Covered run...all or part???

TerryH

Crowing
6 Years
Mar 12, 2016
1,163
590
251
NW Arkansas
My Coop
My Coop
Evening all. Finally to the point of building the run. It's 9x26. 8' tall in front, 7' tall in rear. 36" gate in the front. 48" gate in the rear which will open on to the 900 sq.ft. fenced but not covered chicken yard that they will have access to when we are home. The run will have 1/2" HC 4' tall all the way around with chicken wire above the HC and 2x4 welded wire covering the HC and the chicken wire on the sides. The west end of the run opposite the coop is the 8' tall privacy fence.

My original plan was to roof the entire run with corrugated metal but now that I'm seeing it in real life vs paper I'm thinking that perhaps I want to cover on part of the run and leave some of it un-roofed. I'll cover whatever is not covered with the metal with wire to keep the predators out.

What say you?? Cover all? Cover most? Cover part?

Pics of the run and yard for reference.

From the southwest side of the run looking east toward the coop. You can see the general shape of the run and roof by the 2x4's attached to the coop. Seeing how much late shade there was from the privacy fence is what got me thinking that perhaps I don't want to cover the entire run to let them have some sun if they choose.

27125870406_dc7091d070_c.jpg



From the coop looking west toward the privacy fence that will be the west end of the run.


27125138856_a11eda6682_c.jpg



View from the garden looking south towards the run with the chicken yard beyond that. The fence is done but the gates still have to be built. Double gate spanning a 9' opening in the back fence with a 4' gate at the corner of the storage building. You can see the 3' human door opening in the front side of the run and the 4' human door opening in the rear of the run framed by the 4x4 posts.


27125135856_05a8aa4b43_c.jpg


View of the chicken yard with 8' privacy fence that is south of the run. You can also see where the angling walk gate will be from the end of the storage building the privacy fence at the end of the run.

26555665003_3edda132f5_c.jpg
 
Looks like you have a nice set up. I guess it would all depend on your climate, what you are trying to accomplish and your budget.

We will be building a new coop/run this summer. The run will be 19' long by 9' wide and will be totally covered with a roof. This is because I want them to be able to be in the run everyday of the year. We only have 1/4 acre property and their new coop is going to be 6' by 5'. Since it is a smaller coop than I wanted, I feel like they need to have access to their run, regardless of the weather. We also cannot let them out to free range, so we have to make the space we do have as useable and as comfortable for the chickens as possible. They will also have the space under the coop as it will be raised about 2' off the ground and I hope at some point to let them be in our raised bed garden at certain times of the year. So it will be a solid roof over the whole run for us. Good luck.
 
Funny, but we ran into the exact same question when we went to roof our run. It's 11x25, and we were roofing with corrugated metal roofing panels. We're in a climate that gets very cold, with lost of snow in the winter. But roofing the entire thing cut down dramatically on the amount of actual sunlight that would reach the run -- and we know they love that sun! LOL!

We ended up leaving both ends without roof panels, and just covered with chicken wire for the hawks, etc. When we get close to winter, we'll add the two end panels back on so they have full use of the run for the season. We'll take the ends back off in the spring.
 
I would cover just part, the part near the coop to protect the pop door....then if you decide later you want/need to cover it all, you can do it down the road.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom