Outside Skirting … is this ok?

[Rick&Chris]

My coop has been in place for 6 years. We did a wire skirt around the exterior and rain has washed away the dirt and it’s now exposed. I’m going to bring in dirt and cover with River Rock. Is this sufficient to keep out predators?

Pictures of the wire and a picture of what the “after” should look like attached (but smaller stones than the last photo)

Thanks, all!!

 

[FunClucks]

Best to use smaller stones to predators think they can dig through them. The idea is to lure predators to dig right at the wall of your coop, and run into your apron on the ground, and not be able to dig farther. If you cover the metal apron up with really large river rocks that they know they can't dig through, they'll back up from the coop before starting to dig, bypass the apron (because it's covered in large rocks) and get into your coop. So I cover my apron with mulch, or let grass grow through and weed eat/cut the grass that grows through. You want to trick the predator into thinking whenever it tries to dig into your coop it can't get through, and eventually it will give up.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Is that just a tarp on top? If so then this is sufficient for keeping flying predators out and maybe dogs. Unfortunately, my predator list would stop there as a racoon can climb and get under the tarp. Small digging things especially rats can dig in, etc. But do you lock them in the coop house at night? My run is less predator proof then this but I lock them in at night and have no problems.

 

[Rick&Chris]

Best to use smaller stones to predators think they can dig through them. The idea is to lure predators to dig right at the wall of your coop, and run into your apron on the ground, and not be able to dig farther. If you cover the metal apron up with really large river rocks that they know they can't dig through, they'll back up from the coop before starting to dig, bypass the apron (because it's covered in large rocks) and get into your coop. So I cover my apron with mulch, or let grass grow through and weed eat/cut the grass that grows through. You want to trick the predator into thinking whenever it tries to dig into your coop it can't get through, and eventually it will give up.

Thank you! We had it covered in dirt and mulch (nothing will grow, especially grass). So, are you recommending keeping the current wire and covering with some dirt and smaller stone?

 

[fowltemptress]

Edit: it confused me for a moment, because the rock pile in this picture is what's called river rock when you order it from a supplier. River rock is tiny and super affordable if you order a big ol' pile of it. I've never seen rocks that large called river rock. It's interesting. But yeah, big rocks won't work. I'd think anything around the size of gravel or smaller would be okay.

To answer the question, yes, I use tiny river rock and dirt over my skirts. I've had plenty of evidence of nocturnal predators digging through the rock down to the skirt in an effort to get into the coop, so it's doing its job.

 

[StinkyAcres]

So, are you recommending keeping the current wire and covering with some dirt and smaller stone?

It is generally recommended that 1/2" hardware cloth be used for the apron as it keeps out most predators, big and small. A rat or weasel could get through that no problem. And, yes, cover it with gravel, dirt, or mulch.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Edit: it confused me for a moment, because the rock pile in this picture is what's called river rock when you order it from a supplier. River rock is tiny and super affordable if you order a big ol' pile of it. I've never seen rocks that large called river rock. It's interesting. But yeah, those won't work.
View attachment 3810462


To answer the question, yes, I use tiny river rock and dirt over my skirts. I've had plenty of evidence of nocturnal predators digging through the rock down to the skirt in an effort to get into the coop, so it's doing its job.

Might be just where a person is, what they tend to call River Rock. I've seen some places with large & others will small, medium & large, but the common factor was rounded shaped rock, in the natural color tones of beige, tan & gray, nothing jagged. One local rock supplier offers 4 sizes of River Rock here.

 

[fowltemptress]

Might be just where a person is, what they tend to call River Rock. I've seen some places with large & others will small, medium & large, but the common factor was rounded shaped rock, in the natural color tones of beige, tan & gray, nothing jagged. One local rock supplier offers 4 sizes of River Rock here.

Four sizes? I feel like I've actually seen that, but the businesses called the other sizes something else.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Four sizes is interesting to me too, I had no idea. What my XH called river rock - he was in construction, bridges, highways and the like - was bigger than a softball and smaller than a bowling ball. It was also used in rip rap. What @fowltemptress showed looks to me like what he would have called "pea gravel." Hard to tell from a pic though.

 

[Rick&Chris]

Is that just a tarp on top? If so then this is sufficient for keeping flying predators out and maybe dogs. Unfortunately, my predator list would stop there as a racoon can climb and get under the tarp. Small digging things especially rats can dig in, etc. But do you lock them in the coop house at night? My run is less predator proof then this but I lock them in at night and have no problems.

That is not my photo, I was just using it to show what 'could be' after I added the rocks. The first two are of my current wire, the last 2 are examples/ideas for covering the wire.

My run is attached to my coop. I leave the pop door open most of the time (unless it is brutally cold). Picture of my set up attached.



And this is what I had in mind for the rocks covering the wire: