As for predators, we had many of the same concerns as you. I recently wrote a post about the considerations we made when building our first coop:

http://curbstonevalley.com/blog/?p=1267

Those hens are now three years old, and despite seeing bobcats climb the outside of the run in broad daylight, and numerous coyotes walking through, nothing has made it into that coop. We’re in the woods here, so predators abound, but so far we’ve managed to keep our flock safe. Hawks haven’t bothered our birds, although they do fly and circle overhead sometimes while the girls are free-ranging.

As for raccoons…we use a lot of spring catches on our coop and slide bolts. If the latch is a two part mechanism (like hold back the spring and lift up the latch) raccoons have a much harder time figuring those out. I hope our post is a little helpful, at least in regards to what we’ve managed to keep out!

We’ve no issues with pecking/cannabalism, and unless you overstock your coop, you’re highly unlikely to have those issues. Good luck with your girls! They’re growing fast!

Mike — crows, really? Damn. The whole coop is outfitted with chicken wire, but the double wire is only up to two feet from the bottom to keep out the grabbing raccoons. I guess if one of my chickens lets a noisy, big black crow close enough to bite her head off through the wire, that might be a little bit of the natural selection I was alluding to.