The first sign of them was while we were on vacation. Amanda, poor dear, was changing the water and a rat scurried out from under the brick platform. Yikes!
They have been burrowing under the coop in two spots. The walls of the coop mainly have chicken wire, which they say isn't the best at keeping rodents out. But I think I'll start with protecting at the base, and work my way up with the hardware cloth if needed.
So now a week later I'm getting around to it. I was a bit worried about just how to do it. The internets provided some basic info, but not the comprehensive start-to-finish that I would expect. So allow me to walk you through a step by step of how I did this in our coop:
Step 1: Gather tools and materials
- 1/2 inch roll(s) of hardware cloth
- garden gloves
- tin snips
- measuring tape
- flat edge shovel or hand edger
- hammer
- poultry staples
(not nails)
Start as close to the edge of the coop walls as possible. Dig about 8" down (some say 6", others say 10", so I split the difference), using the flat edge shovel. Using a combination of the flat-edge shovel, hand trowel or regular shovel, remove the dirt. Pile it next to each section, so that you don't have to do what I did and rake the dirt all the way over from one big pile.
If possible, dig the whole trench first before moving on. This will ensure you can just slap the hardware cloth in without retrofitting.
Step 3: Cut and Fold Hardware cloth
Step 4: Attach hardware cloth
Put the hardware cloth in the trench, folded side up, with folded side facing in to the coop. Keep it as vertical as possible, to ensure no burrowing can be done by any varmints. Using the poultry staples, nail onto the frame.
Repeat along the perimeter of your coop, overlapping the pieces so that there are no gaps.
Step 5: Refill the dirt
This part is easy, but just make sure that the hardware cloth stays vertical, so that you get maximal depth protection.
Keeping my fingers crossed that this keeps the little guys out!
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