Need opinions/advice on wire fencing material

Hey guys,
Im almost done with the framing on my new fence for my yard. Ive included a pic. My plan is to put wire mesh on 48" x 96" panel frames to form the "solid" portion of the fence in between the posts. I will staple the mesh onto the frame, but Im not sure what kind of mesh to use.

I do know that I want a coated mesh so it will last longer and look a bit nicer. I dont know if 14 or 16 gauge will be best and if it needs to be welded, looped or hardware cloth. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on this? thanks!

Rob

I forgot to mention that this is designed to keep dogs, foxes etc out and my chickens and ducks in. I may get small livestock down the road like a small pig, sheep or goat as well. Our neighbors dogs have already chewed through my electric poulty fencing...its not energized righ now because of little kids.

Whatever mesh you choose, have some of it laid flat on the ground toward the outside, say a foot or so, as a deterrent to dogs digging under. Another good idea is to offset one or more electric wires on the outside of the physical fence, so that critters challenging it get a good zap and so don't proceed to slowly damage and wear or chew their way through the fence. I kept poultry this way for years with a mere net inside the electric wire. If it's to the outside then it shouldn't be an issue with the kids. If you get a pig or industrious chickens, you might consider a small width of fencing laid flat on the inside also, to hinder their digging out. When the kids are old enough to know about electric fence you can offset a wire to the inside also. Goats and pigs will abuse any fence and loosen it and make it look bad and may eventually wear through it....(mentioned this because you have this nice attractive frame built so aesthetics is obviously high on your priorities)

Thanks for the reply, I had planned on stapling it to the inside of the frame for a few reasons. First I thought it would look better for outsiders not to have to look at staples/fasteners and secondly Im planning on growing grape vines all along the fence and was going to train them on the wire. I guess I could bend the excess underneath it might just be a bit more tricky.

The chickens will hop to the top of your fence and drop down on the other side, even if you cut a wing. You might want to create a barrier on your fence top to prevent fly ups in this manner...some stretch a couple of pieces of plain wire, tautly, along the top to keep birds from being able to land there.

To date I havent experienced that since I have some temporary fencing up. I do have them clipped and give them over 1/8 of an acre to roam on including grass and food forest. But to your point I was going to put wires in the top area between the top of the "solid" area and the cap that sits on top, im hoping that will discourage them if it becomes a problem. I will need that wire anyway for the grapes. Thank you for the feedback.

Reminds me of the Mennonite saying re; fences- "horse high, bull strong, and pig proof"

Do you already have the chickens? We favored the heavy layers like orpingtongs, cochins, & australorps because they didn't like to fly over barriers. We could keep them out of the garden with a 2 foot fence and the 4' high post and rail fence was an insurmountable barrier to them. Banties can fly across the yard and land in the top of a tree - no containing them!

I think for grapes you'd want a heavy gauge wire because the weight and pulling to get off old canes when you prune will bend a lesser wire. You may want an inner fence to keep the animals away from the grapes. Hens will scratch away any mulch you try to use, and help themselves to the grapes they can reach. Goats would strip the leaves from your grape vines before you know it. On the other hand, hens will also eat the japanese beetles they can reach off of your vines, and my grapes did fine with no mulch under them. The hens liked the shade and beetles and I think deposited plenty of manure around the grapes. If you get a small pig, you can make a portable pen of hog panels to keep it where you want.

We thwarted our hens from landing on the wood gate to fly into the garden by running a taut string or wire a few inches above the top of the gate - they like to land on a solid surface and that string wobbled and tangled their feet.

Already have the chickens, actually got some buffs this time as well.

Im actually plannning on putting wire mesh over the ground where the grapes are to prevent digging around the base, I ahve done this with my trees along with small rocks and it helps quite a bit. Still allows them to do pest control without the destruction. Im actually counting on them to eat pests from the grapes...we will see Thanks for the input.

"hog panels" are one option that you could use.
they are typically ~4gauge wire and have openings that get smaller as it gets closer to the bottom. like this:


these arent cheap if you are buying new. in my area that are ~$25 per 16 ft piece. depending on how much you're trying to fence in. i have seen used versions for sale in varying conditions for much cheaper though.
this would keep pigs in, not sure about goats or chickens. you could then add a 12-18 in chicken wire around the bottom to discourage digging under the fence.

the quickest picture i could find that shows how the finished fence would look:


hope this helps.

Got it! I actually went and bought coated 2x4 galvanized/welded wire. A little pricing but another guy near me used it and its very sturdy. I havent had any major problems with digging yet but if I do I will have to add something to the bottom for sure. thanks everyone for your input.