Since you are attempting to block burrowing squirrels which come up within the run walls (I think some posters have missed this), would an alternative to digging out be to place 1'x1' 1-inch thick concrete pavers on the surface with tight junctions? (not mortared together, just nearly touching, to allow for drainage.) It sounds brutal on the back and hands, but definitely simpler and cheaper, as these blocks typically runabout a buckless than $2 apiece.
You would then want to add solid sides (fascia board, etc.) at the bottom of the run walls, because I would want to have at least 18" (picked that out of the air, but I've seen chickens dig) of run litter between the blocks and the chickens' feet.
No doubt there'd be some other things to work through. Just still struggling with the thought of all that dirt, then laying down the HWC, then replacing the dirt. And although you're in desert conditions, HWC does rust and rot over time. It would be pretty awful to go through all that just to have a small spot rust out, only for the squirrels to find it and come on through.
Edit: whoa, I thought for sure that I paid less than that this spring.
In that caseI would also suggest laying the hardware cloth on the ground and building up. I thought you chose 2 feet because the squirrels didn't go down that far.
Is there a Sun State or other equipment rental place near you? They'd have a burly tiller you could rent. Might also look at a big auger. not as efficient, but still better than a shovel.Fellow desert dweller asking the real questions! I've been digging around to find the caliche. It's not consistent. We picked an area for the run where the caliche seems to be deeper than two feet but I guess we won't know for sure until we start clearing it out.
That was my plan. Home Depot won't rent a tiller for ground that hasn't been tilled in years and their smallest excavator won't fit through our gate. Tillers designed for breaking new ground aren't cheap.I'll ask around to see if maybe someone has one I could borrow, you never know.
This property used to have a lawn and fruit trees, decades ago. The ground doesn't seem that hard if I can dig it out with a regular ol' shovel. I dig in it regularly to get dirt to fill in spots in the current run and pens. Once I dug down 2' to start a garden although that was after a rain when the ground had soaked for a bit.
By “within the walls”, I meant inside the walled area of the run - inside the run and pen, as you wrote. I agree that burrowing squirrels are on a whole different nuisance level of what most of the rest of us have to deal with!The squirrels don't dig into the walls, they dig under them and come up inside the run and pens. The run/pen "walls" are just hardware cloth. The coop itself is wood and it's elevated several feet off the ground. It's predator-proof and safe from squirrels and other nasties.
I have thought about the hardware cloth eventually rusting. I hate the idea of the squirrels getting in after all that work and I hate even more the idea of a hen hurting herself on a sharp, rusty wire.
I'm hoping we'll have moved out of here by the time that becomes an issue. Every year I resolve never to go through another six months of desert summer hell, yet here I am.
Construction costs are about to bump up here, too, as we move into construction season (Nov-Mar). I'm trying to get a little ahead of it.
