How far should I bury hardware wire around my coop.

[dudethecat]

My main concern is rats, I have two dogs, they pretty much keep the raccoons away.
I have a coop that I put on plywood, now I want to build an extension/a run, how deep should I bury the chicken/hardware wire to keep the rats out?

Thank you, Karen

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi Karen

Glad you could join the flock! I would say about 2ft for it to buried as most predators are very good diggers even rats. Please do drop by the coop run design maintenance section of the forum for more help on this though. Here is the link ~ https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/9/coop-amp-run-design-construction-amp-maintenance

Wishing you the very best of luck with your extension. Enjoy BYC and all the chicken chat

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. X2 on Yorkshire coop. I would recommend a 2 ft. perimeter on the buried hardware cloth as well. You won't need quite that much to keep rats out, but 2 ft. should be enough to keep any burrowing predators out of your run. There is a good article at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/07/11-tips-for-predator-proofing-chickens.html on predator proofing your chickens. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in predator proofing your coop/run.

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[dudethecat]

Thank you!

 

[AviEater]

That is a good question.

2 feet may seem like a lot, but if you have ever seen a dog dig a hole, it doesn't take long! Now think about the 6-8 hours you are sleeping! Now it doesn't seem bad at all huh?

Welcome to BYC!

 

[Michael OShay]

Thank you!

You're welcome.

 

[dudethecat]

Get out of my head AviEater

. That's exactly what I was thinking. Thank you for putting it in real life prospective for me. TWO FEET it is!

Thank you all for your help, this Newbe feels warm and fuzzy.

Karen

 

[AviEater]

LOL

Feel free to ask any other questions if you have any!!


Ricky-Bobby