Sharol-Good luck catching that skunk. I've always just dispatched them with a .22, trapped or not. Same thing with raccoons, except the one time I heard a ruckus out in the pen (back when we lived at Solomon and before we had our great pyrenees.) The closest gun I could find was my 22-250. That was just a little more than needed for a batch of raccoons. The noise was so loud I think I scared all the feathers off the chickens, plus had some pretty mangled raccoons to carry off.
Hawkeye-Your coop is looking great! I think you will be surprised how much stronger your nest box is once you get the siding on it. That really does make things more solid. Looking at where your 2x4's are in relation to each other, I'm not sure what I would recommend for bracing from the top, but I would at least put one from the bottom in the middle to prevent sagging there. That would probably be enough, but it is up to you. What kind of top are you going to put on that box? Be sure to plan for your lid while you are doing this, and remember that you want it waterproof once you get that siding on there.
Danz-That is exactly what I would have suggested she do to get those brace angles right, but you beat me to it! Also, I would have never guessed that you had been a police officer! Pretty cool, lady!
Chooks- I've heard of people putting baby monitors in their coop. My problem is I am not here most of the night to hear stuff like that. For the most part I think a very secure coop is the best protection, but right now with my dogs on guard I don't even lock the coop up at night, and haven't for over a year. We've had no losses until recently when a hawk swooped down in the front yard and nailed my one older guinea hen in the middle of the day. It was one of those 100+degree days, and my dogs were hot and tired from working all night and were sleeping someplace cool. They were taking their well deserved break.
