire along the top--so when they grab the top they will hit both wires. If they get past those I have another hot wire above that ground wire--so somewhere they will hit a ground and hot.

I'm exhausted and the battle does not end.

 

[joneschickenmama]

Quote:

Yes, mine too.

We spent WAY more on the coop than we were supposed to. Now I am reading on how to build the run, and I KNOW that I can't afford that much hardware cloth......way too expensive here. Maybe just the bottom part & buried part. ??

Surprisingly, Amazon has hardware cloth cheaper than any place I have found.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Some of this forum's posts mentioned that raccoons can bite through ordinary "chicken wire." I'd like to know the minimum gauge that wire needs to be so that it's impossible for raccoons to bite through....

The wire you mentioned should be too strong for a coon to cut with its teeth.
Chicken wire however is not coon proof, but good quality welded wire, that the coon will be unable to break the welds where they meet other wires, should prove coon proof. None of this should be taken to mean that a coon can't reach a front leg through, grab a sleeping chicken, pull the chicken up against the wire and eat whatever portion of the hen or rooster that is in range of the coons' teeth.

If you brood your peeps on 1/4 inch hardware cloth to keep your new chicks from picking up diseases from the dirt, then at night coons will stand on the ground below the brooder and nibble the toes off of sleeping baby chicks. In short, the only coon proof chicken coop in existence is the chicken coop that no coon can gain access to and live to tell the tail.

 

[ds75751]

4 gauge goat panels with at least 1.5 ft Buried in ground TSC Gaucho wire at the bottom wired in. Backed by Chicken wire.. Less expensive it to but a solar electric fence and place it out side the coupe as a barrier. I also let my hound loose. Hope it helps. If not a 22 HP aught to do the trick. Good luck

 

[McChooky]

I use 1/2" 16 gauge hw cloth on all my coops. My only loss happened one day when I was free ranging my chickens ( my dogs weren't outside at the time)