My husband works commercial construction so we built (I should say he, as Tom did most of it) our coop out of scraps he brought home. The bottom of the coop is a 3'0 insolated exterior door we had scrap 2x4 and 1/2 inch plywood leftover metal roofing and hardboard insolation. we only had to purchase the paint 1/2 the hardware the chicks and the feeders and a waterer and on waterer was given to us. Then we have it in a 12 foot by 6 foot dog kennel we picked up for 50$ from one of the owners of a pole barn my husband was building. He buried bricks around the outside of the kennel because of skunks and coons had a neighbor just loose 2 chickens to skunks, and my husband put chicken wire across top of dog kennel for safety even sewed it together with bailing wire.
The best way to keep digging critters out of the run is to bury 1/2" hardware cloth connected to the fence, down into the ground a few inches and out 18" or more. Most predators will try to dig near the fence and won't figure out they could start out 2' and just dig farther. They can likely dig out the bricks without too much effort. I have not had raccoon problems but have read they will reach though a fence and grab the chickens. They can kill them even if they can't get them out of the run. So you want to have 1/2" hardware cloth running around the base of the fence about 2' high. The "easiest" way to deal with both at once would be to get 4' wide 1/2" hardware cloth and use it a a single piece for both above and below ground protection. You just need to get creative with triangular pieces at the corners of the dog run.
With regard to your question on another thread about eggs freezing: You can put rigid insulation around the nest box to help keep the cold out. But be aware chickens seem to be attracted to it and like to peck it to bits so it has to be covered with something like plywood or hardboard.
Nice looking coop BTW, easy to clean too. I'm not clear how much ventilation you have though. Ventilation without draft in the winter is key to having healthy birds.
Bruce
