Outside Skirting … is this ok?

[Rick&Chris]

My coop has been in place for 6 years. We did a wire skirt around the exterior and rain has washed away the dirt and it’s now exposed. I’m going to bring in dirt and cover with River Rock. Is this sufficient to keep out predators?

Pictures of the wire and a picture of what the “after” should look like attached (but smaller stones than the last photo)

Thanks, all!!

 

[FunClucks]

Best to use smaller stones to predators think they can dig through them. The idea is to lure predators to dig right at the wall of your coop, and run into your apron on the ground, and not be able to dig farther. If you cover the metal apron up with really large river rocks that they know they can't dig through, they'll back up from the coop before starting to dig, bypass the apron (because it's covered in large rocks) and get into your coop. So I cover my apron with mulch, or let grass grow through and weed eat/cut the grass that grows through. You want to trick the predator into thinking whenever it tries to dig into your coop it can't get through, and eventually it will give up.

 

[StinkyAcres]

So, are you recommending keeping the current wire and covering with some dirt and smaller stone?

It is generally recommended that 1/2" hardware cloth be used for the apron as it keeps out most predators, big and small. A rat or weasel could get through that no problem. And, yes, cover it with gravel, dirt, or mulch.

 

[fowltemptress]

Edit: it confused me for a moment, because the rock pile in this picture is what's called river rock when you order it from a supplier. River rock is tiny and super affordable if you order a big ol' pile of it. I've never seen rocks that large called river rock. It's interesting. But yeah, big rocks won't work. I'd think anything around the size of gravel or smaller would be okay.

To answer the question, yes, I use tiny river rock and dirt over my skirts. I've had plenty of evidence of nocturnal predators digging through the rock down to the skirt in an effort to get into the coop, so it's doing its job.

 

[Rick&Chris]

Is that just a tarp on top? If so then this is sufficient for keeping flying predators out and maybe dogs. Unfortunately, my predator list would stop there as a racoon can climb and get under the tarp. Small digging things especially rats can dig in, etc. But do you lock them in the coop house at night? My run is less predator proof then this but I lock them in at night and have no problems.

That is not my photo, I was just using it to show what 'could be' after I added the rocks. The first two are of my current wire, the last 2 are examples/ideas for covering the wire.

My run is attached to my coop. I leave the pop door open most of the time (unless it is brutally cold). Picture of my set up attached.



And this is what I had in mind for the rocks covering the wire:

 

[BigBlueHen53]

My goofy hens have dust-bathed close to the framework of their run, leaving gaps underneath. We never installed an apron, as we got the chickens long before we ever heard of BYC. I suppose we'll install one retroactively but meanwhile the coop is still secure even though the run is not. *Always learning!*

 

[perkolator]

I added about 4" deep of ~1" rock over my anti-dig skirt and it was kicked around almost immediately by the chickens once they got access to that area; it's all in the grass and where I didn't want it. Have since buried it with dirt from the run and wood mulch over the top. I've also had many chickens who are able to kick around 4-6" cobble stones and chunks of firewood quite easily.

As for the comment about pop doors - I don't even have a door between my coop and attached run, because the whole structure is fully secured. I added a 2nd run like you have done for more daily space - that's where I added an auto door because opening/closing the man-door got old real quick; also we had a great horn owl fly through the man-door and get stuck inside the coop.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Four sizes is interesting to me too, I had no idea. What my XH called river rock - he was in construction, bridges, highways and the like - was bigger than a softball and smaller than a bowling ball. It was also used in rip rap. What @fowltemptress showed looks to me like what he would have called "pea gravel." Hard to tell from a pic though.

 

[Rick&Chris]

Although I'm a fine one be even the least bit critical, we leave the man door to our coop open fron daylight to nearly dark, anything could just walk right in. We've had a possum in there a couple of times but it seemed more interested in the chicken feed than the chickens. He won't be coming back, though.

I close up the man door every night (if I let them out of the enclosed run during the day). When the man door is closed, the inside is secure, unless something digs under, which is what started this thread

My setup (old pic, we added trees for shade):

 

[FunClucks]

Thank you! We had it covered in dirt and mulch (nothing will grow, especially grass). So, are you recommending keeping the current wire and covering with some dirt and smaller stone?

Yes. Dirt and small gravel or mulch would do fine. I use mulch because it has more give to it than stone, and when you step on it, the weight spreads out more on the wire, a lot less point loads, but I'm probably way overthinking it. Just make your wire "invisible" to predators, and encourage them to come right up to the coop wall so they'll get stopped by the wire when they dig.