I find it easiest to cut chicken wire with aircraft style sheet metal shears. -It could be done with diagonal pliers or wire cutters, but that's a lot more effort.
I usually use diagonals for that.
"I used the pliers to cut the wire"
To make chicken wire tight, you can use pliers to twist and tighten the wire around the posts or frame. This will help secure the wire and prevent it from sagging or becoming loose.
Mechanical pliers are pliers that are used in mechanical jobs, like fixing motor parts, auto parts, machines , etc.
The best type of chicken wire fence is galvanized wooden cloth and it is very inexpensive. The only con to this type of wire fence is that it rust easily and if it slips out it will get pecked on.
Side cutters are pliers i haven't seen in the stores for a while. They had flat jaws and a small wire cutter on one side. A few of them were constructed so the jaws remained parallel. I have one pair dating from 1942 when they were made originally for the USAAF.
Cutting wire or wire nails, twisting wire, and using them as a temporary clamp are all appropriate uses of lineman's pliers. I've even used them to hold a nail in a particularly precarious position so that I could safely drive in the nail with a hammer.
Diagonal pliers (alos called wire cutters or diagonal-cutting pliers) are pliers intended for the cutting of wire (they are generally not used to grab or turn anything). They are sometimes called side cutting pliers or side cutters, although these terms are shared by other pliers designs, such as lineman's pliers, and may lead to confusion. The plane defined by the cutting edges of the jaws intersects the joint rivet at an angle or "on a diagonal", hence the name. Instead of using a shearing action as with scissors, they cut by indenting and wedging the wire apart. The jaw edges are ground to a symmetrical "V" shape; thus the two jaws can be visualized to form the letter "X", as seen end-on when fully occluded. The pliers are made of tempered steel and inductive heating and quenching are often used to selectively harden the jaws.
Chicken wire is used to contain a chicken, not protect it against predators. Often times people use hardware cloth instead of chicken wire-- as it protects against predators. To answer your question though, no chickens do not need chicken wire. Chicken wire can also protect the chickens from predators, especially if the lower part is well buried in the ground.
They are for cutting wire.
They are for stripping the insulation off electrical wire.
A pair of pliers for cutting wire.