# How to stop animal digging under coop



## Keith

For those with moveable coops or just ideas .... Rather than electric, what else could I put at the bottom of my coop to prevent digging by animals?


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## rob

i dont have a moveable coop but i dug a ditch around my run and ran the wire down into the ditch and bent it to 90 deg and continued along the bottom for 6 inches. i then put house bricks on top and filled with earth.


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## UncleJoe

BB Gun? .22?


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## Keith

Quite at a loss. Mobile so electric wire is not really a great option. I could put outward facing nails at the bottom? Razor wire? Too inhumane to raccoons/skunks?


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## Lady_Alia

Keith said:


> Quite at a loss. Mobile so electric wire is not really a great option. I could put outward facing nails at the bottom? Razor wire? Too inhumane to raccoons/skunks?


The way I see it, if something is getting into my chickens it's dead. There are plenty of easier meals around here, stay away from my birds!

That said, you don't wanna cripple a wild animal. Razor wire and nails would tear them up and they wouldnt be able to defend themselves or hunt. The fencing is a good idea that you could make work with a moveable run. A wild animal is gonna dig next to the fence so if you have fencing laid 2' out from the fence, nothing is gonna get in. You could also drive stakes in around it.


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## Apyl

Could you wrap the bottom of the pen in hardware cloth?


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## twentynine

If they are digging under I do not believe nails and or razor wire would be a deterant at all. I have evidence of ***** digging through broken glass bottles to enter a chicken run. You need to remember they make a living eating chickens, whatever method you chose, it will never be 100%.

.22, pellet rifle, well, those work, but very few people have the ability to stand guard over their chicken run 24/7/365. If no one is their to aim, point and shoot the gun, the gun is worthless as a deterant.

Even with a chicken tractor, electric fencing is a possibility. 1 - you can use a battery powered fence charger. 2 - you can buy a large roll of insulated 16ga wire (500') use the spool as a reel and install the charger at the electrical source, unspool the wire to the tractor. 3 - use a solar powered fence charger.

Or if you are still against a electric fence, you can put a 12-18" skirt around the tractor weight it down with bricks.


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## ThreeJ

Take away their shovels. Other than that I am not sure what would work for a movable coop.


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## Energyvet

Make it permanent and lock it down like a fort. Then allow free range under supervision? Maybe that's a solution?


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## LdMorgan

I have a six ft by six ft chicken tractor. I move it around every few days. so trenching around it isn't an option. 

I haven't had any real problems with diggers, but...

Dogs can be stopped cold by just pegging a 2 ft wide strip of chicken wire or old horse fence down flat on the ground with tent pegs.

Do that on all four sides of the pen, overlapping the corners, and you should be pretty much good to go.


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## Tony-O

LdMorgan said:


> I have a six ft by six ft chicken tractor. I move it around every few days. so trenching around it isn't an option.
> 
> I haven't had any real problems with diggers, but...
> 
> Dogs can be stopped cold by just pegging a 2 ft wide strip of chicken wire or old horse fence down flat on the ground with tent pegs.
> 
> Do that on all four sides of the pen, overlapping the corners, and you should be pretty much good to go.


Best answer I've seen. That's exactly what I
would do.


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## omg3kids

Good suggestions! This is my main concern as I plan for a flock. I've seen huge raccoons here!


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## LdMorgan

Speaking of raccoons...

Families of raccoons (or gangs) will sometimes surround a chicken run and stampede the chickens from side to side to side. Every time a chicken runs too close to the fence it gets grabbed, Then the head gets ripped off. Then the chicken carcass is pulled through the fence wire in chunks.

Unless the raccoons get interrupted, all they'll leave behind is the feathers.

If raccoons are a hazzard, your run should have at least one corner walled in solid where the chickens can retreat from the raccoons without being grabbed. If it's too small the chickens may stuff themselves in so tight that some get smothered, so make it nice & roomy. Say, 6' on a side.

I do like the electric fence idea, though. Just be sure to set it on "high" because roast raccoon is mighty fine eatin'!


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## Elkie1

Some solar yard lighting around the tractor so it won't be so dark. Maybe that would help deter predators? Won't be 100% but might help. Or you could try Nite Guard solar. Here is one link but I'm sure you can find iit at many chick or farm supply places http://www.chickensforbackyards.com/Predator-Control_c84.htm


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## omg3kids

LdMorgan said:


> Speaking of raccoons...
> 
> Families of raccoons (or gangs) will sometimes surround a chicken run and stampede the chickens from side to side to side. Every time a chicken runs too close to the fence it gets grabbed, Then the head gets ripped off. Then the chicken carcass is pulled through the fence wire in chunks.
> 
> Unless the raccoons get interrupted, all they'll leave behind is the feathers.
> 
> If raccoons are a hazzard, your run should have at least one corner walled in solid where the chickens can retreat from the raccoons without being grabbed. If it's too small the chickens may stuff themselves in so tight that some get smothered, so make it nice & roomy. Say, 6' on a side.
> 
> I do like the electric fence idea, though. Just be sure to set it on "high" because roast raccoon is mighty fine eatin'!


Yep, I've seen them do this. (as a kid on my grandparents' farm) Raccoons are pretty darn smart, and persistent.


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## earl

here is what I did, I bought 24 white ameracaunas from Wayne Merideth to replace my rooster that was killed by a ****, well when they were big enough to go outside, I thought the **** problem was taken care of, however I was wrong. I went out one morning and everyone of them were dead as well as three sweedish flower hens and a few others that were un a seperate tractor, so I put hardware cloth on the sides of the tractor, a chicken wire botom and then I cut a hole in the hardware cloth just big enought to put a live trap in and it worked, the next morning I killed the biggest **** I had ever seen, he couldnt even stand up in the trap. I am going to frame it in and put a gate on it so I can remove the trap anytime I want without disrupting the functionality of the tractor.


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## DansChickens

my fence is under 1 foot with rocks buried with it


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## 7chicks

Mine were only allowed in the tractor during the day. Come evening, everyone's in the main house where its locked down tight. During the day, not so much of a chance anything will bother. I could never find a solution to prevent digging either but fortunately haven't had anything attempt it yet either.


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## Josephkirk

Lady_Alia said:


> The way I see it, if something is getting into my chickens it's dead. There are plenty of easier meals around here, stay away from my birds!
> 
> That said, you don't wanna cripple a wild animal. Razor wire and nails would tear them up and they wouldnt be able to defend themselves or hunt. The fencing is a good idea that you could make work with a moveable run. A wild animal is gonna dig next to the fence so if you have fencing laid 2' out from the fence, nothing is gonna get in. You could also drive stakes in around it.


You could use a solar powered fencer and still be mobile .


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## Lady_Alia

Josephkirk said:


> You could use a solar powered fencer and still be mobile .


I've never heard of a solar powered fencer. What is it?


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## cogburn

Electric fence.. Solar charger, long wire, insulators on fence posts, the charger must be grounded, but the wires can be moved, kind of a pain if you ask me. They make an electric "chicken" fence system now, it's actually an electric netting, and made to be moved, that would be a better option, IMO !


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