Zinc wire can be used in many places, is it used for holding animals? Here I
will tell you some about these.
If you keep small birds as pets, you may have heard that you shouldn’t use
galvanized hardware cloth when making your own birdcage. The reason is that high
levels of zinc can be toxic (this is true for humans too). When hardware cloth
is galvanized, sometimes little globs of it will be left near where two wires
cross. Small birds that use their beaks to climb and maneuver around their cage
can eventually break these off and swallow them whole.
This is not a problem with chickens, however, both because of their much
larger size and because they don’t climb or chew on the cloth with their
beaks.
What about plants? Plants actually need zinc, though as with anything, too
much can be harmful. You’ll notice with your hardware cloth that, over time, the
finish begins to get duller. This is the zinc gradually weathering off the wire,
washing down to the ground. This process happens so slowly that it should not
create a harmful buildup of zinc in the soil.
Although zinc wire is harmful for holding animals and plants, it can be used
in other place.
