Line bottom of chicken run with hardware cloth?

[ErnieBerley]

Hi, I am in the process of building my chicken run and need advice. As of now it is all dirt, and after reading many posts I think I will add sand/gravel to it. My question, however, is if I need to line the entire bottom of it with hardware cloth to keep out predators. We have skunks, raccoons, and stray cats in our area. At the very least I will be burying the wire a foot down around the edges, but is it overkill to line the whole floor? The run is 8 x 20 feet, so that requires a lot of wire. Thanks for the advice!

chickens wont like walking on wire all day - figure something else out..

 

[Rseibel12]

I guess it really depends upon your comfort level. I did line the entire bottom of my run with hardware wire that I screwed onto the frame. It was actuallyuch easier to line the entire bottom than to bury an "apron" of wire around the perimeter. My run is about 16'
x 7', somewhat smaller than yours. My birds have access to their run 24/7; I don't worry about preditors, and we have plenty! Good luck with your project... I'm in the process of designing our next coop, about 24' x 12' and haven't yet decided on the new run. I wish a new coop/run would just appear!

Can I ask how you did this? I want to do the same.

 

[Krugerrand]

Can I ask how you did this? I want to do the same.

ChanceRider hasn't been around in over 5 years. You may not get a response. I don't see any pictures under the profile to try and point you to either.

Welcome to BYC! You may be able to find some coop/run plans here that you find helpful:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/chicken-coops.12/

Feel free to start a thread if you run into questions. Lots of helpful people around to chime in.