I'm not finished with my coop yet and I haven't started on my run but I have been thinking about it a lot. I want it to be secure and I am going to put an apron around the whole thing but it seems like gates will be the weak points. I guess I could still lay some wire on the ground or maybe do a apron and bend it up and have a little short "fence" that you would have to step over when you go in... does that make sense? What do the rest of you with secure runs do?
I have an old dog kennel that we changed into a coop/run. It has old cedar deck boards standing upright at the base of the fence. My male dogs used to dig under to get to the females in season, the boards stopped that so they should stop critters from getting in as well. The doors all swing in, and you will only trip once or twice before you learn to step up the 6 inches.
We just finished ours. We used a wooden storm door. I still dug 12 inches down and put the hardware cloth in, then put down a row of bricks flat on the ground in front of the door. I put a latch at the top and bottom of the door so it can't be pushed open and a door stop on the front side.(The door swings in). It's pretty secure and you don't have to step over anything to get in.
My run is framed and roofed. I buried the hardware wire under the door and then put down brick pavers in front of the doorway. My door opens out and is 2x4 with hardware wire screwed on. The lock is at the half-way point.
