Is Chicken wire good enough to keep out foxes or is a more substantial mesh needed?
Geoff
Chicken wire
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
Hi Geoff,
Do you intend to keep chickens
If yes then the frame that the chicken wire is attached to should be of a strong construction, the chicken wire is best buried at least 18inch's, I have just built my own chicken run and I have used weld mesh which is a lot stronger than chicken wire.
Hope this is of some help
Kevin
Do you intend to keep chickens
If yes then the frame that the chicken wire is attached to should be of a strong construction, the chicken wire is best buried at least 18inch's, I have just built my own chicken run and I have used weld mesh which is a lot stronger than chicken wire.
Hope this is of some help
Kevin
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Chantal
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I used aviary wire on my chicken run and have had no problems with foxes. We certainly have them around as my neighbour feeds a whole family of them every night and has done for the past 5 years or so.
Chantal
I know this corner of the earth, it smiles for me...
I know this corner of the earth, it smiles for me...
Hi Geoff - we have chickens in a run protected by chicken wire. We buried the bottom of the wire about a foot down and then ran an additional length around the base and flared it out so it was buried just beneath the soil surface all around the edge.
This was a tip given us by our chicken supplier and the idea is you can grow grass or whatever through the mesh but if the fox starts digging, it immediately hits the wire and gives up. Our local foxes have had a dig and stopped at the wire, so it seem to work.
If the run is secure the only other danger is the foxes coming into the garden around dusk before you have locked up and giving the chickens a scare just before they roost. We have a fox visit every night and have lost 2 hens so far to this. They go into shock and usually fall off the perch (literally) overnight.
If you accept this as a risk, then I would go for it - chickens are great fun and dead easy to care for. Sue
This was a tip given us by our chicken supplier and the idea is you can grow grass or whatever through the mesh but if the fox starts digging, it immediately hits the wire and gives up. Our local foxes have had a dig and stopped at the wire, so it seem to work.
If the run is secure the only other danger is the foxes coming into the garden around dusk before you have locked up and giving the chickens a scare just before they roost. We have a fox visit every night and have lost 2 hens so far to this. They go into shock and usually fall off the perch (literally) overnight.
If you accept this as a risk, then I would go for it - chickens are great fun and dead easy to care for. Sue
Geoff - ignore my other post complaining about lack of eggs. Get chickens anyway for the amusement value.
My favourite is when they get spooked by their own shadows, go into 'the sky is falling mode' and when you go out there to see what the racket is about, they all stop and look at you as if to say Wot!
Sue
My favourite is when they get spooked by their own shadows, go into 'the sky is falling mode' and when you go out there to see what the racket is about, they all stop and look at you as if to say Wot!
Sue
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Diane
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You'd be better off using weldmesh and not chicken wire - in view of any future avian flu regulations regarding keeping wild birds away from poultry feed. They can't get through the weldmesh but will have no trouble hopping through chicken wire as the spaces are much larger.
'Preserve wildlife - pickle a rat'
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sue-the-recycler
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Carole B's right - foxes will bite through the wire - I have patched up the holes to prove it 
The main thing that keeps my girls safe is that we live in the lodge of a shooting estate and phesants - which are even dafter than chickens - are plentiful and free for the plucking - for the fox that is not me - A determined/hungry fox will get to your birds unless the coop and run are very substantial and robust. I would have major reservations about feeding foxes AND trying to keep chooks, sounds like asking for trouble to me. I'm not trying to have a go or anything, but why do people feed foxes anyway? They are one of the most sucessful scavengers on the planet! The last creature round here to look skinny in lean times is the foxes!! To be honest - having seen the devastation they can cause they are an animal I tolerate as they have a right to be there but certainly wouldnt do anything to encourage them 
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The main thing that keeps my girls safe is that we live in the lodge of a shooting estate and phesants - which are even dafter than chickens - are plentiful and free for the plucking - for the fox that is not me - A determined/hungry fox will get to your birds unless the coop and run are very substantial and robust. I would have major reservations about feeding foxes AND trying to keep chooks, sounds like asking for trouble to me. I'm not trying to have a go or anything, but why do people feed foxes anyway? They are one of the most sucessful scavengers on the planet! The last creature round here to look skinny in lean times is the foxes!! To be honest - having seen the devastation they can cause they are an animal I tolerate as they have a right to be there but certainly wouldnt do anything to encourage them .