A dog almost got to our hens!

       A few weeks ago a dog tried digging into the chickens run, it nearly made it inside but thankfully my husband saw it trying to get in when he got home from work. Ten more minutes of trying and I’m sure it would’ve successfully reached my hens, Ryan scared if off and we haven’t seen it since. That day I made a temporary blockade to cover the hole that was dug with random material I had laying around until I had time to reinforce the hardware cloth that was buried around the border of the run. 

       I’m not sure if it was luck or persistence but the medium sized dog had managed to find a 1-2 foot gap between the hardware cloth border that was just enough space for it to dig under the run without having to fight through the hardware cloth. I am so glad Ryan was able to prevent the dog from getting in and undoubtably killing our flock. Dogs have still been the biggest threat to our chickens and this incident was a reminder that even though we haven’t seen much activity with the stray dogs, it only takes one dog, one time to start over. 

       Fixing the hole left was easy, I  first walked the perimeter of the coop and checked to see if there were any more gaps in the hardware cloth that I would need to cover. I saw that the North side of the run didn’t have any at all, we extended the coop last year and I guess I forgot to add the cloth to that one side after we extended it.

       After I figured out how much hardware cloth I would need I cut the two sheets from some extra we had sitting around, I filled the hole that was made by the dog and while Ryan lifted the coop fence I slid the hardware cloth under halfway, leaving 2 ft inside the run and 2ft outside the run.

            Shown: Hardware cloth extending 2 feet outside of the structure and 2ft inside of the structure. 

       Lastly, I covered the fencing with a thick layer of dirt, this prevents the dog from being able to wedge itself between the edge of the fencing and the ground. The hardware cloth is suppose to be a barrier that makes it harder for a predator to dig through to the chickens and it can at least buy some time to catch the animal in the act of breaking in. Keep in mind that it is not impossible for an animal to break through the hardware cloth so check the perimeter daily for signs of digging, wear and tear. I will be sharing the safety and security measures I’ve added to my coop soon so check back often. Follow us on Social media for day in the life content.

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