Bury hard wear cloth or just skirt it out?

[Cmp211]

Hi chicken friends!
We’re currently finishing up our coop and run for our girls! My question is, for the perimeter of the run, what have you found to be more secure? Burring the hard wear cloth in a trench or skirting it out? And how deep should the trench be or how far out should be skirt?
Thanks in advance! ◡̈

 

[Shadrach]

Hi chicken friends!
We’re currently finishing up our coop and run for our girls! My question is, for the perimeter of the run, what have you found to be more secure? Burring the hard wear cloth or skirting it out? And how deep should we bury or how far out should be skirt?
Thanks in advance! ◡̈

Do both. Bury the hardware cloth in a tench so that it extends a couple of feet at ninty degrees to the fence on the outside of the fence.
Some people do just lay the skirt on the ground and eventually vegitation grows through it and holds it in place.

 

[Cmp211]

Do both. Bury the hardware cloth in a tench so that it extends a couple of feet at ninty degrees to the fence on the outside of the fence.
Some people do just lay the skirt on the ground and eventually vegitation grows through it and holds it in place.

Sorry I just updated my post, I wasn’t specific enough I meant digging a trench and burying it or just skirting it out from the fence

 

[Shadrach]

Sorry I just updated my post, I wasn’t specific enough I meant digging a trench and burying it or just skirting it out from the fence

Yes, dig a trench if you can and bury the hardware cloth in the trench. Don't bury the hardware cloth too deep. about six inches is plenty.
If it's too difficult to dig a trench then just lay the hardware cloth on the ground.

 

[Cmp211]

Yes, dig a trench if you can and bury the hardware cloth in the trench. Don't bury the hardware cloth too deep. about six inches is plenty.
If it's too difficult to dig a trench then just lay the hardware cloth on the ground.

Gotcha gotcha!! Thanks

 

[perkolator]

Personally I would only do the horizontal skirt on the surface, then bury it with a little bit of topsoil or mulch to hide it, and let plants/grass grow there so it's just under the surface and any predator will hit it early and be discouraged. Don't cover it with paver stones etc. as predators will just start digging at the edge where there's no protection.

To me burying an anti-dig skirting is just giving you extra labor....however, in some situations it might be good to extend some type of fencing into the ground, to keep the CHICKENS from digging and excavating at the fence edge. I have a few inches of 2x2 fencing down into the ground, only because I wanted horizontal fence lines on my sloped ground - it's helped keep chickens from excavating in those spots, but everywhere else where fence stops at the ground I've bordered with pieces of logs/fire wood to prevent digging at the edge. Also the bugs and worms live under the logs, and chickens love when I move them.