I don't know if this is really farm related, but didn't know where else to put it. I seen some chain link for sale at Lowes and I am in the business to be looking to buy some. I didn't realize chainlink came in different gages but apparently it does. I am just going to be fencing off a spot about 75x50 for a garden inside my yard. What gage should I get? Obviously the heavier it is, the pricier it will be and I don't want to overspend for quality I don't really need, but I don't want to put up something and later decide I should have used better. Is there a standard gage used for residential yards?

Looks like Lowes carries in stock, the 11 gage but you can order a 9 gage, but the price goes up quite a lot.

Do the heavy gauges have recommended uses like "cattle" or "high security"?

My uninformed guess is that "standard" chain link fence like for a schoolyard is heavier than you need. I don't remember seeing "lightweight" chain link.

I assume that you aren't trying to keep elk or brown bears or wooly mammoths out of your yard.
Maybe much cheaper "woven wire" fencing would be enough.

If you are trying to keep neighbors, especially kids, out of your yard, probably chain link is better than having them trample over lighter stuff. Someone decided to short-cut through my garden and trampled down a little knee-high fence that must have been in his way. (grrr)

P.S. I read that in India they rub "Ghost Peppers" (Bhut Jolokoi chili peppers) on fences to keep wild elephants from knocking them down. It must be effective, becuase once I spr9nkled some chopped pizza peppers on a seed bed, and I have NEVER seen wild elephants since then.

LOL well I have elephants of the canine variety and some felines also I would like to at least slow down. I don't recall seeing any Wooly kind, but I do have herds of white tails and I HATE those. Really, really despise them you understand. I know 5 ft chainlink will not prevent them entirely, but I would have to think they will slow them down at least, especially if I put a row of shrubs on the inside. I do plan on planting shrubs and I hope the lighter gage will be strong enough to support them growing on them and some clematis vines. I don't anticipate any children climbing on it, our neighbor kids are kept home pretty well.
I just looked at the 11 gage and though it seemed so light and flimsy, but maybe once it is stretched tight, it won't be that way so much. I think the strength too is in cementing the posts properly so the mesh is supported strong.

Ahh, keeping some animals out and others in does take a solid fence.

>> herds of white tails and I HATE those.

Bambi is cute for a few days, then we realize that they are just great big omnivorous rats with short tails. Good luck! Once you have the fence up, maybe your dogs will motivate the deer to move on down the road.

I had a cat who loved to "herd" the female wild turkeys harvesting bugs and worms from my lawn. They just drifted away from him but otherwise ignored him. Then the tom turkey came out of the woods and humiliated my cat by making him leave faster than he could disguise as a casual walk. That taught him not to mess with the ladies!

>> row of shrubs on the inside.

I have read that making them worry about their "landing zone" helps deter them from trying the fence. Someone else suggested that, if they don't see enough room on the inside to get a running start, they will know that they can't get back out and hence not jump in. I wonder about that!

I agree that the fence's strength comes from the posts (and top rails).

well my big scary dogs consist of Foofie, a 10 lb poodle and Romeo (my boyfriend) a poodle of a whopping 4 lbs when wet. He is scared of the neighbor's cats who come sit on *his* back deck. He hates they are there, but what's HE gonna do about it! He barks viciously at anything that so much as twitches but poor thing just doesn't have it... ya know.

Ahhhh. I understand.

I used to have a Labrador Retriever, "Missy". A friend of my father's gave her to us because he could tell from a young age that she didn't have the smarts to be a working retriever.

A cat came into our yard and she went to check it out. She only realized that she could chase it, because it ran away. Well, that made cat-chasing a lot of fun so she chased it out of our yeard, back into the cat's yard, and then (unfortunately for Missy) chased it into a corner.

Big mistake.

Once cornered, the cat TERRIFIED Missy, who ran home twice as fast as she had chased the cat away, and now the enraged cat was chasing Missy with much more apparent homicidal intent than Missy had chased it with.

wow that would be embarrassing for a large dog. I read somewhere that dogs don't know what size they are. That is true for my Romeo who thinks his Great Great Great Great Grandfather was a doberman. I am worried that the cat will scratch him in the eye, so it is a little more serious for him than just naughty fun gone embarrassingly wrong lol

In my experience, the part of a chain link fence that best determines its strength is the size of the pipe hardware not the mesh.

>> wow that would be embarrassing for a large dog.

Well, Missy was good-natured and far from bright. Once the cat hissed at her, I'm sure she thought that it was a dangerous, carnivorous 20-foot demon condensed into 12-16 inches. I don't think she was embarrassed to run away from something 1/4 her size - she was probably relieved to survive.

EVERY time Dad drove into the driveway and walked to the door, she would bark non-stop. Mailmen and strangers got the wagging tail.

She loved to chase things, and sometimes we would throw sticks into a lake for her to swim after. Once (little, brat that I was) I faked throwing the stick but didn't let go. Missy had faith that if she swam far enough and fast enough, she would find it, even though she never saw it fly through the air. It was really hard to convince her to come back! If it had been the ocean, she would probably have headed for England in perfect confidence.

oh, that's mean.
sounds like something my dh would do

I was young and thoughtless. I was about to dive in and go after her when I guessed what would do it.

I threw ANOTHER stick and she brought that one back.