[Ice]

My run is sitting on top of a Heras fence.  This is a heavy duty wire fence used on building sites, guaranteed to keep out a fox.  I believe the weight of the run will prevent any digging, either outwards or inwards.

The tools I used mostly were a drill, a cordless screwdriver and a staple gun.

The hens will free range soon but I need to do some work to secure the garden.   The Lilies will have to fend for themselves.

[karlooben]

 a good tip for staples if u dont have a staple gun , hold the staple in place with a pair of long nosed pliers theen hit with hammer until almost in remove pliers carry hitting  no soreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee fingers  i must of used over 800 staples on my run easily so i know it works .

[death of rats]

You ask about fixing it down to the ground. Mine is so heavy it is not going to move but if you have one of the lighter bought in ones as illustrated in ICE's pictures I think it might be an idea to fasten it to the ground. Easily done with some threaded bar, i would use 8 or 10 mm driven into the ground ( Protect the threads from damage with the hammer ) through hole sin the frame of hte run , then bolted down. The threaded bar is very cheap on Ebay for a bundle of lengths 1 meter long.

Excellent tip about long nose pliers to hold the staples, saves no end of pain.

Also if you are starting nails into wood and holding them in your fingers, if you hold them with your fingernails to the wood rather than up to the hammer, if yo do miss it hurts a lot less.

[Elcie]

This is very helpful to me as I am starting this project soon.  At the moment I am clearing the ground ready for the shed I am using as a chicken house.  Once that is done the run is the next thing.  Couple of questions if I may?

Is the staple gun a special one or a bog standard one?  I have one that I have stapled plastic netting to wood with, would this work with the chicken wire or is there a heavy duty one?

I am weak unfortunately and digging is very difficult for me.  So I was thinking of laying a row of paving slabs all around the edge of the run to protect from the fox.  Will this work?  I thought of it as my eglu run at home has a wire skirt much smaller than the width of a slab and that is fox proof.

Someone has suggested that I dig into the ground to support the posts but this is going to be very difficult.  Can I build frame panels, put them together, and just put on top of the soil next to the slabs?  What are those pin things?  I'm guessing they might work?

Thank you everyone.

[karlooben]

i never buried my wire like ppl suggested and i have not had one prob yet of foxes trying to  get in  but then again u aint seen what i put on top of the wire skirting .

[death of rats]

If your run is heavy enough then sitting it on paving slabs would probably be fine and give you a skirt. If you wanted to be belt and braces you couldget some pig mesh which is about 4 inch squares of around 5 mm steel and lay it across the width of the run, put you rpaving slabs on the pig mesh so that you have a netted wire floor. Your paving slabs will then allow you a gulley for wood chippings to give them something to scratch in. You will then have a run that is fox proof at the base unless your fox is built like Conan the Barbarian with an angle grinder.

Staple gun is a Heavy Duty one which fires 13 mm staples into softwood but is a pin on the wrist to use.

The idea of the used surplus fence panel is an excellent one and you can get bent ones for about £20 from builders.

[Elcie]

If your run is heavy enough then sitting it on paving slabs would probably be fine and give you a skirt. If you wanted to be belt and braces you couldget some pig mesh which is about 4 inch squares of around 5 mm steel and lay it across the width of the run, put you rpaving slabs on the pig mesh so that you have a netted wire floor. Your paving slabs will then allow you a gulley for wood chippings to give them something to scratch in. You will then have a run that is fox proof at the base unless your fox is built like Conan the Barbarian with an angle grinder.

Staple gun is a Heavy Duty one which fires 13 mm staples into softwood but is a pin on the wrist to use.

The idea of the used surplus fence panel is an excellent one and you can get bent ones for about £20 from builders.

Thanks for the advice, was looking at Ice's and wondering whether you could just use the same chicken wire on the floor as you do on the sides under the slabs.  I think that and the slabs should do it.  As long as the wire doesn't hurt their feet though!

[Ice]

It's not chicken wire it's weldmesh.  I have a layer of soil on top of the wire mesh and my girls seem to enjoy digging despite the mesh.

[Elcie]

It's not chicken wire it's weldmesh.  I have a layer of soil on top of the wire mesh and my girls seem to enjoy digging despite the mesh.

Yes of course, sorry.  I must not call the weldmesh chicken wire!