Hardware cloth?

[Tikkijane]

Tractor is pretty much finished, although we still have to make the portable run and maybe a silo for more nighttime roosting room. (yep, it is heavy

Up top is where they will be for the night. As you can see from the picture, both sides under the peak (between the top roof and hinged side roofs) is completely open for ventilation. The gap is about 2 1/2 inches.

We don't have raccoons here, and while I have smelled skunks, we have never had any in the yard, which has the 6 ft privacy fence all the way around. I realize there may be predators here besides my dogs.

My question is: should I try and get some hardware cloth in that gap? At this point, the chicken wire around the perimeter is not secured at the top, but there is no room to get in under the side of the roof. My hunny says not to worry, that nothing where we live can get in that gap, and certainly not his big hands to get the hardware cloth in there.

Not that it really matters, but we are in town; everyone around us has the same fencing. We do have foxes and other critters that occasionally make it this way, but I've never seen any of them in my backyard.

I, personally, would rather not risk it, but it is daunting to try to figure out how to get it fastened up there.

What do y'all think?

Tia,
Tikki

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Just use a heavy-guage staple in a staple gun. And YES it definitely needs to be secured with hardware cloth up there - critters will climb up there and reach in to grab the birds while they are sleeping.

It is SUPER cute!!! Great job!

 

[Tikkijane]

Quote:
Thanks! I will have to see if we have a staple gun that will fit to get something up in there. I would just die if something got in there and ate my babies! It might only get their heads, but gollee, that would be BAD!

 

[THathaway]

For the cost of the cloth, it is good insurance. I lost five hens to a weisel that go through a small opening. Tractor looks great. Good luck!

 

[Tikkijane]

Quote:
I don't know that we have weasels here in the desert sw, but it does make me wonder if snakes can climb up the sides of things.....

to hear about your hens.

 

[chickenfriendly]

First off your coop looks great! However I would use some sort of wire (preferably hardware cloth) to keep the rats out. Rats are everywhere and get into anything. They also like the feed. Not to mention you dont want any unwanted waste from them which can make your chickens ill. We all usually believe our chickens are safe untill that unfortunate incident.

 

[Tikkijane]

Quote:
*nods* Haven't ever seen rats, but mice of course. If I'd been smarter, would have had hunny design an open area to hoist the food and water up and night and close them in up there, too, without having to walk them around up top. Hindsight is always 20/20, eh? I told him this afternoon that I don't care if the rest of it is too heavy to move around; we can adjust what we have if we want to make it more stationary...