I have just purchased 10metres of chicken wire however I have just been talking to a friend of mine and she said that foxes can bite through chicken wire. Does this mean I have just wasted my money? If so what do I have to buy instead of. Where can I get it from. I need it to be about 10 metres in length for 6 sides. I have to be extra careful because my house backs onto fields and foxes have been seen in the area.

Thank you

Hi there,

You need to buy galvanised wire mesh (i think thats what its called) its got little rectangles....

I had to replace all my chicken wire after a fox had a good chew of it - he didnt bite through but it made the run insecure.

Try a builders merchants... i dont think they sell it in B&Q/Homebase but I might be wrong :)

mesh direct do a great range of welded wire mesh and they also explain what each different type can be used for :D:D

i stupidly let the blokes in my life make out i didnt know what i was talking about so duped me into buying rabbit netting :roll::roll: we then ended up double lining the run area and buying a roll of welded mesh too where the bunnies could possibly chew out !!!!MEN!!!!!

i was going to order from these http://www.hillsofdevon.co.uk/index.html but the blokes knew better

not bitter honest :lol::lol::lol::lol:

Yes sadly chicken wire is not predator proof.

The joins are only twisted so it also means that as well as it being possible for animals to bite through it, once a wire is broken it can unravel too. We don't rehome to people to use chicken wire for this reason.

This isn't just hearsay either; I have one rabbit here who's sister was taken out of her hutch by a fox who'd chewed a hole (with chicken wire for mesh) and also was involved with another rabbit who was found in a hutch that had been dumped in some scrub ground. The front of the hutch had been ripped open and half a rabbit was found stuck in it. Luckily the passers by who first spotted it took a closer look and found the remaining rabbit still in the hutch. That rabbit made it into the rescue that I used to work for some years ago. Much scarred by the experience too.

I also recently had a run donated, it was unuseable - it had holes in the chicken wire, that had been patched up - so am guessing that either a predator or one of the rabbits themselves had managed to bite through.

I buy my weld mesh from Wickes, although you can buy different gauges from various suppliers. There are different strengths but most are pretty good. The benefit being that each and every joint is as its name suggest - welded together so even if one strand breaks you don't get a large hole developing.

Yes sadly chicken wire is not predator proof.

The joins are only twisted so it also means that as well as it being possible for animals to bite through it, once a wire is broken it can unravel too. We don't rehome to people to use chicken wire for this reason.

This isn't just hearsay either; I have one rabbit here who's sister was taken out of her hutch by a fox who'd chewed a hole (with chicken wire for mesh) and also was involved with another rabbit who was found in a hutch that had been dumped in some scrub ground. The front of the hutch had been ripped open and half a rabbit was found stuck in it. Luckily the passers by who first spotted it took a closer look and found the remaining rabbit still in the hutch. That rabbit made it into the rescue that I used to work for some years ago. Much scarred by the experience too.

I also recently had a run donated, it was unuseable - it had holes in the chicken wire, that had been patched up - so am guessing that either a predator or one of the rabbits themselves had managed to bite through.

I buy my weld mesh from Wickes, although you can buy different gauges from various suppliers. There are different strengths but most are pretty good. The benefit being that each and every joint is as its name suggest - welded together so even if one strand breaks you don't get a large hole developing.


Excellent advice!:D
oooh - wickes...now what size do you generally buy?
Ive seena bunny chew through chicken mesh....it became the project of theday!:roll:

Yes unfortunately i found this out the hard way when i was younger and came down to find my does litter of baby rabbits dead all over the garden. The fox has got in through the top of the run- which was very heavy weight, ripped off the mesh. Fortunately mum escaped, but i never want to see anything like that again. I would definately get something stronger xxx

You can get galvanised wire mesh in lengths of 10m from eBay

Chicken wire seems to 'rot' suddenly after a year or 2, making it suddenly disintegrate when you are not expecting it and leaving the buns very vulnerable.

Weldmesh every time.

On hutches, the smaller mesh keeps the snails out as well. They can't get their shells through the holes and I don't have to clear out slimed food bowls as much. Yuk.

Excellent advice!:D
oooh - wickes...now what size do you generally buy?
Ive seena bunny chew through chicken mesh....it became the project of theday!:roll:

I now buy the mesh with squares rather than rectangles. Apart from being stronger as there is more wire per square inch/cm, it also means that you can use it lengthways or sideways on and it looks the same - less wastage.

Ebay do some good deals for larger quantities..

Thanks once again everyone for taking the time to reply to me. I wish I had double checked before buying. I cant return the chicken wire because its cut to size off the roll so ill just chalk it down to experience and double check with you all before future purchases. More itme and thought are being put into the bunnies home than my own :roll:.
Thanks again x

My boyfriend bought chicken wire for our run. At the time i questioned it but he's convinced its fine. I'm ok for him to use it for the time being but i have made it very very clear that at no given point in time will she be allowed out in the garden unsupervised if she's in it! His idea is that we put her hutch in the run so she can do what she can get in and out as she likes, but i'm not happy with this as it leaves it too open to foxes

PLEASE PLEASE dont use chick wire I found out the hard way this week when a 5 week old baby got her leg caught in it ..she has nervve damage and might lose it .I will never use it again have made hubby redo all runs ect with weilded mesh

I now buy the mesh with squares rather than rectangles. Apart from being stronger as there is more wire per square inch/cm, it also means that you can use it lengthways or sideways on and it looks the same - less wastage.

Ebay do some good deals for larger quantities..
Thanks! :D Will look out for square mesh.....
Hope its not too expensive...I wanna have it go round the whole garden!:D

PLEASE PLEASE dont use chick wire I found out the hard way this week when a 5 week old baby got her leg caught in it ..she has nervve damage and might lose it .I will never use it again have made hubby redo all runs ect with weilded mesh


:shock: oh thats aweful! i hope shes gonna be ok...:(

Chicken wire keeps chickens in, it doesn't keep predators out. That was posted by someone else on a thread sometime ago and it is the best way to summarise I think, get the strongest you can. Chicken wire is not adequate.

Playhouse is being delivered today, as soon as its here ill go to screwfix to try and get some of those panels that are on offer at the minute. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks! :D Will look out for square mesh.....
Hope its not too expensive...I wanna have it go round the whole garden!:D

Then I'd go on ebay or similar because there are people on there that sell very, very large rolls of it at far less than places like Wickes. Wickes 6m roll of .9m squares is about £26. It cost me a lot of money to do my runs using this, and I could have done it cheaper by shopping around, but I wanted to do it immediately (impatient woman that I am) and needed to buy and construct the same day.

Do you guys know of that wire thats got the green covering on it & it comes as twisted or as squares? Well OH wants to use that cause it will look better as Ive decided to make a run out of our garden by the house!:lol:
I can understand but I dont think it would be that safe....

Now I will not get the twisted wire as they are useless - esp. if bitten through...what about the square one?

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Garden-Wire-Fencing/invt/187733

Do you guys know of that wire thats got the green covering on it & it comes as twisted or as squares? Well OH wants to use that cause it will look better as Ive decided to make a run out of our garden by the house!:lol:
I can understand but I dont think it would be that safe....

Now I will not get the twisted wire as they are useless - esp. if bitten through...what about the square one?

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Garden-Wire-Fencing/invt/187733

My rabbits can squeeze through the holes in that exact fencing.

My rabbits can squeeze through the holes in that exact fencing.
Thanks Tim!:D
Wow! ok - I did wonder about that...my Indiana is ickle...
I guess they dont do a smaller version in the green so it looks less aviary/run like?
Also - can they chew through it?
i thought it was galvanised...but cant work out if its rubber coating or chewable in a sense they could chew little bits off it?

:? Need something that looks nice...and is safe...

The PVC coating is chewable, they have stripped bits off. The wire itself isn't too bad, I don't know if it's welded at the joins, it seems pretty strong so it probably is. But I wouldn't go for anything with holes bigger than 1inch x 1inch and even that is quite big. 1inch x 1/2inch is better.

You can get PVC coated mesh of the right size, not sure if it's welded properly though, maybe you could check. It's quite expensive too:
http://www.4wire.co.uk/green-wire-mesh-25mm-holes-inch-inch36-high-p-230.html

Thanks Tim - really kind to put a link too -thank you!:D
Will have a little search & show OH....
Cheers!:D

Just thought I'd add that not only will the wire not keep foxes out, it won't keep rabbits in either! Ours chew through it far easier than I imagined they would.

I lost my rabbit to a fox yesterday after the fox chewed through chicken wire

I lost my rabbit to a fox yesterday after the fox chewed through chicken wire

:cry::cry::cry: so sorry ....
Hugs! Binky free little one...:cry: