COOPS AND RUNS
Wooden Chicken Coops and Runs
Shingled coops with wire runs, easy-access nesting boxes and Advantex floors, built in Tignall, Georgia.
Chapter 01
What a coop has to keep out, and keep dry, in Georgia
A coop has two jobs, and they pull against each other. It has to shut tight enough that nothing gets in after dark, and it has to stay open enough that air moves through on a July afternoon. Most of what goes wrong with a backyard coop traces back to one of those two, usually a floor that never dries or a roof that lets water find the walls.
Damp is the slow enemy. Wet bedding sitting on a floor that wicks up ground moisture turns sour fast, and a floor that stays wet will go soft underfoot given enough seasons. A summer storm in Wilkes County drives rain sideways, and it gets in wherever a roof edge is short. So the first questions are plain ones: where does the water go, and what is the floor sitting on?
Predators are the fast enemy. A raccoon or a snake only needs one gap, so a coop and run that work as a single tight unit beat a loose coop with a pen wired up next to it. We put a longer piece on the blog about predator-proofing a coop in Georgia.
A shingled Clark's Woodwork chicken coop with a wire run attached
How a Clark's coop goes together
The floor is Advantex, the same engineered flooring that sits under our dog houses, and it carries a 50-year manufacturer warranty. That warranty belongs to the maker, not to us, but it tells you what the panel is built to take: damp, weight and years of both. Overhead, the roof is asphalt shingles with a 20-year warranty, lapped the way a house roof is lapped, so water runs down and off.
Our coops come with easy-access nesting boxes, and that matters more than it sounds. You'll open that box every day, sometimes twice, with a basket in one hand. A box that fights you gets skipped, and an egg left behind in August heat is an egg lost.
We build coops with wire runs, and we build custom runs too. If your yard has a slope, a fence line or a shady corner you've already picked out, tell us. A custom run starts with a call to (706) 372-6294 and a few measurements.
Chapter 03
Placing it, cleaning it, and fitting a run to your yard
Set the coop on level, well-drained ground where water runs away from it instead of toward it. A little afternoon shade helps in a Georgia summer. Keep the nesting boxes where you can reach them without moving a feeder or climbing over a fence.
Plan on cleaning, because every coop needs it. A coop you can get a hand into gets cleaned more often, which is the reason for building the access in. Pull the bedding, look at the floor and the corners, and glance at the roof edge after a hard storm. Ten minutes of looking now saves a rebuild later.
If a stock coop and run won't fit your yard, ask about a custom run. Tell us your footprint, how many birds you keep and whether the ground slopes, and we'll talk it through with you. Our houses sell through 37 dealers across Georgia and the Carolinas, and a custom run is a conversation with the shop.
The coop floor is Advantex with a 50-year manufacturer warranty, and the shingle roof carries a 20-year warranty. Talk to Barry at (706) 372-6294.
A day around a coop
A coop is something you live beside, so build it for the chores you’ll do most.
How to predator-proof a coop in Georgia- First light
- Open the nesting boxes and collect. This is the job the easy-access boxes were built for, so it should take a minute, not a wrestling match.
- Midday
- Check the run. Look for anything a raccoon could work at overnight: a loose corner, a low spot along the ground, a gap where wire meets frame. Fix it while the sun is up.
- Evening
- Shut the coop up tight before dark. A sound latch and a closed door are the cheapest predator insurance there is.
- After a storm
- Walk around the roof edge and the floor. The shingles should be shedding water away from the walls, and the floor should be dry underfoot by the next day.