# Fencing against rabbits question



## lickcreek (Apr 7, 2006)

We fenced in my garden this year ~ Yahoo! No more deer problems since!!
We used 5' tall 2x4 welded fencing. Now I see the rabbits can jump right through this! Boo!

Anyway, my plan is to run chicken wire around the bottom of the fence, with the bottom 6" or so folded outward on the ground, with bricks or other weights placed periodically to hold it down. My questions are:

1) How tall would my chicken wire need to be? If I buy 2 ft wire, after the fold it will only be about 18" high. Will they just jump over the top of this and get in anyway?

2) If this is a viable idea, how would you attach the chicken wire to the existing fence? It has wooden posts in the corners (3 posts per corner) and on the longer runs, a wooden post approx every 45 feet. The rest of the posts in between these are steel posts.

I don't have much left in the garden, but they are riddling the sweet potato vines and the few cabbage plants that I put out this year. I have BIG plans for the garden next year, so I would like to remedy this before really investing in planting next year.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Sorry, I was writing a reply earlier when my Mom called.

I have chain link, which small rabbits pass through easily. I put chicken wire (3 ft tall) on one side, up against the chain link and the bottom down to the ground but not flat on the ground. I used a piece of wire from a welded fence that fell apart to attach the chicken wire. Just wrap a bit of wire through both fences every so often or where there are gaps. And yes, it did work to fence just the one side. Go figure.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

that is exactly what I am doing. I will let you know if it works when I get it finished - one side to go!


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## lickcreek (Apr 7, 2006)

Callieslamb, did you fold the bottom out too, or is your's just tied flat against the original fence like Danaus29 did? I am thinking that there are some places that they could still root under, as my ground is far from level, and for DH to get the wire tight when we stretched it, there are some gaps. I currently have some boards propped up held in place by bricks on the inside of the garden to fill the largest gaps, so I thought that bending the chicken wire and weighting it down on the outside would take care of this problem, too.

Danaus29 - do you think it needed to be 3 foot tall? I am wondering what hieghth of chicken wire I need to start with make this work. If I bend the bottom out, that will shorten the fencing a bit.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

3 feet was what I had on hand. It was supposed to be used to baby proof a duck pen but then the rabbits ate all my peas and a couple pepper plants so I just used what I had. 2 feet would have worked just as well.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

lickcreek said:


> Callieslamb, did you fold the bottom out too, or is your's just tied flat against the original fence like Danaus29 did? ......


I didn't fold it out at the bottom - I DID pile about 1 foot of dirt in a mound covering the bottom of the fence in most places. When I get the garden tilled up this fall, I wil do the rest. The garden is basically a jungle right now with the tomatoes, 12 ft sunflowers and melons running amuck. I am sure a determined rabbit could get into my garden if it wanted to anyway. The fence is just to make it harder for them. They could probably burrow just a bit and get under the gates too.

I have had a garden here for 3 years. This is the first year I have needed a fence for rabbits. I have a 4 ft welded wire fence and 2 ft chickenwire fencing over that. I put the chicken wire on the inside of the chicken moat. I wished I had though to put it on the outside fence to keep any baby chicks in too. The outside fence to the moat was my 4th fence and it is much better/tighter than the other fencing.


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## peacebaker (Dec 30, 2005)

I have new garden fence with 1 x 3 holes...I found a baby rabbits nesting INSIDE my garden this year, LOL! They actually haven't done really any damage that I can see (yet) but I'm weeding vigorously to spook them and encourage them to move on...


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## lickcreek (Apr 7, 2006)

Wow, how small of a hole can a rabbit get through? We did not have enough chicken wire to go around, and since there is no money in the budget right now to get more, DH took some leftover wire from the 2x4 fencing, and cut horizontal pieces which we then wired to the bottom of the fence, in effect making 2x2 inch openings. The 2" wires that resulted on the cut side were stuck in the ground. Will this keep a rabbit out, or did we just waste a lot of fence wire?


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## Home Harvest (Oct 10, 2006)

Rabbits around our place nest inside the garden fence as protection from predators! Really, I swear they know the fence will keep them safe. I found very young babies in my strawberries this spring.

I find that a dog, a cat, and a boy with a pellet rifle are the best rabbit fences.

PS. My meat rabbits live in hutches with 1x2 wire, so I think that would keep their wild brothers out. I can't afford that fencing for a garden (see above).


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## Jim Bunton (Mar 16, 2004)

I have rabbits and did the same thing to keep them in the colony. Three foot chicken wire would be better. I used hog rings to attach it to the wire fence and rolled about six inches in.. I just used garden staples to hold it down and after a while it just becomes part of the ground. 

Jim


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