Apron Versus Digging in Fence Wire

[corliss]

I am finishing our chicken run this week which is a covered chain link dog kennel. I have read all of the postings on hardware cloth fastened to the bottom two feet of the run and have enough 4' high rolls to do the job. My question is this: is putting an apron down (the much easier method) going to be just as good as digging a trench a foot deep and burying the wire? I really want to believe a two foot apron fastened with landscape pins will work because our rocky Connecticut soil makes you understand why the farmers all migrated to the west. On the other hand, if an apron makes the pen more vulnerable than the trench method, I guess I'll shoulder the pick axe and start working. Has anyone who used the apron method ever had anything try to dig under it? And, if so, was it easy to notice and stop the digger?

 

[teach1rusl]

Opinion only...I would say a 24 inch apron, if well secured, would be just as effective as 12 inches of buried wire. Now, I think buried wire looks nicer, because there's nothing there visually. I use an apron, and the only thing I've had dig under is danged moles. So maybe the 12 inch buried wire would have kept the moles out??? lol But maybe not, because I think those daggone moles could tunnel to China.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I think if you wire the apron wire to the vertical wire it will work as well as digging it in. I would rake the area around the fence very clean before putting the apron wire down. Once you have it wired to the fence and laying flat on the ground then rake the grass, leaves, whatever back over the top of the wire. Some landscaping pens to hold down any place there it wants to stick up would help as well.

I built my rooster pen like this. It's heavily tree right there and I did not care to have to chop through so many roots. So I measured off where I wanted the pen to be, raked the fence lines very clean, rolled out the wire, pinned it down then put the cattle panels right down the center of the wire. Been more than two years now and nothing had dug under.

.....Alan.

 

[crazyhen]

I tilled the area around the fence and buried the L shaped wire skirt with soil and topped with grass. You can not see it. Creatures tend to try and dig under a wire at its edges and can dig as much as two feet a night if not impended by a wire. They just don't seem to get that moving away from the fence would get them under. JMHO Gloria Jean

 

[turkaholic]

I have always used an apron, even though I live in an area with very sandy soil and easy digging. Predators such as fox or even a dog will dig at the base of the pen, where the wire meets the ground. If they encounter resistance via the apron, they will either give up or move over and start again. They don't "think", well maybe if I move out two feet I'll get in. If moles are the only thing I have tunnel under, I'm happy. Given the pests they are, at least poultry isn't on their menu!

 

[littlepeepers]

I was curious about making a run out of a dog kennel too. Do you think it worked well? Do you like it? How did you do it? Is yours covered? We live in rainy Washington so ours would have to be covered but I don't know how to do it. Could you post some pictures of your run? It would really help me. A couple more questions: can you move your run? is your coop in your run? is it a chicken tractor? where did you get your dog kennel and how much did it cost? Thank you so much!

 

[teach1rusl]

Quote:
If you're talking about one of those panel dog runs, roofing it would be pretty easy if it was no bigger than a 10x10. You could do a frame type of thing slightly larger than your pen size (out of 2x4s), cover than in metal roof panels, and then affix it to your dog pen. Also, lowes, home depot, tractor supply company (a 10x10 @ $300 for cheap brand), and many other places sell dog runs. You can also often times find them on craigs list for much less money.

 

[NWChicks]

Quote:
We are in Washington as well, right at the base of the Cascade foothills so you know we get lots of rain! We are also using a 10 x 10 dog kennel as our main run. We have one extra piece of fence panel that we have tied to the top of the pen so it covers one half. We had done this when we used it for a dog and covered the fence panel with a tarp and it worked pretty well. For the chickens we're more concerned about predators, especially the eagles that are constantly circling overhead. The fencing will work to keep those out.

For the other half of the run we will use a roll of wire though we haven't yet decided on the size of the openings. We will be putting clear plastic roofing over at least part of the run to keep them dry and make sure their dusting area is dry too. We're going with clear roofing because as you know, when the rain sets in we get lots of dark, dreary days in a row and we figure this will allow light in even though they'll be covered. The one bonus of all that snow we had last year is that it bent the panel we use as part of the roof down some. We flipped it over and now have a nice peak to ours!

 

[Kittymomma]

I used an apron around my broody/grow out 7x13 dog kennel and it works great. The neighbors idiot wolf hybirds weren't able to dig into the 4x4 kennel I was using a couple of years ago to let my DD's rabbits have some on the ground time in so I'm very comfortable with the safety of aprons. The rabbits nearly died of fright, but the apron kept them safe.

 

[corliss]

I was curious about making a run out of a dog kennel too. Do you think it worked well? Do you like it? How did you do it? Is yours covered? We live in rainy Washington so ours would have to be covered but I don't know how to do it. Could you post some pictures of your run? It would really help me. A couple more questions: can you move your run? is your coop in your run? is it a chicken tractor? where did you get your dog kennel and how much did it cost? Thank you so much!

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I don't have my chickens in the run yet but I ordered a dog kennel run from the local fencing company. At first I went with a 12 X 7 size run but by the time we got the coop built (8 X 4) it took up too much room. We ordered two more 5 foot panels to extend it a little and when they are in it should be fine. The cost was ridiculous (in the neighborhood of $1500) but I figured I could sell the run if the chickens didn't work out, plus they would be completely safe (a big priority for me). And I did get a panel for the top also as we have a lot of hawks and raccoons. I thought I'd throw a shade cloth up there in summer and see how well it worked in winter too to keep the snow in the run from building up. I used to live in Washington and my sister is in Kingston so I know about your rain! I think if I lived there I'd try a white plastic tarp on the top to get protection without losing all the light. And for your last question, the run is moveable right now without the top panel but it's probably going to take some strong men to move it after the top is installed. It definitely isn't a chicken tractor!

I think if I were to do this over, I'd probably try Craig's List and the local paper to locate a used dog run. It would've cut our cost down considerably.

The pictures I'm posting are without the five foot panel additions.