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I'm fortunately to have extremely well-drained ground. I think that what raising the run footing means is to use boards (or maybe landscape ties?), to turn the run into a kind of giant raised bed -- like in the garden but the entire run. Maybe?

Our southeastern pines wouldn't grow in your area, but if you have a pine available that has long, flexible needles instead of short, stiff, spiky needles that would be the thing. I personally would not use gravel anywhere chickens would be unless you have no other means of solving a serious...

I've never heard of that myself. The chickens dig down to dirt to make dustbaths regularly. But, again, my soil conditions are unusually favorable for very casual management of my litter. When I have a problem I just pile more in. :)

Pine straw bale: Pine straw in landscape bed: Pine straw in my run: I just dump it in and let them spread it. I *do* use regular straw in my run too -- mostly as intact bales for winter wind baffles, but sometimes as litter when I'm low on the pine straw. I have EXCEEDINGLY well-drained...

Pine straw is the fallen needles of Loblolly and Longleaf pines -- 6-12" long. It's a big thing in the southeast -- actually raised on "straw farms" and baled for sale. Landscapers LOVE it. I rake mine up off the lawn and out of the woods rather than buying it. The great thing about it is that...

I don't guarantee it's stability in high winds, but it's worked well so far against moderate rain and light winds.

My winter was like that -- rain and rain and more rain. That's one of the reasons we're not done with the Chicken Palace so that my chickens are living in a conglomeration of odd, rednecked housing. All I can recommend is to increase the ventilation to the maximum possible without letting rain...

That's not the coop I'm thinking of, which I *think* is in the midwest, but it's a good illustration of the technique.

That, or you could use bolts and wing nuts.

One thing I've seen people here who live in HOT summer, COLD winter areas do is to open the coop into the roofed run for good summer airflow and then use plastic sheeting around the run walls (leaving the top open for ventilation), for winter. Someone, I've forgotten who, has removable wall...

Build a Feeder and Waterer shelter for your run: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/an-outdoor-shelter-for-the-feeder-and-waterer.76487/

Unless you're in a neighborhood with strict codes in re: aesthetics I wouldn't pass up free sheet metal of any kind. :)

The use of clear panels is EXTREMELY dependent on climate. If I'd gone for a clear roof I'd be building a rotisserie rather than a coop because 95F with 95% humidity is my normal summer weather. But if I still lived up in the mountains they'd be a great option. :) I'm having trouble...