Need a New Run

Gotta get a new run designed and built before we depart for our New Year's trip. The coyotes got one of my hens the day before Thanksgiving. They were free ranging on our back lot near the garden boxes. I just can't let them out any more. The coyotes are too wiley. The same coyote came back for secons the next day. We had them safely within the chain link fenced in back yard. Tom got to practice his marksmanship; gave the scruffy wild thing a taste of discouragement.

It will be difficult to draft a plan and get this done by Christmas, but it has to be done. I want something with an arbor for the top so the trailing rose vine has a place to go. I need to be able to walk in without ducking so I can clean and lay hay down. The floor needs to be dirt so they can take a dust bath, and I'd like a small door installed in the chain link so I can release them directly into the backyard. The perimeter needs to be secure from burrowing, digging predators. The arbor top will discourage hawks. The outer walls must be completely covered with 2x4 welded wire, top to bottom or they'll just fly right over. I am thinking that we need my friend's back hoe to dig down deep enough to bury cinder blocks along the edge, two blocks high and one block burried, stacked and cemented, but I am open to better ideas.

The chickens will be locked securely in their coop at night. The run is for daytime use only.