I've been very happy with my raised chicken coop:
https://i.imgur.com/mPKpkOQ.jpeg. The worst part, of course, is climbing the stairs every time I want to go in. I've made this worse on myself because I haven't built proper stairs: I made them out of cinder blocks. I finished building it and I was just sick of carpentry work and sick of spending money on lumber. It's also a bit tedious when I'm adding bedding material. When I'm adding wood chips, I dump the material into produce trays and then lift that inside. Another con is that it makes it colder in the winter (Newaygo, MI--zone 5b). Having the coop on the ground would put the chickens closer to the warmer ground and would make for fewer drafts getting in.
For me, though, the benefits outweigh those drawbacks. The chickens love the area underneath for dust baths, for keeping out of the weather, and as another spot to stay safe from flying predators (though knock on wood, after two years I've still had zero problems with this--maybe because of living in the woods but maybe because of how many safe spots I've made for the chickens). The building is also half shed and they are only allowed underneath the chicken coop half (I hope that phrasing is clear), so I also appreciate having all that extra storage space. And I like the hatch I built for unloading dirty bedding. I take that hatch off, move the wheelbarrow in front of it, and can easily rake material into it. I also find it pretty easy to keep winter drafts out: I collect other people's leaf bags in the fall and stack them along three sides of the coop, blocking the wind from easily getting underneath.
Sorry for my kind of run-on writing here. I guess my brain's feeling a bit lazy today. I should've formatted this as a pros and cons list since I just felt like listing all that stuff, but hopefully you can sort through it!
