Deer Netting?

[hairlesshorse]

I live in an area with all kinds of animals. I have read in several places that people are using deer netting for the tops of their run. I am wondering if that will hold off a raccoon if it decides to climb, as I have heard they can and will do? I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this or if I should have been in the pest and preditor forum. Any help would be great.

 

[TheCrazyChick]

It just so happens that I have just come back into the house after working on putting up some enclosures around my raised beds so the hens can peck themselves some of my garden weeds and a few worms. This involved using deer netting on the top. Only 2 feet high. I can't imagine this stuff would save my hens from anything that truly wanted to get them. I am using it so they can peck some new areas while I am out in the yard and save me some weeding without flying out of the enclosure. It would keep a hawk from grabbing them, but anything else would just shred it I'm sure. Although it IS awfully easy to get tangled up in, so it might slow a raccoon or fox down long enough for me to scare them away by my foul language. (I know my grandkids heard a few choice vocabulary while I was rigging it up today!)

 

[GoChick]

No, deer neeting will not hold off a raccoon. the only thing that keeps them away is hardware cloth. And make sure you have good locks - they can open some locks easily, with their opposing thumbs. I use carbiners on my gates and have two locks on each.

The only place I use deer netting nowadays is on the top or our chainlink fence - the chickens were flying over the fence and destroying our vegetable gardens, so we extended the fence with deer netting. I found out the hard way that snakes can get entangled very easily in the deer netting if you use it near the ground. unfortunatelly some black snakes got entangled on the deer fencing before we took it all down.

 

[GoldDogsMom]

NO! A raccoon will rip right through deer netting. Most people say the can rip thru chicken wire! My coop is secured and any windows covered with 1/2 inch hardware cloth, my run has chicken wire but they aren't left out all night. A weasel can get through very small spaces too!

 

[hairlesshorse]

I had heard they can rip through chicken wire very easily so it does not surprise me to hear they would be able to get through the deer netting. I am in the process of putting the 2x4 welded wire accross the top now but was just curious for when I do some expanding.

 

[GoldDogsMom]

Obviously we all are on the same page! Great place to ask questions so you can avoid the heartache of losing your flock! Keep in mind that a weasel can get through an opening as small as 1 inch...I didn't even know we had weasels until they got in my coop

 

[TheCrazyChick]

Obviously we all are on the same page! Great place to ask questions so you can avoid the heartache of losing your flock! Keep in mind that a weasel can get through an opening as small as 1 inch...I didn't even know we had weasels until they got in my coop

I have heard a zillion weasel stories lately. Sad stories.

 

[hairlesshorse]

My thought is to put chicken wire behind the welded wire. Would that be a waste of my time or would that help?

 

[GoldDogsMom]

Will your chickens be in the run area at night or secure in a coop?

 

[hairlesshorse]

They will be in a coop at night, however I leave for work about 6:15 in the am and would open the door at that time since noone else gets up until like 8 or 9 and sun will be up before then.