Donna Clark Posted November 5, 2025 Share Posted November 5, 2025 My hens are currently in a sizeable run fenced with Omlet's flexible plastic fencing. Unfortunately, my dogs easily break in - allowing the hens to escape. We've decided to buy a walk-in run to overcome this. I notice in some images that some owners have placed chicken wire or similar on the ground, sometimes covered with a substrate such as sand. My hens are relentless diggers and their current run is like a minefield, and when they escape they immediately start turning over the fresh grass. As it's natural behaviour, I'm interested to hear whether you think using wire to minimise digging damage could be cruel, or might even be harmful if they were to catch a claw. If you have some kind of wire in place, what substrate do you use on top of it? I was thinking sand, but there may be better options. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TedS Posted November 12, 2025 Share Posted November 12, 2025 Hi Donna, we have a walk in run for our hens and use a 1/4" mesh on the floor (keeps out the rats!) with about 4" of wood/bark chip on top. They regularly dig down to the wire but we've never had any claw issues. Just needs raking flat occasionally otherwise it gets piled up in one end of the run! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Clark Posted November 18, 2025 Author Share Posted November 18, 2025 Thanks TedS. I'll have a think about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
