Rookie coop design wire question

[chrissieg]

If we see a tent go up in the run we'll understand!!

 

[barg]

That was exactly the kind of coop I thought you were building

, And so am I

 

[WoodlandWoman]

To prevent digging, the skirt of wire is usually attached to the bottom edge of the run and lays on top of the ground on the *outside* of the run. If you look at a picture of one of those plastic Eglu coops, their attached run is a good example of this. This is much easier than digging in wire and what I've been thinking of doing, since we have such wonderful clay, here.

I think that you are already doing or planning on doing everything that any of the people here have done, that leave their coop doors open at night. Just to give you some perspective on this.

Anything you want to do is fine and if you want to do all of this work to secure your run and still lock them in the coop at night, that is great, too. It's not much fun having chickens if you're worried about them all the time.

BTW, I'm also thinking about having my husband install a web cam and getting a baby monitor, but you didn't hear that from me.

 

[barg]

Quote:

Two reasons I am not burying any wire
1) I made my coop to be movable, (even if its not moved very often) and
2) We're on septic and I dont wana screw up the drain field

I agree that anything you do to help you sleep at night is fine, but I still dont think that wire on the floor is a good idea(if thats where they are going to be scratching and trying to dust bath etc..).
But as said, in the end , its your call.

After reading these posts, I may even add a skirt to my run.

 

[allen wranch]

Wire on the floor would not be good because they also couldn't scratch around.

Here is an example of a skirt on a tractor. Stake it down so the predators can't lift it up. This now has grass growing through it and you can barely see the fencing.

If you need to move the coop, just fold up the skirt, take it to your new spot and stake it down again.

 

[neighborhoodchickens]

Carla, thanks for the picture to add to WoodlandWoman's practicle suggestion of a wire skirt outside the run. It makes so much sense to do it this way and seems to solve the predator problem and quality of life issue for the girls. Now I can go back and add the wire after the coop is done and the girls are settled in. Thanks again to all who responded...it really helps having you all on the other end of the computer!