I just helped my daughter’s second-grade class plant day-neutral strawberries in a raised bed behind her school. I’m wondering if I’ll need to help her class protect them from squirrels and chipmunks too, since I want to be sure every kid gets a strawberry. It would be very easy to lay a sheet of hardware cloth over the top of the raised bed, as they’re not full of soil all the way. The recommendation I see for keeping out chipmunks is 1/4 inch mesh hardware cloth. That’s narrower than I would have guessed, but I assume there’s a good reason for it. But I’m wondering, will pollinators be willing to go through that mesh to get to the flowers? I know they could fit through if they wanted to, but would they know that it’s worth their while? Has anyone here tried it? Or would 1/2 inch mesh be sufficient for keeping out chipmunks, and less of a barrier to pollinators?
I’ve seen bees have a hard time penetrating surprisingly coarse grids. In flight, they take up more space than when landed, and a leg or wing touch seems to repel them. It would depend on how highly they value the covered berries as opposed to easier, nearby flowers.
Perhaps the rodents will not bother the bloom phase and you can place a cover afterwards.
I don’t think you really need pollinators for strawberries. I grow them covered with tulle fabric starting when first green berries formed, and they continue to flower and produce under cover. I thing wind and touching plants when you pick berries pollinate them.
I like the idea of strawberries not needing pollinators, but when I googled it, I found reputable sources saying they do need them, or else the fruits are small and misshapen. Maybe pollinators are getting under your covers without you noticing.
Further googling reveals that some people actually hand-pollinate their strawberries for lack of insects. That seems like a lot of work, but with that many kids looking for any excuse to be outside, it might be feasible.
I don’t think there are any bees, but small insects like ants, may be small flies that are trapped under cover could be there. And wind. I only saying - this is how I grow it and I am OK with crop it gives me. Yes, secondary crop berries are generally a little smaller in size, but not badly small and misshapen. I never thought about it as lack of pollinators, just thought it is related to the nature of secondary berries. It would be interesting to replace tulle with netting and see if it makes the difference.
Another spoiler for strawberries is slugs. So after they start to form consider putting down some slug bait (coated iron phosphate). 1" hardware will keep out all but the smallest rodents. They will chew through bird netting IF they already know what is on the other side. Both of those will allow bees through. Voles will come up from underneath and if you see that the best way I have found to eliminate their predation is to use simple mouse traps. Not sure if any of this helps in your situation.
Thanks! You’ve thought of everything. I’ll avoid mousetraps near little fingers though.
Can anyone else confirm that 1 inch mesh thwarts chipmunks? At least I’m pretty sure it will thwart squirrels, which we have more of. Everyone online seems to recommend 1/4 inch mesh for chipmunks, but that does seem really tight. It would even shade the plants a bit.
Definitely, that’s why you place them under the hardware cloth and even under a box or other enclosure and use peanut butter - but since they can smell peanut butter from afar, don’t use it unless you suspect damage from rodents that are smaller then 1". 
Yes, one aspect of being able to harvest fruit is to learn how to grow them in Fort Knox.
Will school be out for the summer when the strawberries ripen? Mine ripen in June.
I don’t think 1 inch would stop a chipmunk. Not the ones I’ve seen. I’ve had plants under the 1/4 inch hardware cloth. It’s not too much shade. Don’t know if you get much hail but it helps a lot on that. I also tend to think the bees would get thru but that’s just a guess.
I suspect that 1" mesh would not stop most small rodents, at least not the ones we have here. They say that a mouse or small rodent can get thru a hole the size of a dime.
Also, hardware cloth is recommended (over say chicken wire) because it is much thicker strands of wire and will prevent the rodents from chewing a hole they can get thru.
If you are only relying on bees for pollination, then you might consider 3/8" hardware cloth. 3/8" is the bee space, so the bees can get thru it, but you likely will reduce their numbers as they will have to work harder. I’d probably go with 1/4" HC put on after they bloom.
“Junebearers” usually ripen in May here in Georgia, and school will still be in session then. I see flower buds on one already, and just saw an established plant in someone else’s garden blooming already, so it won’t be long until berries are ripe. These are day-neutrals, so they should bear for as long as people are watering them, which will be spring and fall. They’ll probably take a break from fruiting over the summer when they’re being neglected. I can go there to water them occasionally if they need help staying alive over a summer drought.
The trouble with the idea of uncovering them when they’re flowering is that ideally, they should always be flowering and fruiting during spring and fall. I guess they could just alternate.
I thought of doing junebearers instead, but thought the kids would find those boring for most of the year, and they’d just be taking up space.