Last year we had an influx of rabbits in our yard and garden. I actually had a rabbit nest in the garden. In a rush to get something up quickly to keep the varmints out, I just slammed some chicken wire and wood scraps for posts together as a quick fix. The fence kept the rabbits out but didn’t stand the test of time. This past fall I rolled it all up and threw everything away.
This year we have more rabbits than last, and this past weekend I took a different approach. I decided to build panels that I could easily setup and reuse in the next couple of years. I used 3/4″x3″x8′ lathe bought at HD. The chicken wire I bought at HD also but found that the 4′ x10′ rolls where $2 less than the 2’x10′ rolls. I had to do significantly more cutting of wire than I wanted to but it went pretty quickly. The total project only cost me $40 and I made 6 panels.
I forgot that I had a pneumatic stapler in the basement and a box of various sized staples. The stapler made easy work of putting the panels together. I call them panels but they are actually frames. On the 4 corners I just ran some 1″ staples into each corner and then 1/4″ staples to fasten the chicken wire to the frames. I kept the wood cutting, and dimensions all simple with nothing fancy.
Each panel is 2′ high by 8′ long. The garden is 20′ by 10′. With the 8′ panels I can overlap and zip tie to a stake. If I want to make the garden bigger I can just move the stakes and not overlap the panels. When fall comes? I just cut a few zip ties and stack the panels in the garage.
All told I spent about 2.5 hrs. and $40 in materials. Very simple project.
The center panel I can slide open or just lift out.
Ad Parare 