I have just enough 24" hardware cloth left over that if cut in half (12"s) I can make an apron all the way around my run. I wanted to dig down 12"s but even with soaking the ground the gravel and clay are not giving. (We borrowed an electric chisel thing to dig for our posts) If I lay the 12" hardware cloth straight out and cover with dirt am I OK? I'll add a 12" planter on two sides, on top of the apron, but two sides will just be covered in dirt and river rock. As a side note, my neighbor has free ranged her hens 24/7 for 5 years without incident. My cat has had surgery 3 times in 11 years from raccoon attacks. My cat is afraid of it's own shadow so I'm sure she was chased and didn't approach a raccoon. I just find it odd that 50' away hens roam free and the raccoons leave them alone. I still want to provide as safe a home as I can for my girls....just in case it's just my yard and bad karma lol.
IMO, yes, although 18" would be better. I just have a hard time seeing a dog, fox, etc. tunneling more than a foot - typically they would try to dig right at the fence line - I don't think anything would start digging more than a foot away.
Thats what I did,went out from the coop and run because down would have been a disaster. The soil is mostly brown clay and where the coop is nestled between 2 honking white pines,talking 3ft in diameter and 100ft plus high. Digging down would have been root central. Out 12" will work.
I'm planning on pavers weighing 8 lbs each. Place them from the fence out to 12 inches. I'm thinking no fox will be able to move them. What do y'all think. I can do that cheaper and easier than wire.
My apron is somewhere between 12 & 18", I think I would use the 12" if I were you. Just make sure you stake or weigh it down well, so something can't just push it up and dig under.
On a mobile tractor I found out the hard way that 12 inches was not enough. But for a stationary coop it should work since you'll be weighting the wire down to keep it flat.
Quote:Is your cat out loose at night? That's what I would guess the difference is. Raccoons are mostly nocturnal. The danger for free ranging chickens generally comes from daytime predators like hawks and roaming dogs. If your chickens will be locked inside a secure coop at night, and you don't have to worry about dogs digging into your run, a 12" apron will probably be fine. A really expert digger like a fox might be able to figure out a 12" apron if they had the time and inclination, though. A couple of our pens have aprons only a little wider than this, but they are for daytime use only and they are inside a yard enclosed with a solid 6 foot high board fence, so we don't have dogs to worry about.
