Oh that hardware cloth is brutal on the pocket book! Also, use gloves when working with it. That stuff hurts!Why locks? I have a carabiner on the people door and a clasp hook (because I got this first and the carabiners at that store were WAY expensive) on the chicken door. I tied strings to them so they hang when not is use so I don't have to remember where I put them down![]()
Elevation to clean sounds like a great plan for a small coop. If you can reach all the places you generally need to without going inside, you don't even need to wear your coop shoes!
Oh, one more thing for the OP (if I forgot to mention it). I put self closing hinges on the people door so we can't accidentally leave it open. After the hardware cloth, they were the most expensive single item in my "horse stall to chicken coop" conversion. Of course, that means if I WANT it open, I have to hook the carabiner to the wall to hold it open. Another good reason to have the carabiner on a string. A determined predator like a raccoon could pull the door open but at least they can't just walk in. We TRY to remember to latch it with the bolt and carabiner every night but you know how that goes.
Bruce