Which type of Hardware Cloth

[Mouthpear]

If you have a place like Ocean State Job Lots close by, you can buy 50 foot plastic coated welded wire for $35.00 a roll. I also use a base of Stone Dust to cover my perimeter apron. It sets as hard as concrete..

35 wow! Now that's a good deal.

 

[arazla]

Wow, I never heard of that, but I'll look it up. Sounds like a great option.

 

[aart]

you can buy 50 foot plastic coated welded wire for $35.00 a roll

How tall is this fencing?

 

[bgmathteach]

Thank you, but isn't 2x2" too large? Everything I've watched or read seems to be recommending 1/2".

Yes! for what you are doing, a Mink, can definitely get through 2X2 wire. and, if they do get in, they are killing machines and will pretty much kill until there is nothing left moving. Where I live, there is too much moisture for thinner wire to last long term in the ground. ( a few years, but not 5 or more!) I do a combination of a wire skirt AND place a line of rocks and/or pavers around the perimeter. For my large run, which I am in the process of redoing, I an building 8' tall panels, beneath them will be some manufactured timbers (read 'recycled plastic) - these will be burried beneath the fence, and beneath that will be 16" x16" pavers. (I didn't like the look of the pavers ON the ground, so they are about 4" deep, and I can plant shallow rooted things on/at the fence (i.e. peas!) in season. This is solving the issue of rusting wire and still creating a decent barrier, My run wire is 1/2" X 1" (I can't get a heavy enough gauge in a large enough height in 1/2x1/2) Any wire on coop openings is 1/2"x1/2", though.

You don't have to redo your skirting, but yu can always put pavers or rocks on top of the ground for extra protection. Just decent sized rocks, not little ones that can be moved/scratched away. It is amazing to see how big of a rock a small skunk can move - never mind a raccoon, determined fox, or coyote!

My 2 cents. Each has different keeping situations, and different predator pressures.

 

[arazla]

A handy person came by recently and mentioned a mink killed all his brother's chickens, so I know they're around. We're not within 1,000 feet of a water source, but there's a creek about 1/4 of a mile from me and a lake 1/2 mile away. Not sure how far minks travel. Our small run is approximately 200 square feet with 8 feet high fencing. Then there is an outer run we had initially designed for goats that is probably over 2,000 square feet. It's full of plants and trees and the chickens love it, but we can't leave them there without supervision. I have been slowly gathering large rocks and putting them around the perimeters and someday if we have the money we can get hardware cloth for that run as well. I hadn't thought of pavers, but often people are giving them away for free. Don't know what we'd do about hawks in the large run except maybe shiny streamers etc as it's much too large an area for netting. That's something I'll have to research next, but just hoping to get the smaller run safe for now.

 

[arazla]

Another thought is that since we do have this large outer run now and possibly 4 roosters out of 8 (yikes) if they don't get through their teen period without violence and mayhem, I may relegate the lesser in command to the outer run and let them free range there.

 

[JaTexas]

We basically don't know what we're doing and our chicken coop is taking forever. I bought 23 gauge galvanized 1/4" hardware cloth thinking the higher number meant stronger and smaller holes would be better. It seems like that's wrong. So if the lower number means stronger, why not 16, rather than 19? Or is there something else to this? And I just read that 1/4" could get clogged more easily. Like with leaves? So it's harder to clean? Could someone explain to me what the difference is between PVC coated, steel coated, galvanized, etc? In the meantime I also bought 24" hardware cloth for the apron and already did 2 sides and the ventilation holes but it's 23 gauge. Is it likely that critters will get in? I'm a little worried now about the vent holes, but already paid a handyman to do that part so it's all been professionally cut, though I did the 2 aprons myself so far.

I swear by the stuff.

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We are wrapping our run (sides and top) with chicken wire...Our critters seem to be tough so I am installing a small electric fence about 10" off the ground just outside the run wire about 4 inches or so. Our critters are cat size that use the armadillo holes dug under the cyclone fence to enter. I try to keep those blocked but it is a full time job. Our security cams pick up at least one critter every night...sniffing and planning to eat our chicks when they get out of the brooder.

 

[Jaeke320]

I swear by the stuff.

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Where did you get this?

 

[Mouthpear]

Where did you get this?

Tractor Supply

 

[Pghelp]

Thank you. Do you happen to have any links of what you mean by welded wire?

I made the mistake of making our enclosed run out of 4”x2” galvanized welded wire. It worked fine for a few years until rats discovered the run. We have now had to completely enclose the welded wire with 1/2” hardware cloth because the 2” openings are big enough for rats to squeeze through, also squirrels. I wish we had used the hardware cloth to begin with. It would have saved us lots of time, energy, and $$$.