Your input.. My first Coop and Run ..Protection Priority? Sizing?

[DavisCreek]

Hi Group..
Pete in Central Va. about to go outside and build a Coop & Run for my chicks.

My plan has it that the "run" will be inside the fenced garden..
...this provides a 4 ft weld-wire barrier before even getting to the run.. which is 1" poultry net
then the coop will be an elevated box outside the run/garden fence.. all the usual accesses, vents with wire.. ect..

know preds include Fox, hawk, coon, possum?, neighbors dogs..

so my questions are
.. can I get away with minimal underground/anti dig protection, because there are 2 separate fences?

..soil is rocky "river jack" 80-90% rock,

..would the attachment of heavy rubber sheet (3/8" conveyor belt 3ft wide) to the immediate bottoms of run bottom boards outward
then perhaps covered with medium size rock prevent digging progress?

.. and thinking the coop is pretty darn safe if the door is closed.. is the run really my biggest concern?

.. is metal poultry net adequate, 4sides and top?

and 10x10 for 8 birds?

 

[DavisCreek]

ohhh, and 1 more ??

for the run.. 2"x4" welded wire instead of woven poultry net?

for the coop 1/2" hardware cloth seems the way to go.


TIA

Pete

 

[elmo]

Welcome to the forum!

My first thought about the garden fence is that 4 feet is a low enough barrier for many dogs to jump or even climb over. And then all that would be between the dog and your chickens is chicken wire, which won't do the job. Chicken wire will keep out hawks but of course only if the run is roofed. Pretty much all the other chicken predators aren't stopped by chicken wire.

If you use 2" by 4" welded wire in place of the chicken wire, that's a definite security improvement. You do have the issue of "reach through" predation to consider. That's when a chicken sticks its head out or gets grabbed through the wire by a predator and pulled out, bit by bit. When terrified, chickens try to escape and often pile up right in the corner of a pen where they are eay pickings, poor things. To solve this problem, you can wrap the bottom two or three feet of the run with something solid, or something that has smaller openings. Also do something similar any place a roost comes up close to the edge of the wire.

If you do lock your chickens inside a secure, solid coop at night (when danger from predators is higher anyway), you're right that securing the run from likely daytime predators is your main consideraton. Raccoons are mostly nocturnal, but sometimes a mother raccoon with kits to feed will be out in the early daylight hours..I've seen this myself.

Personally, I'd be a little nervous about the rubber apron idea, only because I've not read about something like that being "field tested." If it was me, I'd just use welded wire as an apron. Many people use it with success.

 

[DavisCreek]

thank you Elmo!
the term apron, that is where a material is placed/flared horiz on top of ground?

wire does seem like a good interfearance.

out to the yard to make a frame ;-)

P-

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
"Get away with" in the sense of being entirely safe? No, which you probably already knew

(Especially if the run fence itself will only be chickenwire [=poultry netting, the hex-shaped stuff], which is pretty entirely NOT AT ALL predatorproof)

OTOH it is safER than only having ONE non-digproofed fence.

It's whatever level of risk you're happy with, you know?

Personally, I would make one or the other of the fences pretty seriously predatorproof (whichever was more convenient), using a 2-3' wide apron rather than trying to bury anything.

..would the attachment of heavy rubber sheet (3/8" conveyor belt 3ft wide) to the immediate bottoms of run bottom boards outward
then perhaps covered with medium size rock prevent digging progress?

Better than nothing. But there are other things you could better use that material for, and then do an apron of welded wire mesh, even 2x4 heavy-gauge wire is not too bad for an apron if you are not trying to keep weasel/mink out, otherwise 1x1 mesh is preferable.

.. is metal poultry net adequate, 4sides and top?

If all it's meant to keep out is hawks, and to keep chickens in, then it's fine.

and 10x10 for 8 birds?

Sure, that is about 12 sq ft apiece which is not exessively small, although if you were able to make the run larger you would have less sanitation/mud type problems.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​