We live in a highly populated suburban area, but we still have deer, raccoon, foxes, hawks, neighborhood dogs, and occasional black bear roaming in the area.
To be as worry free as possible, we used 1/2" hardware cloth covered the entire bottom frame and floor of the elevated coop, the entire run bottom and sides of the run, and every coop window and vent openings. As long as my chickens are inside the run or coop, they are safe.
Most people would bury a skirt of hardware cloth around the run to deter predators from digging into the run. However, I have heard a story on BYC where a neighborhood dog tunnel much farther away than 12" to 18" of the hardware skirt protection and got inside the coop to destroy the entire flock. A friend of mine in NC had some predator rip out the hardware cloth by pulling on the skirt portion. Bad and sad outcomes on both instances.
Since hardware cloth is very expensive, you have to decide on how much to use and how best to fortify with what you have like others have suggested. If you have a large run, putting hardware cloth on every face is not economical. Most people recommend the 1/2" openings not bigger, so the predators can't reach in to grab the chickens. Never use chicken wire as a protection, it is only good to fence of a chicken activity area, not to keep the predators at bay.
Do provide as much ventilation as possible in the coop, estimate at least 1 sq feet of ventilation opening on the coop walls per chicken. Some can be passive ventilation such as opening in the eaves and vent holes, some can be active ventilation such as operable windows. All cooped up is no fun for the chickens without fresh air and natural light.
We keep our windows, vents and coop door opened 24/7. There were two nights this past winter where we had to close all the coop windows due to severe snow storms, but I left the coop door open anyway since our run is very secure.
We have a clear corrugated plastic roof on the run, my girls love it, they are outside all day long no matter what the weather condition. You have to decide on the roofing material based on the weather condition in your area.
To be as worry free as possible, we used 1/2" hardware cloth covered the entire bottom frame and floor of the elevated coop, the entire run bottom and sides of the run, and every coop window and vent openings. As long as my chickens are inside the run or coop, they are safe.
Most people would bury a skirt of hardware cloth around the run to deter predators from digging into the run. However, I have heard a story on BYC where a neighborhood dog tunnel much farther away than 12" to 18" of the hardware skirt protection and got inside the coop to destroy the entire flock. A friend of mine in NC had some predator rip out the hardware cloth by pulling on the skirt portion. Bad and sad outcomes on both instances.
Since hardware cloth is very expensive, you have to decide on how much to use and how best to fortify with what you have like others have suggested. If you have a large run, putting hardware cloth on every face is not economical. Most people recommend the 1/2" openings not bigger, so the predators can't reach in to grab the chickens. Never use chicken wire as a protection, it is only good to fence of a chicken activity area, not to keep the predators at bay.
Do provide as much ventilation as possible in the coop, estimate at least 1 sq feet of ventilation opening on the coop walls per chicken. Some can be passive ventilation such as opening in the eaves and vent holes, some can be active ventilation such as operable windows. All cooped up is no fun for the chickens without fresh air and natural light.
We keep our windows, vents and coop door opened 24/7. There were two nights this past winter where we had to close all the coop windows due to severe snow storms, but I left the coop door open anyway since our run is very secure.
We have a clear corrugated plastic roof on the run, my girls love it, they are outside all day long no matter what the weather condition. You have to decide on the roofing material based on the weather condition in your area.
He's got his HC and I told him we need two big window panels on hinge (with HC lined), and he had to bury the HC out 18 inches from where it comes down. I said I need a door to the coop and a door to the run. The rest is up to him I guess.
