Hello from tennessee

Hey all, love the site and all the great info! It's refreshing to see something on the Internet where people strive to help newcomers and answer questions as accurate as possible. Almost as rare as someone holding a door open for another nowadays. Quick rundown of my set up, I have six 6 week old cinnamon queen hens and two 7 week old black australorp hens. I am turning an outdoor overhead structure into the outdoor section of my chickens habitat. It measures roughly 14x14 and 10 foot tall. It will be highly secured and the ladies will have free range privileges when they learn where home is. The coop I'm almost done building has two 4 foot wide access doors on each side for easy access and clean out. It measures roughly 7x9 with a 4ft ceiling. The top of the walls are going to be ventilated but no direct draft on the gals. Also the floor Is solid 2x4, I didn't want chicken wire because we do get some decently cold winters and I thought 2x4s would keep them safer. I will post pictures if anyone is interested in seeing this wild building if I can figure out how to get them on here. Also this contraption is built on a dead end street inside city limits, so no neighborhood association and my neighbors enjoy the idea of fresh high quality eggs. They will have 1/2 acre to free range In the afternoons when I come in from work before they go In to roost. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!

 

Hardware cloth? I haven't heard that one, is that the same thing as welded wire with the small squares? Varying sizes of welding wire is available I know I just am not sure what hardware cloth is

 

Awesome thank you, I will run up to tractor supply co. And get some. As of right now around the bottom of the wired in area I have welded wire that's about 2x3 around the bottom and its main purpose is to keep animals out like dogs and maybe a nosey coon or opossum. Up from that 4ft section I will have chicken wire but its going to be enforced with 2x4s and stapled well. I understand that coops/runs are to keep the occasional curious chicken in but mainly to keep predators out and the chickens safe. I have never seen a raccoon or opossum down my street, just a skunk and a couple wild turkey. Chicken wire should be safe if its 3 or 4ft tall and stapled to 2x4s on every side right?