Spacious Garden Loft Coop Right at Home on Spacious Rock Hill Farm

Mike and Beth Whitehead’s new Rock Hill farm has all the joy that country life can offer. A meandering gravel drive leads from the main gate past a sturdy barn made with rough sawn oak, to a gracious residence thoughtfully nestled in a cluster of shade trees. Sweeping meadows unfold in every direction for hitting golf balls, riding horses, or watching the sunset. The cedar-framed greenhouse and sunny garden area are an especially welcome legacy from the property’s previous owners, and they’re just a short stroll from the house. The couple always found space for organic gardening and composting at their prior homes in Charlotte, but, until now, a backyard chicken coop just didn’t fit into the picture. 

But holdups that stood in the way of fresh eggs aren’t issues on their bucolic new property, and the first step was to choose the right chicken coop design for their backyard flock. 

Mike and Beth work in Charlotte, and they split their time between their Rock Hill farm, and a smaller Charlotte residence that’s close to the office. And even though they only wanted five laying hens, their coop had to be large enough to keep the flock safe and dry, secured inside for several days at a time. 

Strong, sturdy coop designs like the Playhouse Coop and Garden Coop are large enough for five hens, but a more spacious design was needed to keep their flock safe and comfortable during the portions of the week that the couple is away from their farm. 

The Garden Loft Coop was the answer. Like the Garden Coop and Playhouse Coop, it has outstanding ventilation and a fully covered run built into the design, and like these two outstanding coops, a robust cedar frame and galvanized wire mesh frustrate even heavyweight predators like coyotes.

But the Garden Loft is much more spacious than these two smaller designs. It makes a comfortable home for up to sixteen hens, and it’ll make an especially spacious coop for a smaller backyard flock that may not come out to forage very often. Or even at all. 

The perfect site for the Whitehead’s coop was easy to find - just at the edge of a tall tree line, only a few paces behind the greenhouse. This location will give their hens the right combination of afternoon shade in the warmer months, and maximum sunlight during the winter.

We framed the Whitehead’s Garden Loft Coop with rough-sawed red cedar which is naturally long lasting, and stout enough to hold up in rough weather conditions and the perpetual challenges of crafty wildlife. And like the Garden Coop, the Garden Loft is wrapped with 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth which is buried around the entire perimeter to stop determined predators like raccoons from digging under. 

 

The roost area at the back of the coop is sided with durable T1-11 siding, which gives needed shade in the summer and breaks icy winds during the winter, but the overhead portion of the roost area is simply secured with hardware cloth.This dramatically increases air exchange inside the roost area, and improves the health of the hens, without sacrificing comfort or security. 

Tinted polycarbonate roof panels extend over the entire area of the Garden Loft Coop, which helps keep the birds dry. And a dry chicken is more likely to be a comfortable and healthy chicken during the harsh, colder months of the year. 

It certainly was a special treat for us to build this coop in such a picturesque setting, and after three days of chicken coop crafting, we presented the keys to the coop’s new owners. If big smiles are an indication of approval, then they seemed pretty happy. And with their new Garden Loft Coop completed, and baby chicks on the way, Mike and Beth Whitehead do seem to have something new to smile about on their stunning Rock Hill property. And they’re definitely a big step closer to the fresh eggs they’ve always wanted.