You'll want hardware cloth over all the chainlink and every other gap larger than 1/2" if you want to keep snakes out.
I lost 6 chicks, an unknown number of eggs, and several golf balls to blacksnakes last summer.
They got into a tiny gap under my brooder where the frame didn't fit solidly on the gravel base and came in through the open door from my run. I pulled one off the side of the coop as it climbed up to the door, found another in a nestbox, another behind a feed bag, and yet another in a broody's nest in the maternity ward with the poor girl panicking and freaking out about her new roommate.
I lost 6 chicks, an unknown number of eggs, and several golf balls to blacksnakes last summer.
They got into a tiny gap under my brooder where the frame didn't fit solidly on the gravel base and came in through the open door from my run. I pulled one off the side of the coop as it climbed up to the door, found another in a nestbox, another behind a feed bag, and yet another in a broody's nest in the maternity ward with the poor girl panicking and freaking out about her new roommate.
