How to Use Chicken Wire to Rabbit Proof a Raised Bed



Siwwy Wabbits! Stay out of my bean bed. The rabbits are eating all my beans and so in today’s episode we are showing you how to rabbit proof a raised bed to keep the rabbits out of your garden. Cheap, simple, and affective.

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41 thoughts on “How to Use Chicken Wire to Rabbit Proof a Raised Bed”

  1. I feel your pain, we had a rabbit mow down our beans a few days ago. I will be fortifying our raised beds with chicken wire this weekend. I also have a lightweight insect barrier I plan to over the plants to make it harder for the rabbits to get to our beans.

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  2. In central NH. No rabbits here. They would be at the bottom of the food chain. (coyotes, fox, fisher cats, bobcats) You made quick work of attaching the chicken wire fence to your raised bed. Siwwy Wabbit problem solved! Cheers!

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  3. Rabbits are the bane of my existence. I basically just don't grow things I know they will devour. All the deterrents are time consuming and only work for a little while. The only solution is grow things in tall raised beds. Rabbits can't jump that high so a reasonably high raised bed should do the trick.

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  4. For anyone interested in live trapping, it's actually less humane than you would think. A relocated animal has to find food, water and shelter before dark or else they most likely will starve, dehydrate or get eaten by a predator due to not having a burrow or shelter. It's killing them slowly rather an immediate euthanasia or extermination. I'm not for either.

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  5. The chicken wire is a sure thing…unless one wires the rabbit right into the garden😉.
    In the past, I have had great success using a trap with fresh apple peels inside. As savvy as these animals are, eventually they succumb to the temptation. It’s a great back up plan. Be sure to use organic apple peels. These critters know pesticides when they smell them👃

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  6. Bless your heart you think this is going to work. Rabbits will chew through that wire with no problem and crawl in. They also jump straight up and over. Been there with them. You can use the tougher square wire but they climb it and go over with ease as well. Just throw out birdseed like chicken feed every evening and they get full bellies but will back for more tomorrow evening. Make a movable scarecrow that moves with the wind. Your working with cute little rodents that have a brain. They’re looking for water also. Set out pans of water as well. Then if you didn’t thaw anything for dinner you’ll solve that problem too.

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  7. I did this to stop the rabbits, caught three eight foot blacksnakes the first night which ruined the netting.
    Without the snakes the rabbit population exploded.

    They ate everything that year.

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  8. We are looking into turning an old wooden bookcase into a raised planter. By putting legs on it, drilling holes in the back of it (this will be bottom), short rabbits can't get into it!🐇🥕

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  9. Have not seen rabbits in my garden in days, while watching this I turn my head and had to go chase one out of the garden. Caution videos may attract rabbits lol

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  10. I like this idea and put it around my outer property. Double layer of fence. Mint in between. There is a rabbit that climbed the chicken wire 4’ tall fence and jumped in. I’ve caught him/her in there and sprayed with a garden hose and spanked with a broom. Not easy to climb out the fence when being chased. I think he learned the lesson. Hasn’t been back in 3 weeks.

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  11. I don’t grow in raised beds. I grow straight into the soil. I fence in my garden plots (2 acres). All rodents will dig down and nothing will prevent ground squirrels, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, etc from accessing your garden plots. 5 years ago I got some indoor/outdoor cats. All rodents have vanished. Get some cats and raise them feral, but not as strays. They’ll be the best army you can implement.

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  12. I use #3 rebar for posts that I weave into the 2 foot chicken wire, so I don't need staples. And I lay wooden or metal stakes flat on the ground (inside and outside) that helps prevent them from tunneling under. But if they dig a tunnel, then I put my live trap right inside where the tunnel is, so they have to go into the trap once they're under the fence. Plus we have lots of coyotes that help keep the population in check. Although this year they're really thick.

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  13. My problem is a few baby groundhogs. Would you still say 2 ft high is good to keep them out also. I have a 4ft rabbit fence around the garden now but have watched them squeeze thru the bigger section of that fence.
    They ate my peas, beans, cantaloupe and cucumbers. They are eating better than us!

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  14. I built taller raised beds to thwart the rabbit feasts but am now dealing with groundhogs!! They are able to climb and eat just about anything including cilantro!

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  15. Hey Luke. I’d love to see a video on how to keep moles out of the garden. We put chicken wire at the bottom of our raised beds, but after several years it is breaking down and the moles are invading. LOTS of moles on our property this year!

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  16. In southern Ontario, last year was our year of the rabbit. We already used chicken wire on our 18” raised beds. It worked great. We also made a few cloche from old lamp shades and chicken wire. Still fighting the squirrels.

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  17. You never did say how you are reaching over your chicken wire to access your bed without scaring yourself all to pieces. I’m 4’11 and shrinking with a major rabbit/chipmunk problems in Kalamazoo/Battle Creek area with sandy soil. I live near a lake so not much soil and hot sun. I have a 2’ coated chicken wire around my garden at this time. The rabbits stay out mostly but the chipmunks just dig under

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  18. I actually went with the taller chicken wire, but agree this was a very effective method of keeping the rabbits out of my beds this year. In the bed I did not have chicken wire, the rabbits ate 100% of my snap peas. In the bed WITH the wire, they got none. Now all my beds lower to the ground have chicken wire. Unfortunately the rabbits have moved on to my flower beds, so I guess those are next.

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