What type of wire do you use?

I am looking to rewire myduck pen. I used chicken wire but have found it is not nearly strong enough. I would love to do it in chainlink, but can't afford that right now. So I would love to hear what type of wire everyone else uses.

I now use stucco wire. It is fairly strong and inexpensive especially if you get it on sale.

What size spacings are in your stucco wire? That is what I had thought I had purchased a while ago, with spacings that are approx 2"x4" holes, but when I went to purchase more of this, I could only get a 2x2" spacing and I am afraid of buying this and having my ducks and turkeys getting their heads stuck in it.

I use galvanized steel

I use the stucco wire for my chickens. I've never had a problem having chickens getting their heads stuck in it (knock on wood). I've found it works good. I had ducks for a while, and had no problem with them either.

I don't know about turkeys but I use 1x1 on the chicken coop run (also housed geese and ducks) and when I went to build a new pen for my waterfowl last fall the smallest I could find was 2x2 and I have had no issues with it at all. I wanted the wire small enough that if I let them raise little ones that the babies couldn't slip out of the pen.

2 x 2 Stucco wire. Lightweight and cheap. Even keeps the geese in.

Sue

114' goose run with 2X2 stucco wire. Never had an issue with stuck heads. Used it on the chicken run as well, and they stick their heads through and have cleared a swath about 4 inches all the way around the pen.

I use stucco wire lined with hardware cloth for two feet underground and 3 feet above. Then just stucco wire to 7 feet up. That way even little banty chicks cannot escape. And very little gets in.

I use stucco wire buried about two feet from the coop. Our ground is very rocky here so the wire ends up under about 6 inches of gravel sloping downward from the coop. We have a run with smaller mesh for young chicks, but made the mistake last summer of moving young chicks into a stucco wire tractor. The cats likely had a couple early chicken dinners.

Stucco wire but with the bottom two feet I added chicken wire , keeps in the little chicks and allows them to get big.Had to many stick there heads if not there bodies through the stucco wire and then the cats got them .Less cats now , but I'd rather be safe then sorry

What is hardware cloth?

We have tried chicken wire here and found it too filmsy. We have a little left in one run and lost a chick that got tangled in the wire. One thing I have come across is that chicken wire comes in different sizes and with different guages of wire. Some is too fine to keep chickens in or predators out.

Hardware cloth is wire woven in a pattern grid similar to cloth. It is similar to stucco wire and comes in a vareity of sizes and weights.

prairie dog wrote:Stucco wire but with the bottom two feet I added chicken wire , keeps in the little chicks and allows them to get big.Had to many stick there heads if not there bodies through the stucco wire and then the cats got them .Less cats now , but I'd rather be safe then sorry

I did the same in the pen where I usually put the chicks. I just used little zip ties to hold the chicken wire onto the stucco wire.

My breeding pens in the chicken house have both stucco wire and chicken wire, to keep roosters from breaking through (Had that happen last year, and set breeding back 6 weeks) and it keeps the chicks I want to grow out in the pens.

Farmchiq, hardware cloth is the little metal wire that is on the bottom of your incubator. It is used for many things and is wonderful!! No idea why they call it cloth, cause it certainly is not made from cloth, but wire, smiling.
All my coops have 1 inch poultry wire, a bit higher quality than I used to use on the coast, kind of sturdier. In the areas where there will be chicks, that like to go through 1 inch holes, I have 1/2 inch poultry wire that goes up about 2 feet, they can't get through. All of my coops have 1 inch poultry wire. Some of the outside pens have chainlink fences that used to be a dog kennel. They are wonderful and are used to border my buckeys and cochins. Other than that, this wire is good and it is strong. Have a most beautiful day, CynthiaM.

Smokyriver, Stucco wire is 2X2. The wire that is heavy guage and is 2x4 I believe is called garden fence. Stucco wire is way cheaper to buy then Garden fencing. I have used both and will only use stucco wire for fencing to keep chickens in and predators out except weasels who can easily run through 2X2 even 1X1.

But not 1/4" hardware cloth - although they would climb up it and over it given the chance!

I found the cloth to expencive and will be useing plywood ( aspinite) around the bottom from now on .I had a roll of old chicken wire that my brother gave me that was bought way back when the wire used in making it was way better .The new stuff is weak and as was stated chicks can still get there heads through it .Wood one foot up will allow them to grow with out the fear of getting taken by the cats