Will this coop work for the time being ?

[Critter Girl]

You made a really nice space for you chickens, Cody! I can't believe you threw that together. The dust bath, multiple roosts, plenty of shade and overall roominess are fantastic! I would definitely suggest putting the door on their night-time roost. The critters that hunt at night will most likely be the ones to get through the wire on the top. Be very cautious about the raccoons. I have never actually seen one around our house, but I have found the very obvious, muddy tracks crawling up my coop. Fortunately, my girls are barricaded inside at night. My A frame coop has been a gradual progression. It started as a tractor with chicken wire. After getting so much great info on here and from The Chicken Chick, I made it stationary, replaced all chicken wire with hardware cloth installed with screws and fender washers. Dug a 12 inch trench around it and put coated hardware cloth in an L shape, 12 inches down 12 inches out. We just made another run to extend it. (Means more digging for us, unfortunately!) I'm not saying this route is for everyone. I was dealing with much less space than you. To put hardware cloth on your chicken mansion, would be pricey! We all do the best we can. You have a lot of rocks around the outside, which might keep those dogs (daytime predators) out if you continue with that. Maybe lay wire under it? Perhaps, some kind of fencing (not chicken wire) to wrap the outside of the wood fence? Best of luck to you!

 

[Dmontgomery]

Good job man! You've done a lot of work in just 2 weeks and you've addressed all your known predator problems. It looks like the chickens have everything they need.

 

[jstanard]

I have a mastiff, and my coop is a pallet coop and run, there is no way he can bust through it! Pallets are mostly made of hard wood like apple, as when they are used for the original purpose, they have to handle heavy weight loads. Good job!