So I saw a racoon in the yard today and knowing I am getting chicks I need to start thinking safety. 1st there will be wire cloth instead of chicken wire on the coop and run. Next I will bury cinder blocks down and put the coop on the blocks to level. I got a 150ft of wire cloth 1/4 inch for 26.00 at a garage sale. ( I know, what a steal). I was thinking of digging down, then placing the cinder blocks on top and bringing the wire up and staple it to the bottom of the coop and run. I know it's a lot of wire but I have alot of it. Then I was thinking about putting an electric wire along the bottom and another a few inches up. I already have the electric fence when I used it for my dogs. Is that going overboard or is it a good idea. I am an animal lover and it would break my heart to see anyone harmed. Thanks Deb
Hard to go overboard. More is better. Being a trapper I know a lot about the behavior of predators. Coons are strong, skunks are diggers, possums and cats will attack from above, weasels and mink will dig under or slip through a mousehole. Guard against all of these access points. Staple all your mesh at attachment points with 3/4" fencing staples (the pain in the arse hammer in hit your thumb kind). Better yet sandwich under a strip of plywood and wood screw down. Bury the mesh at your run at least 6", stake down with landscape stakes and backfill with landscape rock or "borrowed" railroad ballast and heavy soil with clay in it mixed. Water it down compact slightly and let dry. Will set almost like concrete. This will discourage digging by anything but a badger or very determined dog. I designed run to coop and run to outside doors out of some 1X12 oak I had laying around. They slide in a 2X4 channel sanwiched around a 1X2 board and driven 12" deep. They are secured on both sides by a polebarn spike pushed into a tight deep hole drilled through the 1X2 spacer and 2"into the 1X12 oak. Even a bull-headed black lab couldn't push through those. I live by a swamp so I built a chicken fortress. My coop is inside my barn, stick framed and sheathed with 1/2" OSB. It would meet code for an interior room.
Quote:sounds like a good set up but the electric fence will kill small animals (mice and moles) trust me I have to fling them in the woods every once and a while.