what is needed for chicken wire for under the coop

[DaveD]

folks, I was thinking about below ground wire needs. i was planning on putting wire fence horizontally under the entire coop. Or is this too much? Do I only need to put it vertically on the perimeter?

David

 

[valentinebaby]

I buried 1/2" hardware cloth (purchased at either Lowe's or HD) only about 8" below the soil line, but before I filled in the gap with dirt, I used stone chop block every few inches to make it even more secure. So far, I overbuilt, but that really depends on where you live. My biggest problem here are Barred Owls and Hawks and the occasional dog (think I took care of that problem!) You can see my coop on my BYC page - even the wire below and around the coop is buried. The girls like to run there when they hear loud noises.

 

[ChicksR4Me]

I would think they would be hitting it when they were dust bathing. Mine dig some pretty deep holes when dustbathing. What we did was put like a skirt about 2 feet out on the outside with hardware cloth and burried it around 2 inches deep. We can still mow right up to the run and that way if anything tries to get to the chickens they will hit the wire and hopefully be discouraged to try to dig through the wires. Also at night when they go inside we close the chicken door. I have not had a problem with pretators yet.

 

[TheGardenCoop]

Vertically around the coop about a foot or so down should do the trick. You could also flare the hardware cloth out in a two-foot skirt around the sides of the coop, then stake it down. Either of these methods leaves the dirt floor of your run free for your chickens to scratch around in, take dust baths, etc.

 

[crazyhen]

I had the wire burried and flared out. The Mice found out how to dig under. I have part of my coop with wire on the bottom and will finish the rest when I get over my surgeries. I put a deep layer of sand on top of the wire. They seem happy. Gloria Jean