# Rabbit fencing for a garden? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** gardening\ **Created:** [March 3, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074 "2025-03-03T16:57:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/1 "2025-03-03T16:57:58Z")
I’m thinking at least 2’ above ground and maybe 6" deep? Probably a coated 1" grid type of fencing. Will this work? I think the garden will be 15’ x 20’. Ground is fairly soft, so hopefully shallow trenching won’t be too hard. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/2 "2025-03-03T17:01:30Z")
The advice I got back in 2020 when I inexplicably had lots of extra time at home was to make it 3-4’ tall, and also _flat on the ground for 2’ around the perimeter._ Rabbits (and, for me, groundhogs) are excellent diggers, and can dig right under a fence–but they won’t try to dig until they get to the fence. If you have flat fencing on the ground, covered by mulch, they’ll try to dig right there, hit the fence, and be stymied. It’s like a moat, only instead of water, it’s wire. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/3 "2025-03-03T17:25:07Z")
Chicken wire. Embed the bottom in the ground or fold it down flat 6 inches outside the garden. I put up plastic coated grid wire as high as needed to stop other invaders and then a layer of chicken wire over that. Very difficult to keep rabbits and other diggers out. You can’t stop squirrels and you need pretty tall fencing to stop deer. ETA: 2 feet out as suggested above is even better. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/4 "2025-03-03T17:33:33Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Chicken wire…fold it down flat 6 inches outside the garden. This is what I did last spring (the fence around the main vegetable garden is about 2 1/2 feet tall). No rabbit incursions yet. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/5 "2025-03-03T17:47:50Z")
I got bunnies in my kale and tender greens as we speak. I hate those little bastards and their teeth marks on my leafy greens. 😡 I have bunny wire all around the garden spot. 3 feet. Then chicken wire is buried. Above is electric fencing. > **hidden by Mod** > > And a 22. with a good aim, helps. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/6 "2025-03-03T18:05:05Z")
No need to worry about deer, squirrels are pretty much impossible to keep out and I won’t try and groundhogs unlikely thankfully, I hate those little bastards. * * * * * * > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > And a 22. with a good aim, helps. Please keep the gun crap out of my thread, that is off topic to a static fence. ---
**Author:** ![a6ka97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@a6ka97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a6ka97)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/7 "2025-03-03T18:13:45Z")
2’ high poultry wire for the rabbits attached to 48” high cattle panels for the deer/humans. Never buried the poultry wire as I had no evidence of any tunneling critters at the time I put it up years ago. Last summer I got moles/voles in the yard, no evidence of damage in my garden yet. My have to redo the poultry wire with partially buried hardware cloth (smaller holes) if it becomes an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/8 "2025-03-03T18:40:07Z")
So sorry. Did not mean to offend. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/9 "2025-03-03T18:41:28Z")
I bought myself a 100 foot (?) roll of chicken wire about 20 inches high. It’s nice & pliable and the vinyl coating still looks good about 10 years later. I used it along the bottom of the the chainlink like the others describe to help manage rabbit traffic patterns. I’ve used the roll for other things, it’s sort of handy for holding the shape of bags and stuff. The zipties I used to secure it to the fence gave up, understandably, only after a year or two. What _have_ lasted well are aluminum rods ‘woven’ through and secured with wire. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/10 "2025-03-03T19:11:30Z")
My rabbit wire is secured with hog rings. There’s a tool you use to open them up, you place it where you want and release and double wire loop connects to two fences. Nothing has ever chewed thru them. That I noticed. If you think you might want to remove this use a less permanent connector. Nylon ties. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/11 "2025-03-03T21:12:48Z")
How did you train 'em to hold the epee? ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/12 "2025-03-03T21:18:17Z")
Ninja’d! Damn you 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/13 "2025-03-03T22:35:50Z")
That’s a dirty trick, the rabbits can’t eat with the tiny, custom made with ear holes, face cage. Cruel 😏 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/14 "2025-03-06T23:36:17Z")
I had one rabbit eating all my lettuce and other things. I asked my gardener and he simply put a “fence” around the garden using some 6" wide green netting. It seemed obvious that any self-respecting rabbit could have hopped over (or even dug under) but this one didn’t. And the gardener didn’t expect it to. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2025, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/15 "2025-03-07T01:40:59Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > > [@TriPolar](#): > > > > Chicken wire…fold it down flat 6 inches outside the garden. > > This is what I did last spring (the fence around the main vegetable garden is about 2 1/2 feet tall). No rabbit incursions yet. Should have mentioned that I hammered 10-inch metal landscape pins into the ground to hold down edges of the six-inch stretch of fencing that lies flat at the perimeter. It further discourages digging by the rabbit bastids. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2025, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/16 "2025-03-07T09:57:55Z")
> **post hidden by Puzzlegal** > > > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > > > I hate those little bastards > > But they taste so good! A rabbit and Guinness pie is delicious. Butchering a rabbit is a bit of a pain, especially because I had never done it before. Youtube to the rescue. The trick is to poke the ribs through the meat to remove them. > > A hearty glass of Guinness and some veg, then around an hour stewing, before placing in a deep pie dish and covering with pastry. Bake until the pastry is nicely coloured. > > You will soon come to welcome your rabbit neighbours. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2025, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/17 "2025-03-07T10:52:53Z")
Is there any way to fence off racoons? And does anyone know how they taste? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/18 "2025-03-07T13:50:26Z")
Moderating: Please keep this thread on the topic of rabbit fencing. Please do not discuss lethal methods of dealing with rabbits, nor any of the potential subsequences of those ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/19 "2025-03-07T13:55:59Z")
I’ve found that rabbits are lazy, unless they are very hungry or you are fencing off something they really love, like peas. So a lot of my rabbit fencing is just 8" of anything that gets in their way. That’s usually enough for them to decide to eat my grass, instead of whatever is inside the fence. But i agree that if they want to get under a fence, they dug very well. And extending the fence horizontally, just under the ground, is a good way to deter that. I use hardware cloth, but my more troublesome pest is chipmunks, which walk right through chicken wire. If i only had rabbits, I’d probably use chicken wire, which is cheaper and easier to deal with than hardware cloth. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074/20 "2025-03-07T14:44:16Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Should have mentioned that I hammered 10-inch metal landscape pins into the ground to hold down edges of the six-inch stretch of fencing that lies flat at the perimeter. It further discourages digging by the rabbit bastids. I have a few spikes holding the chicken wire down, along with rocks, bricks, mulch, and assorted dirt, sticks, and other other yard detritus over the chicken wire on the ground. Mentioned above by @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness is the idea that a layer of mulch on top of the wire fencing will cause rabbits to give up trying to dig through it when they hit the fence. I can’t verify that from my own experience but it makes sense. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-fencing-for-a-garden/1015074.md?page=2)