Fencing Question

[majorcatfish]

have the bottom 4" lose facing out so the rabbits dont dig and get in except at the gate area.
since putting it up have not had one in there...
the fencing is staked about every 4' with rebar...

 

[Nyboy]

Rabbit stew invite friends

 

[Ridgerunner]

A few seasons back I had to shoot 16 rabbits in my garden until I got the one that was chewing off beans just as they sprouted. Fifteen innocent rabbits had to die before the guilty was caught, but sometimes I believe in guilt by association. That was 16 that were actually in my garden, not just in the vicinity. So a rabbit fence would make sense. There are still plenty of rabbits in the area. The garden is 50' x 75' so about 150' of fencing. Just do it and it gets done. Right? But thinking out loud:

One problem area is my big gate, I think about 10' wide that is just wire with poles on the end that fits in loops of wire to close. Pretty basic. To stop rabbits and other things from just going under I'd have to build a better gate. My fence posts aren't able to handle that weight so I have to think about how to do that. It would probably involve putting a sill down, say a 4"x6" that juts above ground level a bit but I can drive over it, and a board along the bottom of the fence that bumps up tightly against the sill. I don't use that gate that much and the smaller pedestrian gate would be easy to fix by putting a sill down. I'd have to do something where the fence post meets the fence but that would not be too hard. Just add a bumper to the fence post (a 4x4 post) for the pole on the fence to butt against. Just use screws instead of nails to make it easy to adjust.

I use a lot of that fence to support cucumbers, Tromboncini squash, and pole beans. I have Bermuda grass, a runner grass. I'm not exactly sure how putting rabbit fencing down would affect that. Probably not a lot as far as the grass goes. I clean it up, plant the seeds, and after they sprout and start growing, put down newspaper and mulch, wrapping the newspaper up the inside of the fence some to stop the grass from coming in. For about half the area around the garden I have carper right up against the fence with wood chips on top to keep the grass down. That will take care of that half, but to stop the flat part of the fence from getting tangled with my weed eater I'd need to bury that wire a bit, say just dig up the sod, put the wire down, and put the sod back. This can be managed.

One thing about that carpet. I have to take it up every year and clean the wood chips off and replace them. They rot and form a great medium for grass and other weeds to grow in. Roots will grow through the carpet but roots can grow through the landscaping cloth I use in other places. I still have to take it up to get the rotted wood chips off and replace them. If I get that soon enough I can use it as mulch in the garden, but I usually wait so long it's filed with Bermuda roots so I use it to level the yard out, especially where the dogs have dug holes going after voles and moles.

I don't think the beans or squash would be affected, but a lot of the cucumbers form close to the bottom. If they grow inside the fencing they'll just cut themselves in two as they grow. That still happens some with my 2x4 fencing in that area but not much. I'd probably solve that by growing the cukes in the garden itself. Occasionally deer eat some of the beans growing on the outside of the fence but it usually isn't that much. I would not want to trust Bluejay's pole beans to that fence exclusively. I have planted some on it when I have some others of that same variety doing well in a protected area.

It's not just things going through the fence. I've seen a groundhog hit a fence at a full run in an area he could not have possibly gotten through that fence. Without slowing down he went under the fence. I had to look to find where he did that. Critters can squeeze through some pretty small openings. So some type of apron or burying the wire a bit is necessary to close the gaps between the ground and the bottom of the fence. To me an apron is easier than burying as long as I can keep it out of the weed eater and lawn mower.

So thinking it through the benefits probably outweigh the negatives. I may have missed something but I think all potential problems can be managed, mostly without much effort once it's in. I don't think it would make things any harder than they are now and maintenance should be minimal. So it's probably just a matter of giving it enough of a priority to get it done. How likely is that to happen. Probably not real likely to be honest. But if sixteen new rabbits show up in the garden itself it may become a priority. Funny how priorities change.

 

[Beekissed]

It is! I too believe in guilty by association. Love your plans, Major, and would love to see a pic or two of it all when you are done.

I have landscaping timbers along the ground for the perimeter of my garden, for the big gate too and I can still drive over it or move a cart over it well...the smaller gates lie within the dog's boundary and are thus guarded pretty well. I'll fasten the bottom of the metal fence to these timbers, as we did to the plastic mesh. We only have two resident rabbits but they make more...the foxes keep the numbers down but we are adding two cats to that predator mix this spring...hopefully the squirrels will get caught in that grand round up too.

 

[majorcatfish]

if the snow is gone when i get home will take a couple photos and post them...

 

[digitS']

@Ridgerunner thinking things through - first step .

Sometimes fate intervenes:

Okay. One of these photos I didn't take ... I suppose that you can guess which one ... anyway, striving for excellence is better than trusting to fate ...

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

I have my garden fenced in 2x2 wire, and I have discovered that little rabbits can get through it pretty easily. So I would like to put some finer mesh fencing up around the bottom, up maybe 18" or so, just another layer with what I have. I was wondering if rabbits would chew up plastic mesh fencing to get into the garden. I have no doubt that they would/could chew it up to escape an enclosure, but do you think they would work that hard to get into an enclosure? The wire fence would still be there....
Another idea is chicken wire. Last time I checked at Lowes, they only had that really flimsy 2" mesh stuff. How small would the mesh have to be to keep those critters out?

Use the green coated chicken wire it is inexpensive and lasts forever.

 

[ducks4you]

If it is affordable to buy the coated chicken wire, do it. I have kept chicken wire outside and it lasts longer than you think, but I'm sure that you will make a good decision.
I wanted to point out that I have found chicken wire as wide as 5ft, so you don't have to settle for 18" high if you want your fence higher that THAT.

 

[majorcatfish]

before putting the 1x1x36" fencing up would have at least 2-3 rabbit nests in progress if not caught in the raised beds...

bunny proofing.......
version 1.0
started off using zip ties... that turned way to labor intensive, and plastic breaks down after time... yes it makes neat appearance.

but once getting to the first corner had a v-8 moment... what if i decide to move the fence for some strange reason, would have to snip all those zip ties and start over...

so bunny proofing
version 2.0 came into affect..
just use 3/8"x 4' rebar every 4'-5' with the bottom kicking outwards about 3"-4"....it's not neat but it does the job. can still lift the fence to clean out the leaves and other debris that builds up between the two..

so far the wire has lasted 3 years no serious rusting of it, it's been out there 7/24/365

since the expansion of the main garden, still using the 2x3x48 wire fencing. a few rabbits have been in there with no damage, their are just looking for a place to get out the sun and the hawks, so at this point no need to put wire around it..< if a mama rabbit does decide to make a nest inside there> i will leave it alone....
plenty to go around for everyone...

 

[so lucky]

If I Ieft a gap at the bottom of the fences, I wouldn't be able to keep the weeds out from between them.
Having the apron safe from the weed eater is an issue here, too, but as long as there aren't a bunch of cut edges, I think leaving about a 3 or 4" apron will work. Maybe at the corners I may have to do some burying of the chicken wire, because it will have to be cut there. My gate needs a threshold, too, because something has dug out a path that left about a 2.5" gap under the gate in the middle. I thought it was Penny, but DH says he doesn't think so.