How to keep rodents out

[Motherofsilkies]

hi y'all! I'm new to the the Forum so apologies if this subject has already been discussed. Ive heard there's several ways to install the coop to prevent rodents from digging their way into the coop but I can't seem to find a good tutorial on YouTube, and i need visuals. do you dig trench and lay the coop in it? how do you use the hardware fabric for this purpose? is the apron the same as the hardware fabric method? any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Helloworld]

Take metal siding they use on buildings and bury it down at least two feet underground up against coop.

 

[blackdog043]

I used 1/2 hardware cloth laid out on top of the dirt, pinned it down with landscape pins, then covered it with wood chips. Here's a couple links on aprons.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1110498/wire-around-coop#post_17093528
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-coop-project.1169916/page-2#post-18481208

 

[flyin-lowe]

On my run I bought some welded wire fence that was 24 inches tall. I just set if flat on the ground around the entire perimieter and then set the bottom rails of my run directly on it. The grass etc. will grow up through it in no time and you won't be able to see it and can mow over it etc. For the coop itself I cut strips of hardware cloth that were like 18 inches tall. I bent them in half down the middle so part of it sits on the ground and the other part sticks up along the side of the coop. I then screwed the top portion into the side of the coop. I did have a skunk manage to pull part of that down last year and get under the coop so I had to stiffen it up a bit.

 

[aart]

Take metal siding they use on buildings and bury it down at least two feet underground up against coop.

I used 1/2 hardware cloth laid out on top of the dirt, pinned it down with landscape pins, then covered it with wood chips. Here's a couple links on aprons.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1110498/wire-around-coop#post_17093528
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-coop-project.1169916/page-2#post-18481208

A combo of these suggestions may be needed.
Apron on surface might work fine, but rats can dig pretty deep...
....and I've read several stories of them tunneling under the surface aprons.

 

[Motherofsilkies]

Has anyone tried covering the floor of the coop with hardware fabric as well? Or would it make it too difficult to get clean?

 

[briecardosa]

Has anyone tried covering the floor of the coop with hardware fabric as well? Or would it make it too difficult to get clean?

I have 1/2" PVC coated hardware cloth lining the floor of my coop / run and it seems to work. The only rodents I've seen this year were pecked to death. I buried the hardware cloth about 6" deep and covered with another 6" of straw. I haven't cleaned the floor or had problems since I installed in March. I use a poop board too so that catches the majority.

 

[aart]

Has anyone tried covering the floor of the coop with hardware fabric as well? Or would it make it too difficult to get clean?

I have HC on the floor of my coop, it's covered with a single sheet of heavy duty, foam backed vinyl flooring.