Chicken Run

[cravenchx]

WHOO-YOO!!
Just finished putting concrete around
the wire in the ditches around the coop.
Will fill with dirt after set up. Almost finished
covering the run! The girls will be out soon!!!
Hurray!

 

[galanie]

 

[Mingming]

Please excuse my very new question.... but why? why put concrete? will that help deter predators? or just stop it from moving around? I'm trying to decide on the best coop and chicken run I can make and make it as secure as possible.... I thought I was buying dual purpose birds, but as it turns out they're pets

 

[mad4horses]

If you want to deter predators and you don't want to use concrete, you need to dig the fencing down I would say at least 1.5 to 2 ft down.
Concrete would certainly make it very permanent but if you want the option of moving the run I probably wouldn't use concrete.

 

[Jaxon4141]

Predator skirts, that come out from the fence along the ground can be covered with soil and are not as hard to move if you decide to move a run. They are reliable predator guards.

 

[cravenchx]

We didn't use concrete along the run, we did dig about
8 inches around the run and bury the fencing. We just
used the concrete around the coop. We could still move the
run, if we wanted to. We will not be moving the coop.

 

[Jaxon4141]

I'm still a little confused. The concrete is for the foundation for the coop, right? How are you protection the runs? The reason I mention skirts for run protection is, from a predators point of view it's a matter of how much energy is spent to get to your goal.
So say I'm a fox and you have your fence buried 8" below ground. I come up to the edge of your run and I smell chickens. I love chicken dinner. My first instinct is to a dig under the fence. So for this to happen the fox would need to dig down 8" plus the width of his body and he's in. A fox can dig a 12" hole in under an hour if it's the ground is not full of stones.
With skirts, I come up to the to your run and I smell chicken. My first instinct is to dig under the fence, but wait, there is fence under my feet. If I'm not real a clever fox I'll walk around and around the run looking for a place to dig under the fence or find some other weak point. If I'm a real clever fox and I figure out that I must move back to the edge of the wire skirt, and let say the skirt is 16" wide, I now have to dig 16" plus my body width to get into your run. Twice the effort to get in and I would need to be very clever to figure it out.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Digging to put in wire or concrete is a LOT of work when you can accomplish the same goal by simply laying a wire apron on the surface and covering it with just enough dirt to let grass grow up through it.

This 100 lb dog dug this far in less than 2 minutes chasing a mole
Notice she has her shoulders in the hole, and her legs are reaching down, which makes the hole about 16 inches wide and 18 inches deep already

 

[Gigiintheforest]

That certainly makes a good point!

 

[Mingming]

Less work and more predator proof? I'm sold too! Thanks so much for everyone's advice!