Idea for a different kind of coop

I've had an inspiration for a new kind of coop, that combines two ideas from others to make something sorta new. First I will briefly describe the two contributing ideas.

1) First is the Chicksaw coop by Justin Rhodes.  In short, the Chicksaw is a 2 foot high coop on large wheels. The key innovation that I'm stealing here is that the bottom of the chicksaw is 1 inch hardware cloth, which allows any droppings to fall through. So as long as you move it daily, it never accumulates enough in one place to be an issue.

2) Next is the Miyagi Pond idea by Jack Spirko. The Miyagi pond is simply a small pond\water feature that is bordered with a short raised side-rail, resulting in both a distinct transition from land to water, and a slightly raised water level. Jack always includes water pumps for moving water; but importantly includes Duckweed or similar waterborne 'green manure' plants on the surface of the gently moving water. The Duckweed is known for thriving and multiplying rapidly in warm waters with much phosphorous.  Jack raises ducks, but the process that I'm using here should be similar.

So here's my idea. Build a stationary chicken coop, with hardware cloth on the bottom, immediately over the water surface of a larger Miyagi pond. Droppings fall directly into the water, duckweed thrives during warm months & is used as "green manure", mulch or chicken fodder at will.  Water is also used for occasional irrigation, using a watering can.  In short, the pond is being used as a sewage lagoon for the chickens, so I don't have to clean out the coop; or if I do, I can use a hose.  I would also be growing minnows in this same shallow Miyagi pond, if possible.


Does anyone see an issue with this idea that I'm not yet seeing? Would a predator, strong enough to defeat hardware cloth, be willing to get wet for a chicken dinner?

1. Humidity might be an issue. It can be a problem for chickens under some conditions, so if I were to try this, I'd want the coop designed so I could move it off the pond.

2. Using chicken poop fed duckweed as chicken feed is too close a cycle. That's how nasty diseases can get spread or evolve. The generally accepted best practice would be to feed the duckweed to fish and then the fish to some other non-bird species. Composting the duckweed would be fine although I've not found it easy to compost - I think it may need more heat than I had.

3. Quantity of poop - chicken poop is pretty strong, so balancing the volume of water and the volume of plant material could be critical. When reading about aquaponics, I was amazed how much actively growing plant volume was required to balance a relatively small pounds worth of fish.

4. I think you'd need to create an artificial wetland with a lot of cattail and similar which would need to be harvested for mulch and compost to capture all the nutrients. That said, having lots of weed-free, pesticide-free cattail for mulching growies would be a serious plus in my books! The old expression, "the devil is in the details" may apply - I'd start small, have a back-up plan, and in particular, I'd need a "winter plan"!