Barriers For Rabbits

 

Wire Mesh Fence

Ordinary chicken wire can rabbit-proof the flower or vegetable garden. Make sure the mesh size is no larger than 1½ inches. Place posts about every 3 feet. It is best if the wire is at least 3 feet above the ground. Obtain a 4-foot-wide roll of fencing so that you can bury the first foot of wire underground to prevent tunneling. Dig a trench and bend the first 6 inches of wire into an L-shape turned away from the garden, then bury it. Alternatively, buy ready-made rabbit netting which has 1-inch mesh at the bottom and 2-inch mesh towards the top.

Small Animal Barrier Stainless Steel Expandable Garden Fence

by Frame It All

  • Durable Stainless Steel Construction
  • Easy to Install
  • Will not harm pets or wildlife
  • contains all the materials to protect a 4 ft x 8 ft garden
  • strong nylon netting

Expandable Protection System adapts to all Frame-It-All raised gardens or directly into the ground. High enough to keep rabbits, woodchucks, and other small animals out of your garden. Made of durable stainless steel construction and strong nylon netting. It is easy to install and safe for wildlife and pets. Integrates easily with the Frame-It-All raised beds and the Veggie wall. Contains all the materials to protect a 4 ft. x 8 ft. garden. Includes 4 durable stacking stakes that anchor your your small animal barrier to our Frame-It-All raised gardens or directly into the ground.

Electric Fence

An electric fence is very effective in repelling rabbits and is cheaper and less trouble to erect than a wire mesh fence. A power unit, sometimes just flashlight batteries, sends timed pulses of low-voltage electricity through the wires strung on insulated posts. The mild repelling buzz does not harm people, pets, birds, other wildlife or the rabbit.

To erect a standard electric fence that will bar rabbits from most planted beds, use only two strands of wire, one set at 6 inches above soil level and the other at 12 inches. Electrify an existing chicken wire fence by insulating the fence posts and then by stringing a single strand of wire around the top of the mesh fence.

750RP - Electric Fence Kit For Pets

Complete kit contains one UL Listed electric fence energizer with fused panel offers protection against power surges, ten 23" PVC fence poles, one 22" ground rod, 100 feet of aluminum wire, 50 cotter pins for fastening wire, two extra fuses and complete easy-to-follow instructions. Input Voltage: 110-120 VAC, 60 Hz, .035 amp, 10 W. Up to 1 mile range under ideal conditions. Output Voltage 800 V

 

 



For more information see the file About Electric Fences

For all the components you need to build an electric fence go to our Yardener's Tool Shed;

click here

Tree Guards

Tree guards are an essential piece of equipment in the war against rabbits and other critters. To protect orchard or ornamental trees for the winter, wrap the lower portion of small tree trunks with commercial tree wrap, burlap, aluminum foil, ready-made plastic cylinders, or ¼-inch hardware cloth. The wrapping or cylinder should be at least 18 inches above the height of the deepest expected snow cover (rabbits can walk on top of the snow).


After a snowfall, tramp down the snow around the trees so rabbits can't chew on low limbs. Make sure freestanding guards are supported away from the tree trunks, otherwise the rabbits will lean against the guard and nibble the bark through the mesh or openings.

Row Covers

To protect vegetable and fruit crops planted in rows or narrow beds, create removable row covers to obstruct rabbits. Set up a series of supporting hoops or flexible PVC pipes as ribs over the bed. When vulnerable seedlings sprout, lay white, polyspun floating row cover or plastic mesh netting over the ribs to enclose the bed in a sort of tunnel. Both covers allow air, light and rain onto the plants, but block rabbit access.


Maintain the protective cover until the young seedlings have passed their most tender and delicious stage and become less attractive to rabbits. When they flower, be sure to remove the fleece material so pollinating insects can reach them. In the case of berries, lettuce and other salad greens, remove the cover only when necessary for harvesting.

Boxed Raised Beds

Some gardeners have observed that boxed beds seem to protect vegetable crops in some cases. Rabbits were seen to feed on lawn clover and ignore lettuce growing nearby in a raised bed surrounded by a wooden box. Rabbits seem to sometimes be reluctant to climb over the box edges.

Frame It All SBX-FNP 4-by-4-Foot Raised Garden Bed

by Frame It All

  • Outdoor raised garden adds color and beauty to your décor
  • Made using 60-percent recycled post-consumer plastic and 40-percent wood flour
  • Assembles in minutes
  • Includes 4 stacking joints, 4 composite plastic timbers, and all necessary hardware
  • 48 x 48 x 6 inches; 24 pounds

Growing vegetables in this 4' x 4' X 6" high, easily accessible Raised Garden is a joy and relieves stress. A ‘Frame It All’ raised garden greatly improves your odds of harvesting a bountiful crop of healthy, robust vegetables and plants. The strong durable composite timbers are hollow and retain the heat of the sunshine to difuse the heat throughout the night to and keep the soil at a constant temperature. Manufactured from 60% recycled, post-consumer plastic and 40% wood flour, the Eco-friendly durable composite wood grain plastic timbers, which never rot, splinter or lose their color - which just weathers naturally like real wood, locate into brackets on the joint stakes, which are hammered into the ground. Raised gardens are easy to manage by people of all ages. No back-breaking effort is required to teach even the youngest children the joys of growing and gardening. Kit contains 4 Stacking Joints, 4 Composite Timbers, and all necessary hardware.

Feed The Rabbit

Another way to protect the bark of trees and shrubs in winter is to feed the rabbits. Prune trees in the late fall and leave all the pruned branches lying on the ground near the trees. Rabbits prefer tender branch bark to trunk bark, so they will eat the prunings before they will attack the tree. Honeylocust branches are a favorite food.

Spring Seedling Protection

In the spring, protect young seedlings in the food garden with plastic milk jugs. Remove the bottoms, set them around the plants, and anchor them with soil so the wind doesn't carry them away or a pushy rabbit can’t knock them over easily. Remove them when the air gets warm as spring progresses, so young plants do not overheat.

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