{"id":175,"date":"2026-06-19T19:49:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T19:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/predator-proofing-the-run-hardware-cloth\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T06:25:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T06:25:01","slug":"predator-proofing-the-run-hardware-cloth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/predator-proofing-the-run-hardware-cloth\/","title":{"rendered":"Predator-Proofing the Run: Why Chicken Wire Almost Cost Me My Flock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My first coop was wrapped in chicken wire, because that&#8217;s what it&#8217;s called, so naturally I assumed it was for keeping chickens safe. It is not. Chicken wire keeps chickens <em>in<\/em>. It does almost nothing to keep predators <em>out<\/em>. I found that out the hard, ugly way in my first year, when a raccoon reached through the wire one night, and I came out in the morning to a scene I&#8217;m not going to describe in detail except to say I lost two of my first three birds and I sat on the back step and cried.<\/p>\n<p>That raccoon taught me more about predator-proofing than any book did. I rebuilt the whole run that fall with my dad over a long weekend, and I haven&#8217;t lost a bird to a predator since. The difference comes down to three things, and none of them is expensive compared to what they protect. If you take nothing else from this, take this: do not skip the hardware cloth. Skip it and you lose birds.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"cmg-supplies\"><p class=\"cmg-supplies__title\">What I rebuilt my run with<\/p><div class=\"cmg-supplies__body\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01D82U4DE?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1\/2-inch hardware cloth<\/a> \u2014 the real barrier, not chicken wire<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09W5F9LQ1?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spring-loaded latch bolts<\/a> \u2014 locks a raccoon can&#8217;t work open<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09NFKCT7K?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hardware cloth for a dig apron<\/a> \u2014 to stop diggers at the perimeter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div><\/aside>\n<h2>Know what you&#8217;re up against<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/predator-proofing-the-run-hardware-cloth-02-wire-contrast.jpg\" alt=\"Predator-Proofing the Run: Why Chicken Wire Almost Cost Me My Flock \u2014 wire contrast\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>You can&#8217;t defend against a predator you don&#8217;t understand, so name them. Raccoons are the smart ones \u2014 they have hands, essentially, and they will reach through wide mesh, pry at latches, and work a simple hook-and-eye open in under a minute. I&#8217;ve watched one do it on a trail cam. Foxes are bold and will come in broad daylight; a fox took one of my pullets right out of the yard once while I was thirty feet away hanging laundry. Hawks come from above. Possums and the occasional weasel kill in the coop at night and can squeeze through a shockingly small gap. Snakes go after eggs and chicks. And the worst predator in most suburban settings isn&#8217;t exotic at all \u2014 it&#8217;s the neighbor&#8217;s loose dog, which kills more backyard chickens than everything else combined.<\/p>\n<p>Different predators, but the defenses overlap, and they all start with the wire.<\/p>\n<h2>Hardware cloth, not chicken wire \u2014 this is the whole game<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/predator-proofing-the-run-hardware-cloth-03-latch-clip.jpg\" alt=\"Predator-Proofing the Run: Why Chicken Wire Almost Cost Me My Flock \u2014 latch clip\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the distinction that nearly cost me my flock. Chicken wire is a thin, flimsy hexagonal netting with one-inch-plus holes. A raccoon can tear it, reach through it, and a determined dog can push right through a panel. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01D82U4DE?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hardware cloth<\/a> is welded steel mesh \u2014 I use the half-inch, 19-gauge kind \u2014 and it&#8217;s a completely different animal. The half-inch openings are too small for a raccoon to fit a paw through, too small for a weasel or a snake to squeeze, and the welded steel won&#8217;t tear the way netting does.<\/p>\n<p>Wrap the entire run in it \u2014 walls and the top, because hawks and climbing predators come from above. Overlap your seams and fasten the cloth down tight every few inches with screws and washers or proper fencing staples, not a loose staple here and there. A predator finds the weak fastening and works it. The fix isn&#8217;t fancy; it&#8217;s just thorough. Yes, hardware cloth costs more than chicken wire. It costs a great deal less than the birds it saves, and you only buy it once. I cannot say this plainly enough, because I learned it at the cost of two birds: the wire is not the place to save money.<\/p>\n<h2>Latches a raccoon can&#8217;t open<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/predator-proofing-the-run-hardware-cloth-04-dig-apron.jpg\" alt=\"Predator-Proofing the Run: Why Chicken Wire Almost Cost Me My Flock \u2014 dig apron\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>A raccoon&#8217;s hands are the reason a simple latch isn&#8217;t enough. The flimsy hook-and-eye and spring-clip latches that come on most prefab coops are, to a raccoon, a puzzle that takes about thirty seconds. My very first coop had a sliding lid latch a raccoon popped open like a vending machine.<\/p>\n<p>I switched everything to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09W5F9LQ1?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spring-loaded latch bolts<\/a> \u2014 the kind you have to pull, twist, and seat to lock, which is two coordinated motions a raccoon can&#8217;t replicate. The general rule among keepers is that if a toddler could figure out your latch, so can a raccoon, and on the coop door itself I take it a step further and add a clip or a small padlock on top of the bolt for the doors that matter most. It&#8217;s a couple of dollars of hardware that closes the single most common way a determined predator gets in after you&#8217;ve done everything else right. Don&#8217;t wrap your run in steel and then leave the door swinging on a hook.<\/p>\n<h2>The dig apron: stopping them at the ground<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/predator-proofing-the-run-hardware-cloth-05-finished-run.jpg\" alt=\"Predator-Proofing the Run: Why Chicken Wire Almost Cost Me My Flock \u2014 finished run\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Once the walls and door are solid, the last way in is underneath. Foxes, dogs, and raccoons will all dig at the base of a run to get under the wire. You can bury wire straight down, which works but is a miserable amount of digging. The trick I use instead is a dig apron \u2014 sometimes called a predator skirt.<\/p>\n<p>You take a two-foot-wide strip of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09NFKCT7K?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hardware cloth<\/a>, attach it to the bottom of the run wall, and instead of burying it down, you lay it flat on the ground extending outward from the base and pin it down with landscape staples. Grass grows up through it within a season and hides it completely. When a predator comes to the wall and starts to dig, it hits the apron and can&#8217;t get past, because animals dig right at the base of a barrier, not two feet out from it. It&#8217;s the single most effective dig-defense I&#8217;ve used, and it&#8217;s far less work than trenching. I run it around the entire perimeter, no gaps, because a digger only needs one.<\/p>\n<h2>Putting it together<\/h2>\n<p>Predator-proofing isn&#8217;t one product, it&#8217;s a system, and the system is only as strong as its weakest point. Hardware cloth on all sides and the top, fastened down tight. Real spring latches on every door and opening, with a clip or padlock on the important ones. A dig apron around the whole base. Do all three and you&#8217;ve closed the ground, the walls, the roof, and the door \u2014 which is every way in. The night I finally finished that rebuild with my dad, I slept better than I had in weeks, and six years later I still haven&#8217;t lost a bird to a predator. It&#8217;s the one part of chicken keeping where I tell every new keeper: don&#8217;t learn it the way I did.<\/p>\n<p>I go deep on coop and run security, predator identification, and the whole build in my book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0H2LN9Q9L?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Raising Backyard Chickens for Beginners<\/em><\/a>. The three fixes above are what you can start on this weekend. The book is the one I wish I&#8217;d read before that first raccoon, instead of after.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chicken wire keeps chickens in, not predators out. Here&#8217;s how I predator-proofed my run after a raccoon got in \u2014 hardware cloth, real latches, and a dig apron.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backyard-chickens","tag-affiliate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}