While installing chicken fencing, one of the most important steps is to secure the bottom of the fence to the ground. Chicken wire is lightweight & if its bottom & top is not secured, its shape will deform & sag. Ultimately, gaps are formed so animals can escape or the predators can access your animals.
Same thing happed to me about an year ago when a couple of cyotes attacked my chickens, by intruding in through the temporarily fixed bottom. Unfortunately we lost all of of them.
However there are several tools & DIY methods to secure the bottom of your chicken fence & ensure proper security.
You can dig a trench to keep your fence a few inches under the ground.
Attach a piece of chicken or any mesh wire at the bottom of the chiken fence horizontally & cover it ith soil or any heavy material.
Install tension wires near the ground & tie it to the bottom of the chicken wire.
Use landscape/ground staples to secure chicken wire to the ground.
If there are concrete structure or wood panels at the bottom, staple your chicken wire to it.
There are several ways to secure chicken wire to the ground, learn in detail below:
How to secure chicken wire to the ground?
Ways to secure chicken wire to the ground:
- Use earth staples or tent pegs to hook the chicken wire to the ground.
- Dig a trench on the ground along the fence line. Place the chicken wire into the trench & fill it again.
- Install tension wire tightly between the corner posts at the bottom. Then, tie the bottom of the chicken wire at regular intervals of 6-12 inches using zip ties or metal wire pieces. Similarly, install tension was at the top to keep the fence from sagging.
- Attach a piece of chicken wire (a few feet) horizontally at the bottom of the chicken wire & pour soil over it.
- Secure the chicken wire using staples or a gun if the fence has a wooden board or frame at the bottom.
Method 1: Dig a Trench & bury the bottom of the fence
If you aim to bury the fence under the ground, buy it accordingly, as some of its height will go under the ground. Also, remember that chicken wire will rot for months to a year, so you should opt for galvanized chicken wire.
Steps:
- In this method, we’ve to dig a 6-12 inch trench at the exact bottom of the fence along the fence line.
- The fence is placed in the trench.
- After that, attach the chicken wire to the posts.
- At last, fill the trench with soil & pound the ground with a hand compactor.
Method 2: Install Tension Wires
Installing a tension wire between the corner posts is a widely used DIY method to support & keep the wire fences in place. To secure the bottom of the chicken wire using tension wire, you’ll need hard metal wires & the corner posts must be wood.
Follow simple steps:
- Mark the corner posts at the same height to attach the ends of the tension wire.
- Start from one corner post & terminate the metal wire at the marked height.
- Then, head toward the other corner post. Stretch the wire as much as possible & tightly attach it to the other corner post at the marked height.
- To keep tension wire in place, hook them to the central posts using fence staples(for wood posts) or metal wire pieces(for metal posts).
- Finally, attach the chicken wire to the tension wires using zip ties or metal wire at regular intervals(6-12 inches). As chicken wires are lightweight, they are more prone to sagging.
- Similarly, you can install multiple tension wires at different heights & attach them to the chicken wire to keep the fence straight.
Method 3: Attach piece of chicken wire horizontally at the bottom
The most commonly applied & recommended way to secure the bottom of your chicken wire is to attach a 2 feet(minimum) piece of chicken wire horizontally at the bottom. Then, bury that horizontal piece of wire fence under atleast 2 inch of soil or place some heavy objects i.e. stone over it.
You can either use same gauge chicken wrie or a slightly thicker & galvanized one especially if you are worried about the fence being rotten with time.
Zip ties or pieces of metal wires can be used to tie the bottom of fence to the additional piece of wire fence. In another way, You can also xweave a metal wire through both ends of the fencefences.
Before covering the horizontal piece of fence with soil, it’s also helpful to place some heavy objects to keep the fence pressed to the ground. You can remove them after the soil ges compacted(hard).
Besides securing the bottom of fence, the additinal horizontal mesh will prevent the animals from digging by making a barier.
Method 4: Using Ground Staples or Tent Pegs
Ground staples are made of galvanized steel forged into a U shape. They are available in 4, 6, and 12 in lengths. A pack of 4-inch 100 pieces costs 12-14$, 6 inches costs around 23$, while a 12-inch staple costs around 30$. Per piece costs around .2-.3 $. Hence, earth staples are the most cost-effective & ideal for securing the chicken wire to the ground.
Steps to install:
- Insert one leg of the staple through the bottom of the chicken wire & drive it into the ground.
- Similarly, you can remove them using a screwdriver.
Tent pegs or stakes are a little costlier (around 1$ per piece) & using them for a large fence may not be suitable. However, they are sturdier enough to secure even thick gauge chicken fences to the ground.
Steps to install:
- Tension the chicken wire toward the ground.
- Drive the tent peg over or close to the bottom of chicken fence using a hammer.
- Catch the chicken wire in the hook of tent pegs .
- Hammer until the peg is completelydriven into the ground.
- Similarly, drive tent pegs at regular intervals & hook the chicken wire to them.
Method 5: Securing bottom to a hard surface(if any)
If you are installing chicken wire fence with wood frame at the bottom use fence staples or wood staples to secure the chicken fence.
Fence staple are u shaped hooks that costs 5-10 $ for 100 pieces & ideal for attaching fencing materials to wood. Similarly wood staples & gun is also used to secure chicken wire to wood frames i.e. chicken coops.
To secure chicken wire to concrete bases you can use used metal caps of bear bottles along with nails.
Frequently Asked Questions?
- Does chicken wire need to be buried?
It’s not compulsory to bury chicken wire, but doing so provides extra safety & protection aginst digging animals & keeps the fence hooked to the ground. If you only aim to secure the fence to the ground, dig a 6-12-inch trench, adjust the fence in & fill the ground.
As discussed above, other than burying & prevent digging it’s also wise to attach a piece of mesh wire horizontaly at the bottom of the existing chicken fence.
- How long does chicken wire last in the ground?
Galvanized wire mesh(cloth) lasts for years under the ground, while simple chicken wire will rot quickly. It’s better to see thicker galvanized wire to bury underground. How long chicken wire lasts underground depends on its thickness, moisture & acidity level in the soil.
- Should you paint the chicken wire?
The process of rusting requires water & oxygen to react with metal. So if you paint your fence it acts as a barrier between the metal & the moisture & oxygen in the air, ultimately prevents metal from rusting & gives it a longer life.
- How do you hold the chicken wire in place?
Install tension between the corner posts & tie the chicken wire to it regularly.
- How do you attach chicken wire to metal?
You can use zip ties & pieces of metal wire to attach chicken wire to metal posts.
- How do you attach chicken wire to wood?
To attach chicken wire to wood, wood staples or fence staples are commonly used.
Conclusion
We’ve discussed multiple DIY methods commonly applied to secure the fences to the ground. Digging & burying the bottom of the fence under the ground offers added security, but the chicken fence must galvanized to prevent rotting.
Earth staples are the most cost-effective tool to hook the bottom of chicken wire to the ground.
To keep animals from digging, attach a piece of chicken wire horizontally at the bottom & place heavy objects over them or bury them under the soil.
If there is a wooden frame, chicken wire can be hooked to it using wood staples.
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