Rat proofing - concrete? Depth?

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Looking at the pics of your coop, you could add aprons, concrete, rocks, etc until your wallet runs dry, but all those mice have to do is climb up the wall and enter through the chicken wire walls, or through the gaps in the pallet slats you used -- all of which are gaping voids compared to the size of a mouse. Rodents can fit through anything it can get its skull through - so holes the size of a dime for mice.

Thanks for the input, what do you suggest I do to help fix the problem?

 

[perkolator]

Thanks for the input, what do you suggest I do to help fix the problem?

The coop structure you want rodent-proofed is the one with the security door, correct?

In my area, rodent presence usually means there will be rattlesnakes coming by. Old coop had a lot of rats and mice that would come by at night; I've got young kids who play in the yard and a wife who's biggest fear is snakes. Because of that I decided to build a new coop and thought a lot about how I was going to tackle this specific issue. Have seen no evidence of rodents at chicken area since building new coop.

From the bottom, the wood section has large holes - like in the corner where the rope hangs. A simple vertical L-shaped corner piece screwed over the top could easily resolve that issue. Aesthetically it will look much better too

Next up, if the wood is secure the rat would climb up to the fence to get inside - ideally you'd want to replace the chicken wire with 1/2" or 1/4" hardware cloth, which has small openings and is a welded wire/stronger. I suppose if you already had a roll of chicken wire on-hand and don't want to buy anything, you could potentially add multiple layers so the wire is offset to try and simulate smaller openings and add to the wire strength. If I was relying on that method, I'd probably "weave/sew" the fence layers together with galvanized wire (or hog rings) so they don't separate easily.

Lastly, if the rodent climbed all the way past to the roof section, they'd just go up and over the top or under the roof corrugations. Once they figure it out, that'll likely be their regular route. On my roof I used corrugated panels on 1x4 purlins. I cut hardware cloth to fit tight against the corrugations and installed in on the inside.

Hope this helps

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

The coop structure you want rodent-proofed is the one with the security door, correct?

In my area, rodent presence usually means there will be rattlesnakes coming by. Old coop had a lot of rats and mice that would come by at night; I've got young kids who play in the yard and a wife who's biggest fear is snakes. Because of that I decided to build a new coop and thought a lot about how I was going to tackle this specific issue. Have seen no evidence of rodents at chicken area since building new coop.

From the bottom, the wood section has large holes - like in the corner where the rope hangs. A simple vertical L-shaped corner piece screwed over the top could easily resolve that issue. Aesthetically it will look much better too

Next up, if the wood is secure the rat would climb up to the fence to get inside - ideally you'd want to replace the chicken wire with 1/2" or 1/4" hardware cloth, which has small openings and is a welded wire/stronger. I suppose if you already had a roll of chicken wire on-hand and don't want to buy anything, you could potentially add multiple layers so the wire is offset to try and simulate smaller openings and add to the wire strength. If I was relying on that method, I'd probably "weave/sew" the fence layers together with galvanized wire (or hog rings) so they don't separate easily.

Lastly, if the rodent climbed all the way past to the roof section, they'd just go up and over the top or under the roof corrugations. Once they figure it out, that'll likely be their regular route. On my roof I used corrugated panels on 1x4 purlins. I cut hardware cloth to fit tight against the corrugations and installed in on the inside.

Hope this helps

Thanks for that info.
Yes I took my mother in law's door and used it for chicken coop hehe.. I gave her a couple dollars for it, we are on good terms
The pallets and timber bits were free as were old tin for the roof.
The thought of snakes makes me shake! I have young kids too and have seen a snake last summer in our driveway, I carried a shovel around for weeks after that just in case
What is your coop made out of?
.. I see that I will need to cover the entire coop up to the roof with hw cloth, rats will keep finding another hole if I don't .. this will be difficult as the coop 2 sides are part of the run and I can't cover it up from the inside because the tarps will need replacing .. I'll have to replace tarps with something more secure that doesn't deteriate.. maybe roofing sheets.. This is going to be be bigger job then I first thought..