chickenwire

Chicken wire won't keep anything out (other than birds) that really wants to get in

 

Will they be shut up in the coop at night? If so, chicken wire over the top might be fine. I believe, from what I've read, that the issue with raccoons and chicken wire is that they can stick their hands through and grab the chicken, not tear the wire apart. I'm sure I will be corrected if wrong

 

x2 with Yay Chicks. If you put them in the coop at night, chicken wire is fine. Most of the Chickens threats are at night. Not all but most.....

 

I used snow/construction fence over the top of mine.You know that orange fence they put around holes in the ground or a freshly seeded ball field.Looking at your coop design I am thinking your familiar with construction. The stuff is tough as nails,had a hard time cutting it with a razor knife, and yet easy to work with. I anchored mine with zip ties but you can use staples.The best part is you can get it pulled real tight,like a trampoline. Wire can be a pain to work with,chicken wire is useless and garden wire is expensive and hard to deal with by yourself. Plastic deer fence is similar and cheaper but gets brittle from the weather,more so the sun. The fencing I got was used and had been sitting around a while and is good as the day it was opened. I also use it as a movable free range area,its stapled to 5ft grade stakes and every four days I rearrange it to a new area so the grass can regrow.

 

I would go with the 1x3 welded wire on the 'roof.' (By the way, even without trees to drop from, raccoons will climb like monkeys right up the hardware cloth walls...lol) It will just make YOU feel tons better for one thing. If you have to go somewhere overnight or for the weekend and HAVE to leave the pop door open, or you get home really late from a dinner out (that's more for winter time when it gets dark at 6PM)...it's just nice feeling confident that nothing has torn through your wire. Also, a sturdier wire screwed or nailed into place will actually help support those free standing (at least according to your sketch) rafters. And it should hold up to sagging better (when critters do crawl over it) than chicken wire. The only thing I'll use chicken wire for is to keep my birds out of my garden...

 

I agree with Bear Foot, all chicken wire does is keep the chickens from getting away from the coon when he rips in. The same thing goes for any of the other non-wire fence materials. Go with real wire and be happy when you see coon and fox tracks around your coop full of happy chickens.

How about using plywood on the top flat of the roof, will give you shade as well as snow / rain protection and save some $ in not having to fence it in?

 

I used to believe the only thing chicken wire was good for was keeping chickens in. That was before I had two birds break out and kill one chick and injure two more in two separate incidents. (The wire was pushed in until it broke under the staples.) My opinion now....chicken wire is good for nothing.