Clear poly roof for run?

[K0k0shka]

It looks great with the clear plastic roof. What was your neighbor's problem? And how is that plastic roof any different than having a plastic roof on a shed, from the neighbor's perspective?

The neighbor's problem was the mere existence of my chickens (and animals in general). He's one of those new people that move into an area (a very chicken-friendly area in our case!) and start wanting to change everything to suit their egos. He said animals were filthy and belonged on farms, not in towns/cities/neighborhoods. He fought me hard for a whole year, trying to find every possible loophole, getting the town involved, and trying to get the DOH to severely restrict or even ban chickens in my town. It was ugly and incredibly stressful. Before building my run, I had consulted with the town's building inspector and got his okay. I had described it in detail - where it would be, that it would have a roof, etc. I'm in an urban area and don't have a lot of room, so it had to be close to the property line. The inspector said that if it didn't have a floor, then it didn't count as an auxiliary building, but as a fence, and thus didn't need to adhere to the setback requirements (unlike, say, a shed, or the coop). Well the neighbor decided to challenge that, and since the language in the town bylaws is very vague, was able to argue that my run was an auxiliary building. The building inspector denied having said anything to me previously, and said I should've asked for it in written form so I'd have proof now (WTF). So he deemed my run a "building" because of the roof, and I had to either take the roof down, or relocate the whole run. So I took the roof down, and in its place I installed several really ugly patio umbrellas, because nobody can regulate my umbrellas, and that's where we stand now. They sag and fill with water and leaves and are a total mess, but I don't care - that's what my lovely neighbor gets to look at now instead of my beautiful run roof!

 

[QODTMWTD]

The neighbor's problem was the mere existence of my chickens (and animals in general). He's one of those new people that move into an area (a very chicken-friendly area in our case!) and start wanting to change everything to suit their egos. He said animals were filthy and belonged on farms, not in towns/cities/neighborhoods. He fought me hard for a whole year, trying to find every possible loophole, getting the town involved, and trying to get the DOH to severely restrict or even ban chickens in my town. It was ugly and incredibly stressful. Before building my run, I had consulted with the town's building inspector and got his okay. I had described it in detail - where it would be, that it would have a roof, etc. I'm in an urban area and don't have a lot of room, so it had to be close to the property line. The inspector said that if it didn't have a floor, then it didn't count as an auxiliary building, but as a fence, and thus didn't need to adhere to the setback requirements (unlike, say, a shed, or the coop). Well the neighbor decided to challenge that, and since the language in the town bylaws is very vague, was able to argue that my run was an auxiliary building. The building inspector denied having said anything to me previously, and said I should've asked for it in written form so I'd have proof now (WTF). So he deemed my run a "building" because of the roof, and I had to either take the roof down, or relocate the whole run. So I took the roof down, and in its place I installed several really ugly patio umbrellas, because nobody can regulate my umbrellas, and that's where we stand now. They sag and fill with water and leaves and are a total mess, but I don't care - that's what my lovely neighbor gets to look at now instead of my beautiful run roof!

Wow. Between the neighbor and inspector you found a couple of real d-bags. Sorry you have to endure that ongoing aggravation and tension. Building inspectors are just tax leeches: Even when they know the code they don't hold builders to it because that's complicated, but they have no problem messing with homeowners who can't afford to fight them. "I'm a liar so you should have asked me to write down what I said even though I would have refused if you had." Unreal. I'm glad you made the replacement as obnoxious as possible for the jerk neighbor, though.

 

[K0k0shka]

Wow. Between the neighbor and inspector you found a couple of real d-bags. Sorry you have to endure that ongoing aggravation and tension. Building inspectors are just tax leeches: Even when they know the code they don't hold builders to it because that's complicated, but they have no problem messing with homeowners who can't afford to fight them. "I'm a liar so you should have asked me to write down what I said even though I would have refused if you had." Unreal. I'm glad you made the replacement as obnoxious as possible for the jerk neighbor, though.

Yeah, the neighbor and the inspector are jerks, but at least they are balanced out by the DOH, who were all really nice and reasonable, and took my side. They ended up rewriting the town bylaws with regards to animals, and added a clause excluding chickens from the current regulations, because those were originally intended for farms and barns, not a handful of pet chickens. The neighbor had also tried to argue that my 5x7 coop was a "barn" and thus needed to be 75 feet from all property lines! My whole property is 100 feet along its longest dimension, and is the biggest in my neighborhood, so that would've made chickens here illegal. He got the opposite of what he wanted, which was a nice silver lining for me after having to endure all that and get rid of my beautiful roof.

 

[QODTMWTD]

Yeah, the neighbor and the inspector are jerks, but at least they are balanced out by the DOH, who were all really nice and reasonable, and took my side. They ended up rewriting the town bylaws with regards to animals, and added a clause excluding chickens from the current regulations, because those were originally intended for farms and barns, not a handful of pet chickens. The neighbor had also tried to argue that my 5x7 coop was a "barn" and thus needed to be 75 feet from all property lines! My whole property is 100 feet along its longest dimension, and is the biggest in my neighborhood, so that would've made chickens here illegal. He got the opposite of what he wanted, which was a nice silver lining for me after having to endure all that and get rid of my beautiful roof.

Clearly the DOH people realized that you were the sane, honest one. Unlike the crank next door.

 

[KJsHalfPintFarm]

I am in NYC, and have been covering my 13' x 10' run with tarps and plastic sheeting for the past few winters, but none hold up. The run is completely covered with hardware cloth, and with the wind making it flap, I get holes. I also have a hard time keeping it on the run anytime it gets windy. Repairing it in mid-winter is not pleasant, so I want to put up more permanent panels.

The run is mostly shaded in summer, and I can always put a shade cover over it, so I've pretty much set on clear corrugated (the wavy kind) panels. But there are so many choices!

There are different weights (.8 mm and 1.6 mm), different brands, and different names within the brand. Does anyone have a clear roof, and can suggest what might work best?

My diy coop and run in southwest Ohio were built in November and 3 hens arrived Dec 1 so I've only experienced winter weather. The 4x12 section is 7' tall frame and has an opaque roof w panels from Menards. The adjacent section is 6x9 and 6' tall and the roof slope is north facing and clear SunTuf panels from Home Depot. The east walls are fence pickets, north & west are hardware cloth, and south, because it's next to a half wall is pickets on bottom, hardware cloth on top. Because we've had single digit temps & very windy weather, I added temporary tarps on the south and north, stacked up straw bales on the west, and nailed leftover scraps of clear panels on hw cloth under the hen house. I used a wide broom to remove snow from clear panels a couple times. It's been nice and bright in there even on rainy days. Maybe next winter might buy more clear panels for the sides instead of tarps. On inside human door added a burlap coffee bag to block wind since they decided to roost in run instead of hen house! I'm hoping with clear roof sloped to the north and the hw cloth sides won't get too hot in summer. Hope this helps.