I'm fairly useless at digging a hole.

[Shmemums]

So I suck at digging with a shovel so my husband broke the tiller thing out and loosened the dirt for me but there was still weeds so the scooping of dirt was hard. The next pass with the tiller shouldn't have weeds so maybe it will be easier for me... if not I feel bad for my poor husband because he will have to do the whole thing. I wanted to do this project all by myself but apparently I suck at manual labor of this type. I'm just so determined to never get rodents and snakes, so I really need to bury my hardware cloth. A couple inches down.. many more to go!

 

[DobieLover]

So I suck at digging with a shovel so my husband broke the tiller thing out and loosened the dirt for me but there was still weeds so the scooping of dirt was hard. The next pass with the tiller shouldn't have weeds so maybe it will be easier for me... if not I feel bad for my poor husband because he will have to do the whole thing. I wanted to do this project all by myself but apparently I suck at manual labor of this type. I'm just so determined to never get rodents and snakes, so I really need to bury my hardware cloth. A couple inches down.. many more to go! View attachment 3092628

Why aren't you just laying out a predator apron?

 

[Shmemums]

Why aren't you just laying out a predator apron?

I have gophers and rats are close by at my neighbors because he's got a bunch of animals back there.

 

[3KillerBs]

You could install a horizontal apron instead.

 

[Shmemums]

You could install a horizontal apron instead.

Gophers tunnel under the ground. Not above it.

 

[DobieLover]

I have gophers and rats are close by at my neighbors because he's got a bunch of animals back there.

An apron should stop them. You could extend it 3' instead of 2.
Most burrowing animals are going to start digging at the edge off the structure and may back up a little to try again when they hit the wire but 3' should stop them.

 

[NatJ]

Most burrowing animals are going to start digging at the edge off the structure and may back up a little to try again when they hit the wire but 3' should stop them.

A little bit of reading about gophers tells me:
They make a great big system of underground tunnels, with holes popping up to the surface in various places.

It sounds like gophers might extend their burrow under the fence without ever noticing a hardware cloth apron, and then come up inside. So OP might need to make a complete wire bottom in this particular case.

That is different than an animal that is specifically trying to dig under a fence, who behaves as you described, and who is stopped by an apron on the outside.

 

[Shmemums]

An apron should stop them. You could extend it 3' instead of 2.
Most burrowing animals are going to start digging at the edge off the structure and may back up a little to try again when they hit the wire but 3' should stop them.

Well, it looks like we are going to do the apron because we just noticed the gophers hate this side of the lawn. There's no little airholes nor has there been any mounds...and from digging, we think the ground is too hard over there so the gophers stay away from it.

 

[Krugerrand]

Plus, if a gopher pops up in a coop/ run, they are not a predator concern. Of course, the hole/ tunnel could let others in, but at that point you just close off the hole and trap/dispatch the gopher. I can't imagine a predator patiently waiting behind the gopher to get immediately at the chickens.

 

[aart]

It sounds like gophers might extend their burrow under the fence without ever noticing a hardware cloth apron, and then come up inside. So OP might need to make a complete wire bottom in this particular case.

Ditto Dat!

Just read another thread about how they can go feet deep too.