Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Uriel <uriel@nasalam.org>]

Thanks, Harvey.  I figured something like a trench must be involved.  
That makes it out of the question where I am.  I've had to go to raised 
beds simply because there is so little soil over the rock in some places 
-- of course there are lots of other advantages to raised beds that I 
happily benefit from.  So I'll have to stick with deep litter over a 
wood floor for the poultry.  Fortunately they can be outside a good deal 
of the time here.

Uriel / SW Missouri

Harvey Ussery wrote:
> An essential point, Uriel. Of course an earth floor is an opportunity 
> for diggers like fox, dog, I guess mink, etc. The solution is to dig in 
> a barrier around the entire perimeter of the coop. When I built my 
> current poultry house, the one with the earth floor, I dug a trench 
> almost 24 inches deep (yes, a *lot* of work! I used a nursery spade to 
> keep the trench more narrow and reduce the amount of soil to be moved) 
> around the foundation. Then I nailed 24 inch flashing onto the bottom 
> girt (is that the word?) before nailing the board 'n' batten siding down 
> on that girt.
>
> One half inch "hardware cloth" (galvanized, welded wire mesh) could be 
> used instead of the flashing, and might even be a superior alternative.
>
> I've never had a problem with the bad guys digging into my poultry 
> house. (Only losses inside I've ever had were a few ducklings to a big 
> black snake--pretty hard to keep those guys out!)
>
> ~Harvey
>
> PS: It occurs to me that you could also run single-strand electric wire 
> around the perimeter at about nose level. That would require regular 
> maintenance (prevention of weed/grass growth over the wire) but should 
> be a strong deterrent to curiosity seekers.
>
>