Anchoring Coop and Run on very hard ground?

[deborahca]

We live in the high desert where both high wind and very hard ground are an issue. The soil where the coop and run are to be sited is rock-hard caliche. The coop is rather lightweight and we were thinking of a covered run, so these will need to be well anchored so as to not become sails in 30 mph gusts (our wooden feeder for the wild quail took a flight down the hill during the last windstorm and it was really quite substantial).

My husband was thinking in terms of drive-in fence posts as for electric fence and a BFH. I'm starting to think in terms of wiring the wooden coop and fence posts to cement block and letting the weight of the cement block do the anchoring. It would either need to be completely filled in around the perimeter with cement block, or I'd need to make an apron of hardware cloth. Anyone else have ground that you need a professional power auger to make holes in? What was your solution?

 

[4 the Birds]

We live in the high desert where both high wind and very hard ground are an issue. The soil where the coop and run are to be sited is rock-hard caliche. The coop is rather lightweight and we were thinking of a covered run, so these will need to be well anchored so as to not become sails in 30 mph gusts (our wooden feeder for the wild quail took a flight down the hill during the last windstorm and it was really quite substantial).

My husband was thinking in terms of drive-in fence posts as for electric fence and a BFH. I'm starting to think in terms of wiring the wooden coop and fence posts to cement block and letting the weight of the cement block do the anchoring. It would either need to be completely filled in around the perimeter with cement block, or I'd need to make an apron of hardware cloth. Anyone else have ground that you need a professional power auger to make holes in? What was your solution?

You could build the coop and run on the ground and use substantial materials to make if heavy. Also sledge hammer some metal rods or fence posts attached to the corners to anchor. I only do digging in the early Spring with the ground is soft. Later in the Summer when things dry out the ground becomes really really hard to do fencing or fence posts. We get 50+ mph winds on occasion and our 15 ft. high windmill is simply anchored at the corners with 4 ft. long stakes. No problems after 6 years of storms. Renting a gas powered auger will be pretty frustrating if your ground is rock hard! Only tractor mounted augers really get the job done under rough conditions.

 

[deborahca]

Coop already exists, would like to make it work for the near term, so I'm hoping for a retrofit. It's definitely too light for the wind conditions, had already blown over, sans chicks. They are two weeks old, so we need to figure something out fairly quickly! We don't have a tractor and experiments with electric augers...Well, the ground laughed. How crazy is the cement block idea?

 

[vehve]

How about drilling holes with a hammer drill and using something similar to climbing anchors?

Or drill some angled holes, stick rebar in them, pour on concrete and put a hook or something in it

 

[deborahca]

We've tried drilling holes with a drill auger, but maybe we can rig something up with our big compressor? I'll have to look into the climbing anchors! Thank you.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I have soil just like yours. Actually, calling it soil is rather generous. It's more like concrete. I also have the wicked wind. I use spiral anchors to hold down a trellis for my grapevines that grow over the roof of my coop. They're easy to install and haven't pulled out. They might work for your situation too.

 

[vehve]

If the grounds hard enough (solid rock) small holes will do, these you'll easily drill with a hammer drill. I anchored my fence to granite, took about 10-15 min to drill a ½" wide 4" deep hole using a Hilti.

 

[deborahca]

I have soil just like yours. Actually, calling it soil is rather generous. It's more like concrete. I also have the wicked wind. I use spiral anchors to hold down a trellis for my grapevines that grow over the roof of my coop. They're easy to install and haven't pulled out. They might work for your situation too.

Nice! My husband lived in Tucson for a long time, he can probably easily compare our soil to that. Bet this would work great!