Rabbit versus chickenwire

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coyotejoe

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I have a couple of cages I built with a wooden framework covered in chicken wire. I had thought them escape proof but yesterday I went to feed bunnies and "where is bunny mummy"? My nine pound doe had torn through a double thickness of chicken wire or poultry netting and was nowhere to be seen. She was still safe since her cage was inside the coop. There was a hay stack next to her cage and she had burrowed in totally out of sight. I would not have guessed a rabbit could tear up that wire, especially a double thickness. She had lived in that cage for several months so why the sudden desperation to escape?
 

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coyotejoe":2ifmrdkh said:
I had thought them escape proof

Chicken wire is really only meant to keep poultry contained, and isn't even effective for keeping predators out. Quite a few people here have had rabbits chew through chicken wire, so you aren't the first to make that mistake! ;)

If you want to salvage the cages you already have, you could reinforce them with 2" x 4" field fencing. You will still have to monitor the wire when you have kits in the cages in case somebunny chews through the chicken wire.

I am going to move this to the "Cages, Hutches, and Equipment" section, as a warning to others since you were kind enough to post a picture of the hole she made. :D

coyotejoe":2ifmrdkh said:
There was a hay stack next to her cage and she had burrowed in totally out of sight.

Aww! I'm glad she found a nice cozy place!

coyotejoe":2ifmrdkh said:
She had lived in that cage for several months so why the sudden desperation to escape?

Spring fever? :lol:
 
TwoAcreDream":1bsj9sp9 said:
Maybe she didn't do it.
Maybe you got a varmit trying to get in ?

No, the wire was clearly punched out from the inside and I have pigeons nesting on the floor of the hutch who would have been easy pickings for any invader. The hutch was originally built as a horse shed and is "rat tight and bear strong". LOL
I did once have a hawk get in through the open door and kill and eat a pigeon but I no longer leave the door open.
 
That's a bummer, sorry to hear that. I'm fortunate in that if bunnies escape their cages they are still confined in the 16x20 foot hutch, they may hide but they can't totally escape.
 
No, it wasn't a serious problem Lizz, she just hid under the cage as if that was somehow better than inside the cage. :lol:
I had an empty cage to put her into while I repaired the damaged cage. It was mostly 1x1 inch heavy gauge wire but just one end was closed in with double thickness of chicken wire so I've replaced that with plywood. I think I need to build two new cages to replace two which were originally built as pigeon cages.
 
I did once have a hawk get in through the open door and kill and eat a pigeon but I no longer leave the door open.
I had a hawk get into my pigeon loft once, through an open door. My little son knew something was wrong, so he shut the door! Lots of disruption in that loft, as you can imagine, and the hawk had a nice meal.

The next morning, the hawk was standing near the door, waiting for the cafe to open for breakfast.
 
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