Hardware cloth attached to bottom of coop/run?

[Noisette]

Hi all:

Newbie. I created a fully enclosed section out of my side yard and filled it with about 8 inches of construction grade sand (or river sand). There are wood gates on either end and walls on both sides. The area is about 4 feet wide by 20 feet long. I place 1/4 hardware cloth under the sand. My plan is now to place my coop and run on top of the sand. I am confused though about whether or not I should have stapled or attached the hardware cloth to the bottom of the otherwise open coop and run. Help please? I have about 6 weeks to figure it out since my 3 baby chicks arrive tomorrow. Thank you kindly.

 

[rosemarythyme]

So you have hardware cloth under the sand but not attached to the coop or run in any way? Essentially it's not really doing much as far as protection, if it's not attached directly to the housing, because there's an obvious gap that pests/predators can get through by digging through the sand between the mesh and the frame.

Since the hardware cloth is already there and pretty deeply buried I guess you can just leave it there. I'd suggest adding an apron around the coop and run, securely attached to and around the set up.

 

[Noisette]

Thank you. It didn’t seem to add up : ). I have large stones on top of rock hard dirt that I then covered in sand -no soil to stake anything into. So do you think I could unbury and pull the edges of the hardware cloth up to attach them to the frame or attach hardware cloth to the whole bottom and then cover that up from the inside of the coop and run in 6 inches of sand? Or would the chickens scratch through the sand and hurt their feet in the hardware cloth? From watching videos, it does not seem like I could secure an apron.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You could try digging up the edges and securing upwards. I'm not a fan of wire floors period but it sounds like you have it buried decently deep at least, and if you don't think you can secure an apron via staking this at least provides protection around the base. There'll still be a risk of the chickens digging through to the wire so you need to keep an eye out for that, make it part of your regular daily routine to check any holes the chooks are digging.

 

[Noisette]

Thank you. I really appreciate your input. I could add more sand into the inside of the coop and run; seems like a funny question but how deep will a chicken dig?

 

[urbanhenhouse]

Mine dig about 4-6 inches on a hot summer day to get a dustbath. Otherwise, it is much shallower than that. You might just be able to provide a dustbath area and forego such a deep sand layer in your run.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They can dig a good 6-8", depending on the substrate. Sand is pretty loose so easy to dig through, whereas with something like hard clay would be harder for them to go deep. If you see them working on a spot keep kicking sand back in to keep them from going too far, or even consider putting down a paver at that spot (and then backfill with sand) to stop them from going all the way to the wire.

 

[aart]

Thank you. I really appreciate your input. I could add more sand into the inside of the coop and run; seems like a funny question but how deep will a chicken dig?

Can you post some pics of the area...and your coop?
Mine will dig a good 8" into the dirt, but dry loose sand will keep filling back in.

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[Noisette]

What a helpful and welcoming group of people; thank you all. I’ve attached photos. The area I will place the coop in is 3.8 feet wide by 18 feet long. The coop with run is 2.2 wide by 5.4 long. Ideally I would secure the coop with run and separately also secure the whole sand covered area of 3.8 by 18 so the 3 chickens could run around that space. I live in contra costa county in Northern California and summer temps reach 100 easily. This whole sand area though never gets direct sunlight though because of the angles —partially why I picked it. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or feedback on securing my chickens (4 day old chicks so hopefully I have over a month to figure this out and get it right!)

 

[Noisette]

Help please : ). I am still confused about how to secure a hardware cloth apron/skirt into the sand? All the threads and photos I can find show the apron staked into grass or dirt. If I attach the wire to the bottom of the coop and run frame, do I then just lay the apron unto the sand? What would stop a predator from digging under the apron into the run? I actually do not understand what stops a predator form the doing the same thing even if the apron is staked into dirt or grass. Feels like I am missing some basic logic here...Thank you in advance : )