Using Landscape fabric for the chicken run floor.

[GrandpaJoe]

I am thinking about using landscape fabric as a floor under my shavings. That way, I don't need to worry about a predator tunneling under the chain link fence (Old Dog Pen) that I am using for the run area. they can tunnel until their little hearts content, only to find the floor impenetrable. Pen will have a solid roof and chicken wire wrapped around it. The chickens can free range during the day and I do have a time tested coop that was purchased from the Farmers COOP years ago. Just want to be able to let the flock exit coop into the dog pen area from time to time when the weather is inclement. Any thoughts on this idea?

 

[Stravager]

Not sure about landscape fabric, but chicken wire is definitely not predator proof. It keeps chickens in but nothing out aside from hawks or owls.

 

[Huntmaster]

I am thinking about using landscape fabric

If you're talking weed barrier landscaping fabric, it wouldn't keep any predator from digging through it.

 

[RoyalChick]

I don’t think landscape fabric - even the really heavy duty stuff that contractors use - will be enough.
The chickens will rip through it and a weasel or rat will have no trouble biting through it.
Leave bare earth (chickens love it) and put a skirt on the outside to prevent diggers.

 

[goats-n-oats]

I don't think landscape fabric would stand up to rats or minks' teeth. Also it would absorb water and bacteria and be hard to clean. You could try, instead of 1" chicken wire, 1/2" hardware cloth, and, on top of that, rubber horse stall mats. The mats will be nicer for the ducks' feet and can also easily be mopped and disinfected. The hardware cloth underneath, if affixed to the sides of the coop as well, will keep out predators.

 

[Lillith37]

I used geotextile fabric and shadecloth to remediate contaminated soil in my yard. I don’t think it would be rat or fox proof if they decided to dig/chew through it.

The fabric will fray and eventually succumb to chicken scratching as well.

 

[rosemarythyme]

As others have noted landscape fabric is not predator proof, not chicken proof, and is probably harmful in the long run as it gets shredded up, as chickens could eat pieces of it.

Chicken wire is also not predator proof. You're better off using hardware cloth on the run walls, and aproning around the perimeter of the run with 18-24" in additional hardware cloth. Very good photos of an apron: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-coop-project.1169916/page-2#post-18481100

 

[lisadee216]

I don’t think landscape fabric - even the really heavy duty stuff that contractors use - will be enough.
The chickens will rip through it and a weasel or rat will have no trouble biting through it.
Leave bare earth (chickens love it) and put a skirt on the outside to prevent diggers.

Can you explain the skirt? How to make it…

 

[Ted Brown]

Can you explain the skirt? How to make it…

A skirt is pieces of hardware cloth attached to the bottom outside edges of the run or coop that deters predators from digging under the walls and inside the run/coop.

The HC is usually 16-18 inches wide and lays flat on the ground. It works because animals will go the the vertical wall and then try to dig, the HC prevents that and the intruder goes elsewhere.

Very simple and effective.

 

[RoyalChick]

Can you explain the skirt? How to make it…

As @Ted Brown described.
Mine is attached to the bottom of the run wall and goes out horizontally. It can be on the surface or buried. Surface ones tend to get buried over time anyway.
Digger will try to dig at the base of the wall of the coop or run and can’t make a hole because they hit wire.
Mine has both cattle panel and hardware cloth because I am paranoid!