- Jan 21, 2015
- 102
- 9
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So my husband and I are almost done building a grow-out pen/coop for our chicks. It will be for outside, so that our current hens can see the new ones behind hardware cloth, and get used to them. It's basically a mini-coop/run. Now that we have it outside on the ground, I think I may have made an error, or not thought everything through.
I decided to make the floor of the run hardware cloth, because this won't be a permanent structure. So instead of laying an apron around the perimeter of the coop/run to keep animals from digging under, I just put the hardware cloth under. But now that it's out there, I'm thinking it wasn't the best idea. I know they're going to want to dig. I was planning on putting a big layer of dirt, shavings, straw, leaves, something on the floor so they aren't always walking directly on the hardware cloth.
Is this a bad idea? How else could I predator proof to keep animals from digging under? Will having a deep layer of stuff there enough? It's 1/4" hardware cloth. One solid sheet running the length of it...
I decided to make the floor of the run hardware cloth, because this won't be a permanent structure. So instead of laying an apron around the perimeter of the coop/run to keep animals from digging under, I just put the hardware cloth under. But now that it's out there, I'm thinking it wasn't the best idea. I know they're going to want to dig. I was planning on putting a big layer of dirt, shavings, straw, leaves, something on the floor so they aren't always walking directly on the hardware cloth.
Is this a bad idea? How else could I predator proof to keep animals from digging under? Will having a deep layer of stuff there enough? It's 1/4" hardware cloth. One solid sheet running the length of it...