New coop: Chicken headroom and predator protection question

[slg]

Total newbie. Designing a *little* coop for the backyard -- based roughly on coops seen here and thegardencoop.com. Footprint is going to be 6'(l)x3'3"(w)x4'(h) Planning on 2 -3 chickens, probably something good for an urban backyard -- something like RIR or Silver Laced Wyandotte or Buff Orpington. Chickens will have some free range time in the backyard daily. In Berkeley, CA so no major weather considerations.

Hen house part is 2'-9" w x 2'-3" d x 2'-2" h -- is that big enough? have read that they need about 14" head room which means the roost is only going to be 12" off the floor. Is that really going to work?

Also, we are going to build the henhouse about 22" off the ground so that the chicken have some space on the ground underneath -- is that enough headroom?

Gotta also deal with rats and racoons. Back wall of the coop is going to be up against a curb-like concrete gutter that runs along our house. Thinking about some kind of apron fencing or just digging down and putting hardware cloth underground -- any ideas about what to do along the side that will be next to the concrete? Don't have the option of putting the coop anywhere else -- or even pulling it away from the concrete.

Thanks for any thoughts and ideas -- this forum has been so helpful in our planning so far!

 

[ColoradoMike]

Sounds like your coop may be a little on the small side - typically minimum is 4 square feet per bird in the coop. As far as head space, I would think that 18 inches above/below the roost would be sufficient...

I built my coop with about 22-24 inches of space beneath it and it seems like enough head room down there.

Good luck!