Flooring

[agadams]

I looked thru previous post and didn't see anything on this so I apologize if I missed it. We are working on our coop now and trying to decide the best floor for the run. The actual house will be off the ground but I need predator protection from top to bottom. We were thinking about just putting the hardware cloth as the floor and secure it. Any thoughts from anyone that has done this before or what might work better?

 

[Husker Hens]

The thing I keep seeing everyone say is the easiest with great protection is to put hardware cloth down the sides and then make a skirt of hardware cloth going outwards (bury it a couple inches. That way you can still plant grass or whatever on the outside of the run.) The theory is that if something tries to dig under, they hit the hardware cloth and they'll move down and try a different spot but they keep hitting hardware cloth but they're not smart enough to back up a foot or two and dig. This also allows your chickens to be able to scratch and dig without tearing up their talons. Plus it saves you tons of money on hardware cloth. I haven't built my run yet but that's my plan.

 

[Wonky Woods]

We just finished building our 9 foot X 20 foot run. We dug the entire area down about 6 to 8 inches and laid down fencing which also extended past the run walls. We then attached 1/4 inch hardware cloth around the entire run and wire wove it all together. It took us about 3 weeks to complete but in the long run it should help keep predators out. We have a wood track behind our yard which we frequently see Raccoon's and Fox. Lots of Hawks here as well. The top of the run is also going to be galvanized fencing.

 

[barneveldrerman]

I would just out hardware cloth outwards under 3 inches of dirt. It is easier then putting it on the floor. If you do decide to put wire on the floor I would bury under 2-3 inches of dirt.


Hope this helped!

 

[agadams]

Thanks. We have a lot of predators to deal with so I just want to do this right the first time. It's 4 x 12 x 6 and I have 6 chicks. I was worried about them hurting their feet on the wire. Either way we need to bury it for sure.