Predator "Resistant" Run, roof and flooring.

[kmpcfp]

I am in Maryland, our primary threats are raccoons, foxes, feral cats, and neighbors' dogs, maybe an occasional coyote.

I am designing a small coop/run for maximum of 6 chickens (2 roosters will be slaughtered in the fall).

The coop is 3' feet raised and is 4' x 4'8".

The run will be 4'8" wide and 10' long. The area under the coop will be enclosed as well. I am making it tall enough for me to walk through (5'8"). I bought a roll of 50' long, 48" wide hardware cloth. The hardware cloth will be buried 1 foot underground and go up to the roof area. I do not have enough to cover the roof entirely (but I want to and am trying to figure out what to roof it with).

There will be days where we may not make it home before dusk to lock up the chickens and the coop does not have access to electricity (for a timed pop door).

I am wondering if I put 1" x 2" welded wire as the roof, and buried 1"x2" welded wire 6" underground through the floor of the coop if that would be sufficient enough to prevent burrowing animals into the chicken run?

 

[Shanty]

kmpcfp -- 1 x 2 wire is fine for the top of your pen for all the predators you list but know this--a determined coon will rip the wire OFF the top unless you also use 1 x 2 strips of wood to secure it around the entire perimeter of the roof. I once had a coon break 1/2 inch wooden dowels off and enter a pigeon coop. A friend had a family of coons pull heavy duty wire nailed with huge staples off the side of an aviary and eat some valuable Jungle Fowl.

I'd suggest covering the entire floor of the run with 1 x 2 wire, over-lapped by at least 6 inches at the seams and secured with cable ties. How many cable ties? Enough to ensure a critter can't squeeze between the gaps. Begin nailing the wire about 6 inches from the floor on one side (the side wall) of the pen, then secure it at the floor with a 2 x 4 or a 1 x 2 piece of wood--again, down the entire length of the side wall. My coops are all 2 x 4 construction so I attach the wood to the 2 x 4s with screws. Run the wire across the floor of the pen to the other side wall, secure with wood, and then run it up 6 inches from where you secured it.

I put 1-inch chicken wire down in a weaning coop for my chickens one year when a skunk started digging under the coop (all of my floors are sand with deep litter); a few days later I heard the chickens making a racket at dawn and headed out to check on them. There were four dead bantams on the floor (they weren't big enough to get on the roosts) and a skunk glaring at me. I could see where she had dug under the wall, slid under 36 inches of chicken wire, and had emerged into the coop at the seam, which was in the middle of the floor. I dispatched the invader and then placed 2 x 4s along the full length of the seam, securing the wire to the 2 x 4s. Covered the entire floor with light gravel and a layer of sand. No more invasions AT THE SEAMS of the wire. Plenty of attempts, however.

It is better to have MORE security than you think is necessary rather than find a coop decimated by critters.