- Sep 9, 2011
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Hello all, first post, have spent a lot of time reading through these very helpful forums but would like to ask a question.
We are first-timers looking at getting a couple of hens and housing them in one of those ebay jobs, a run plus an elevated house. However, we are concerned about foxes. We plan to place it adjacent to our back fence (post and wire), which backs on to farm land. I have put half-inch chicken wire the length of the fence and dug it in, in the hope of keeping out foxes, snakes and rats... BUT at one end this was not possible due to tree roots. And guess what, that's also the end where the coop will go. So I'm also not able to give the run a wire skirt that is dug into the ground.
So, what I'm planning and would like feedback on is this:
Put a wire floor on the run, and then put down a 2-inch layer of compacted dirt on top of this. Then put down straw etc for the hens. The idea being that the straw can be removed and the compacted dirt swept out before putting a fresh load in.
I have read that bare wire floors were a problem in terms of feet getting stuck in them, not to mention feathers, poo etc, plus being an unpleasant surface for the hens. So I'm hoping a layer of dirt would be a way to get the security of wire with the ergonomics of dirt?
What do you think?
We are first-timers looking at getting a couple of hens and housing them in one of those ebay jobs, a run plus an elevated house. However, we are concerned about foxes. We plan to place it adjacent to our back fence (post and wire), which backs on to farm land. I have put half-inch chicken wire the length of the fence and dug it in, in the hope of keeping out foxes, snakes and rats... BUT at one end this was not possible due to tree roots. And guess what, that's also the end where the coop will go. So I'm also not able to give the run a wire skirt that is dug into the ground.
So, what I'm planning and would like feedback on is this:
Put a wire floor on the run, and then put down a 2-inch layer of compacted dirt on top of this. Then put down straw etc for the hens. The idea being that the straw can be removed and the compacted dirt swept out before putting a fresh load in.
I have read that bare wire floors were a problem in terms of feet getting stuck in them, not to mention feathers, poo etc, plus being an unpleasant surface for the hens. So I'm hoping a layer of dirt would be a way to get the security of wire with the ergonomics of dirt?
What do you think?