using small square wire on bottom of coop

[meandthegirls]

I need your thoughts and experience. We have a 8x3 coop that we lock the girls in at night to protect them from predators, and occasionally they stay in this indoor/outdoor space all day if we are away. We are having trouble with rats digging into this space at night. Our soil is rocky...large rocks and it would be difficult to bury a perimeter wire down a foot. I was considering securing a wire bottom to the entire space to keep rodents out. Is this a good idea or bad? How would it affect their feet and their desire or ability to constantly scratch? I could put several inches of soil on top of the wire. Does anyone have cexperience with doing this?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Rather than thinking of it as digging down a foot or more to put the wire in, think of it as laying a "skirt" around the pen - laying the wire out 12-18 inches. It doesn't have to be buried a foot down, or really at all (some folks put the wire skirt on the ground surface and cover it with rock, mulch, etc - with this method I would suggest employing a staking method of sorts to keep the wire in place in places of the soil, etc that would be on top of the wire if it were buried down a few inches). It acts as a deterrent to digging predators because they get up TO the pen, encounter that as a barrier and then try to dig down right at the barrier to get into the pen - so they will be standing within 12-18 inches of the perimeter fence and on the wire skirting which will impede their attempt to dig down into the dirt and frustrate their efforts to the point that they will give up and leave.

 

[csaylorchickens]

Rather than thinking of it as digging down a foot or more to put the wire in, think of it as laying a "skirt" around the pen - laying the wire out 12-18 inches.  It doesn't have to be buried a foot down, or really at all (some folks put the wire skirt on the ground surface and cover it with rock, mulch, etc - with this method I would suggest employing a staking method of sorts to keep the wire in place in places of the soil, etc that would be on top of the wire if it were buried down a few inches).  It acts as a deterrent to digging predators because they get up TO the pen, encounter that as a barrier and then try to dig down right at the barrier to get into the pen - so they will be standing within 12-18 inches of the perimeter fence and on the wire skirting which will impede their attempt to dig down into the dirt and frustrate their efforts to the point that they will give up and leave.

That is so helpful. I was thinking the same thing, thank you!

 

[meandthegirls]

Thank you for the great explanation of "skirting"! That makes a lot of sense. However, I only have about 6" between the neighbor fence and the back of the coop. Do you think a 6" skirting would be sufficient? That is the area the rodents are digging under.

 

[Brookliner]

I have 1/2" hardware cloth on the bottom of all my runs. My coops have solid wood floors that are 2" abo ve the ground. I put 3-4 inches of all purpose sand in the runs. My chickens have no trouble scratching and dust bathing.

 

[Anuthatch]

Hi,

I'm having the same problem with squirrels digging into and then out of the coop. We already have hardware cloth buried down 9 inches but we went down and not so much out. I don't find the entrance holes outside the coop but the inside sure is a mess.

Are you saying you think laying the wire flat out around the coop will be better than putting in a wire floor? I'm not sure how far "out" the squirrels start digging. I do know it's a squirrel because I've trapped them and it stops until another moves in.

This was not a "pest" we planned for!

Thanks for any squirrel warrior advice.

 

[winc564]

I have the same question: a wire skirt is better than a wire floor? I'm planning my coop now and I am anticipating the possibilities of dog, cat, fox, coyote, squirrel, opossum, snakes, raccoon, and/or skunk.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I have the same question: a wire skirt is better than a wire floor? I'm planning my coop now and I am anticipating the possibilities of dog, cat, fox, coyote, squirrel, opossum, snakes, raccoon, and/or skunk.

What is 'best' is something that will vary from setup to setup. For those with larger flocks, and therefor larger enclosures to consider, a skirt is going to be more cost effective than a floor for the simple fact that it will take less wire overall to go around the perimeter in a 12-18 inch skirt than it would to cover the entire interior surface area/floor. The nature of how a digging predator will attempt to make entry makes a skirt entirely effective for prevention.

 

[winc564]

Do you have a suggestion for a staking method?

 

[rainbowhatchery]

skirt idea is what we do. Not for predators but to keep the birds from digging holes into the next coop. We just leave about a foot of wire to long at the bottom and lay it across the ground. Animals are not smart enough to think about going back a foot and digging down and then forward to get under, they are not smart enough to plan that out and just try and dig right next to the fence and cant get past the wire. We do the same with our dogs, extra foot of livestock fence and if they try and dig under the fence they are clawing at fence.