How much hardware cloth?

[Hen-a-gadda-da-vida]

I’m starting to wonder if just moving my ladies inside the house would be easier! Now how to deal with the poop though Lol

 

[Ghosty]

Yep....If rats are prevalent, burying would probably be better.

Or snakes. I did an apron and still had a black snake tunneling into the run.

 

[aart]

I was thinking maybe both... here.

Just wonder...... how deep do you have to go for rats?

Or snakes. I did an apron and still had a black snake tunneling into the run.

Probably using rodent tunnels...I do not think they can dig their own tunnel.

 

[Ghosty]

Just wonder...... how deep do you have to go for rats?


Probably using rodent tunnels...I do not think they can dig their own tunnel.

Just Google 'can snakes dig tunnels' and check back with me. It was also soft black soil. Easy digging when I put in the corner posts.

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

My run is 12x40 so we just used welded wire with 2inch x 4 inch gaps, we live I. The country and have coyotes raccoons possum cats dogs and raccoons, but we have never had a singl problem

 

[Ghosty]

It has a lot to do with the type of ground your coop and run sit on. My black snake had already made it's home in the back of the outbuilding. It was there before me. The location where I put my run was on the back of my outbuilding and the woods had encroached. The soil was loamy and loose and black, lots of cedar needles and leaves. There were NC giant wolf spiders as well.

 

[aart]

Just Google 'can snakes dig tunnels' and check back with me.

 

[Ghosty]

If you have hard ground and not many predators, I can understand. I went for an apron hoping that would be plenty, but it didn't work for me at that time. Maybe now it would, as the black snake was removed after circling my lame guinea. I believe it also got a pullet in my coop.

 

[Ghosty]

View attachment 1759601

Read up some more. I'm talking about tunneling in loose earth, loamy soil, needles, leaves, not digging a hole in solid ground. The area had been covered over with cinder blocks and tunneled through so many times by spiders and worms and mice and moles that the whole area was loose and loamy. Anyway, I'm tired of typing.

 

[Ghosty]

Digging Behavior. Most terrestrial snakes can burrow through leaf litter or exceptionally loose soil, but few snakes can dig into packed earth. ... However, in many cases, the loose sand does not retain the structure of a proper burrow -- they essentially bury themselves.