Wire under chicken run?

[chalet girl]

Sorry if I missed it somewhere but I'm new to chicken keeping and this forum. I want to put some wire underneath the run just in case Mr. Fox comes calling.

If I put the run straight on the grass will the wire under it hurt my hens' feet? Will it inhibit them from scratching?

And I know this is an on going debate here but I'm still confused about the layer that should go on top of the wire. I'm considering sand, wood chips or bark. Is there a thread somewhere that would address the pros/cons/ and or dangers of these materials?

We just hired a heavy duty wood chipper and my husband and neighbors spent 12 hours grinding up trees and old wood....would this be good to use?

P.S. spent most of yesterday putting coop and runs together....I was lucky with the weather and had a nice day out working in a sunny spot

 

[jetdog]

You can just run a apron of welded wire around the outside of your run out a couple of feet stake it down with landscape spikes and the grass will grow through it and you'll never know it's there, I have sand in my run and love it very easy to clean and dries quickly if it gets wet, I know people use wood chips but I think it would be hard to clean. They will love the sand for dusting and scratching around.

 

[aart]

Wire in the 'floor' of the run, will impede their scratching...and make it hard to rake out if needed...and make rusty metal where they want to scratch. IMO not a good idea.

I would recommend Aprons...don't forget the corners(shown out of scale here)

 

[chalet girl]

Thanks for the posts. I'll make aprons then. Good job you mentioned the corners @aart ! Should I let the hens scratch the grass up...I'd hate to deny them the pleasure

...once they completely ruined the grass I can put sand down.

I think sand seems to be the way to go...it's certainly popular with a lot of folks on this site.

 

[ChicknCommander]

Another option with the skirt is you could dig a trench around and bury the wire and attach the top to bottom of coop

 

[Fizbane]

We took about a foot and a half fencing and used hog rings to fasten it to the fence for tha apron around our dog yard. Works great.

 

[winteree]

Sorry if I missed it somewhere but I'm new to chicken keeping and this forum. I want to put some wire underneath the run just in case Mr. Fox comes calling.

If I put the run straight on the grass will the wire under it hurt my hens' feet? Will it inhibit them from scratching?

And I know this is an on going debate here but I'm still confused about the layer that should go on top of the wire. I'm considering sand, wood chips or bark. Is there a thread somewhere that would address the pros/cons/ and or dangers of these materials?

We just hired a heavy duty wood chipper and my husband and neighbors spent 12 hours grinding up trees and old wood....would this be good to use?

P.S. spent most of yesterday putting coop and runs together....I was lucky with the weather and had a nice day out working in a sunny spot

i haven't taken any pics but when i did this because my grandma had most of the chickens urban predators i dug out a foot down put the wire down and replaced the dirt it was a pain in the neck but my grandma's chickens where safe until her new neighbor moved in

 

[chalet girl]

Thanks for the suggestions all! I'll attach a skirt and I 'll make sure everything is covered well. Thank goodness we live in Belgium...no raccoons or other preds like that to worry about. The worst that could happen is a visit by a weasel but we haven't seen any of them here for about 12 years. I figure if one of them wants to get into the run or coop there is practically no stopping them.

When we first moved up here we would see the occasional weasel that had been hit by a car in the night.....I occasionally saw one when I was up at 3am with one of the boys (then babies) and we would see droppings from them in the yard....but no signs for about 12 years or so....hope we are safe from them.

 

[winteree]

if you do see them they are easy to catch with wet cat food assuming you don't have allot of stray cats or coon dogs