I'm working on getting a larger run area for my chickadees. Our current setup includes a solid floor so naturally we've had nothing try to dig in. Is it necessary? Mr. hannakat just doesn't have the time to do it all so I was wondering how many people have lost chickens to attacks from diggers. I'm thinking of having the new fencing placed on 12" pavers all the way around....would that suffice?
All of them. Coons, possums, skunks, rats, weasles, Mine is buried about a foot. (I thought it was deeper) and I am a little parnoid.
I haven't lost chickens, but I have lost eggs from under my broody when she was in a tractor with hardware cloth sides and a wide skirting on the ground around the tractor. I did find where something tunneled underneath the skirting, so I assume that young birds would not be safe, either. As far as buried skirting, nothing has dug underneath ours so far, and we had birds in the old coop that was fixed that way, for about 2 1/2 years. The new coop has buried wire as well, and no issues so far.
I wouldn't trust pavers to keep out diggers. I also put a wire apron around my coop and run and I think I'm ready for my local diggers. I have read a couple stories of fellow BYCers with aprons that thwarted diggers. I buried mine, but you may not need to depending on your situation. You can see how I made mine at the end of my byc page. Good luck!
Dang...was hoping to hear from people that it wasn't really necessary. Love the photos of your 'greens' feeders Todd. Mr. hannakat is not as chicken focused as I am and I can no longer do physical labor (oh I miss those days!) so I've almost been obsessed with how to manage getting this done. Have a contractor coming tomorrow to give me a bid...gonna have to add this to it.
