Burying 2x12 instead of wire (?) Waddya think?

[joebryant]

Is there any reason why burying a long, treated 2x12 would not work as well as burying hardware cloth a foot deep. I'm thinking of using the treated wood because I could attach 2x4s above it spaced every four feet for attaching the hardware cloth to above.

 

[dixygirl]

You would not even have to bury it. You could just nail it across the bottom all around. You could also use field stone, tiles, bricks etc.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Thanks, but putting it at ground level would not stop the digging predators. Many people have wire buried a foot deep, but I'm wondering if wood would do the same job just as well.

 

[tvtaber]

IMHO, all the dug in fence or wood does is frustrate the digger and get them to give up and look for an easier meal. You can use anything you have around. Isn't a 2x12 pretty pricey? Maybe a 2x4 in the 12 inch deep ditch and work up from there with the hardware cloth would be cheaper but just as secure.

 

[jkcove08]

I think that would work great and I would suggest that you nail the hardwire about 4 inches down on the boards before you bury them. This way you have your wire under ground and still have something 12 inches down. Jenn

 

[dixygirl]

They usually dig right next to the fence or wall so they would just scratch the wood. I have field stone on top of the ground around my peafowl cage for many years. Same principle.

The only point of burying wire a bit is so they can't lift it up and go under it... nothing else. A 2x12 is already too heavy for them to lift.

 

[patandchickens]

You could do it but it would be more expensive and a lot more work than just making a 'normal' grade board (out of like 4x4 or 2x4 or 2x6, p.t.) and then having a digproof mesh skirt lying ON the ground, extending out a coupla feet.

Also I would bet on a 2-3' skirt being more digproof than a merely 12"-deep buried thing.

Also also, you might well have to special-order the p.t. 2x12 because you'd need one treated for burial and AFAIK the ones they usually keep in stock are not that "much" treated.

JMO,

Pat

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Hmmmmm, I didn't know THAT. Maybe I'd better go with the 2-3' skirt instead.

 

[patandchickens]

Honestly the only disadvantage of the skirt (assuming you use heavy enough gauge wire that predators can't just rip it apart, i.e. I would not use most of what passes for chickenwire these days but anything else should do) is that if you leave it lying atop your lawn it'll cause a problem for mowing. (But, if your lawn abuts your coop/run, you can either create a flower/mulch/stone/whatnot bed along the coop or run, or you can roll back the turf and bury the skirt under the top coupla inches).

Digging something in several feet deep is FAR more work, and anything but stone or pavers will eventually rot or rust and you may not find out til after Mr Coyote does.

JMHO,

Pat

 

[lleighmay]

I use welded dog wire for the skirt and 2x4 or 2x6 boards (depending on what I've got) at the bottom of the frame. I also cut channels in the wire so it fits flat around the 4x4 uprights and will be held down by the bottom frame. Scalp the grass as low as you can get it around the perimeter before you put the wire down and look at your local home improvement store for landscape pins (heavy wire u-shaped pins about 6" long) which you step into the ground to stake down the skirt at intervals, especially out toward the ends where it tends to tip up. By the time the grass grows back up through the wire it will hold it down flat and you will be able to mow with no problem.