Alligators and coop design by a canal in Florida

[kjat32]

Howdy,
Been off the forum a long time since we last had four hens in 2015. Looking to get back into it but the problem is that we now live in SW Florida and where we have to put the coop is right next to a canal. If you're not familiar with Florida, it's said you should just assume any water could potentially have a gator. Not to mention other critters like bobcats and coons. We're in the city so I think we can safely assume no panthers. And we have two dogs so we have to coop design for them. Does anyone have advice on coop design if you're potentially expecting a gator? We have fenced the whole backyard with 6' chain link, covered by bamboo, cuz gators like dogs and kids too. But I recently saw a video of a gator going straight through, just bending the bars, a steel bar fence. Not to mention they can climb chainlink. Makes me wonder if I should even try to have chickens. Sigh. So. Any advice? I should mention we are planning on putting the main coop structure on an old cement pad so at least digging critters should not be a problem at night. And we are planning on re-purposing some of those movable metal wire dog pen panels, 4' tall, in building the walls.
The pic is where we repaired a corner of the yard where we found the new chainlink fence bent open

 

[Ponyiqandhens2]

Well i can tell you that there is a very large gator at Delta downs who doesnt eat the chickens,goats kept with horses( he interupts racing ) i know a lot of people here that keep chickens in or near the swamp..all of them keep breeds that are agile,fly fairly well for chickens and provide stepping stone roost ,not ladder or ramps (like 3ft,5ft,6-7ft up) they use dog kennel ( 7-8 foot chain link around coop- hardware cloth, and hot wire 6-8 inches from bottom and top) they all free range..leghorns, old english game standards and bantams, ancona,legbar, etc.one lives near the atchafalaya basin has gameevery chickens,game crosses and some of the above.. his roosters except for flock roo dont free range.. but his theory is he may lose one but not all..he has gators feral hogs fox mink bobcats coyotes,feral dogs and raptor that exist in la..he lost a few the first year but said after that it is rare except for occassional biddy