4 Producer Pride Poultry Pens together, needing roofing ideas

[SilverChic]

So, we had our first good rain in 4 months, Thank you Lord, we needed it. This is my pen, (picture taken months ago at the start of my build). I have three and half pens butted up together and the tarps that was given to me for these pens only cover each pen, no overlap. So, water poured in between the pens, as I knew it would. I would like to make one long solid roof (wood or corrugated plastic), anyone else do this? I would love some ideas, suggestion and pictures! I live in FL, no snow issues BUT hurricanes will be, so it needs to be sturdy to handle some winds. Many thanks!

 

[Three Stents]

I went from corrugated plastic to corrugated metal. If you go metal, I recommend you paint the roof with white elastomeric paint to help reflect the heat from the sun.

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

I reeeaaallyy don't recommend a solid roof on those pens. You will have to do some major hurricane anchors on that and in a real wind event the pen structure will break before all of the hurricane anchors give up and the whole thing will go bend and turn into a dangerous, useless mess.

I'm in SE Georgia and my pen and goat shade awning had tarps on them through Hurricane Debby, which was the most windy one here, and those tied-on tarps caught enough wind that they pulled out some of the hurricane ties, pulled over a 450lb water butt, and eventually the pipes bent and so I had a bunch of sharp pipe scraps all over. For Hurricane Helene I was a lot more forward-thinking and took the tarps off and there was less damage. (Helene also had less wind here.)

Get some extra tarps to cover the gaps and remove them before any hurricanes. I hope you also have a solid coop or take your chickens into your garage for any big storms.

 

[fldiver97]

Agree - corrugated plastic panels or metal. Wouldn’t do wood.
My personal preference is metal

 

[Three Stents]

I reeeaaallyy don't recommend a solid roof on those pens. You will have to do some major hurricane anchors on that and in a real wind event the pen structure will break before all of the hurricane anchors give up and the whole thing will go bend and turn into a dangerous, useless mess.

I'm in SE Georgia and my pen and goat shade awning had tarps on them through Hurricane Debby, which was the most windy one here, and those tied-on tarps caught enough wind that they pulled out some of the hurricane ties, pulled over a 450lb water butt, and eventually the pipes bent and so I had a bunch of sharp pipe scraps all over. For Hurricane Helene I was a lot more forward-thinking and took the tarps off and there was less damage. (Helene also had less wind here.)

Get some extra tarps to cover the gaps and remove them before any hurricanes. I hope you also have a solid coop or take your chickens into your garage for any big storms.

well of course there will be, do it right once, never do it again. Use tarps....do it many times

 

[Penpal]

For our sheep and donkeys we used a basic hoop design. Two cattle panels bent over with a large tarp over it. The cattle panels rested on 2 x4 with framing on each open end. Metal posts at each corner.

I set it so the tarp side faced the west and east. Our heavy winds almost always come from the west. It survived 80 mph winds. Then, it survived 100 mph wind but one of the cattle panels bent a little. Still good.


Now, what I'm getting at. I used rope tied at one 2x4 and threw the rope over the tarp tying it off on a bungee (with a metal curved thing on each end) to keep it tight. I used five of these to keep the tarp flat and not flop in the wind.

 

[Bawkbok]

The tarps that came with those are canvas, yes? They will retain water and take a while to dry.
We are in FL as well and use a heavy duty tarp as the roof on our open air run and remove it during hurricanes or high wind tropical storm events. It dries quickly after a rain even in deep shade.

Any coverings or tarps will act like a sail with the wind gusts and your run will be destroyed. You will also need to anchor down well, we use stainless steel braces in the ground on the skirt corners and then concrete bricks all around on the skirt. It never budged during the two direct hit hurricanes last year (Helene and Milton).

There is no coop visible in your photo but I assume you have a sturdy enclosure for the chickens during storms, if not, you will need to relocate them to a garage or inside your house. They will not enjoy high winds.

 

[SilverChic]

The tarps that came with those are canvas, yes? They will retain water and take a while to dry.
We are in FL as well and use a heavy duty tarp as the roof on our open air run and remove it during hurricanes or high wind tropical storm events. It dries quickly after a rain even in deep shade.

Any coverings or tarps will act like a sail with the wind gusts and your run will be destroyed. You will also need to anchor down well, we use stainless steel braces in the ground on the skirt corners and then concrete bricks all around on the skirt. It never budged during the two direct hit hurricanes last year (Helene and Milton).

There is no coop visible in your photo but I assume you have a sturdy enclosure for the chickens during storms, if not, you will need to relocate them to a garage or inside your house. They will not enjoy high winds.

Yes, I have noticed that, not a fan. We got Milton, took out a barn, lots of old oaks (we have a small farm).....but we didn't have the chickens, just started up again, (had chickens about 25 years ago).

Hope you didn't sustain too much damage. Do you happen to have pictures, I can't quite picture how you have it. I don't have skirting, I am using no dig all around the perimeter. I will put cinder blocks all around the perimeter as well.

Here is another view, not done, but gives a better idea as to what I'm working with. Right now the coops are closed in with tarps till I get them closed in properly.

I plan on enclosing the coop area only in with tin, I like your suggestion of using a tarp for the run, taking it off when storms make their way in. I have the coops covered in hardware cloth and the tin wraps all the way around the bottom. My coop/run are all under big oaks, offers some wind break.

 

[Three Stents]

Work smart not hard. Lose the tarp.

 

[Bawkbok]

Yes, I have noticed that, not a fan. We got Milton, took out a barn, lots of old oaks (we have a small farm).....but we didn't have the chickens, just started up again, (had chickens about 25 years ago).

Hope you didn't sustain too much damage. Do you happen to have pictures, I can't quite picture how you have it. I don't have skirting, I am using no dig all around the perimeter. I will put cinder blocks all around the perimeter as well.

Here is another view, not done, but gives a better idea as to what I'm working with. Right now the coops are closed in with tarps till I get them closed in properly.

I plan on enclosing the coop area only in with tin, I like your suggestion of using a tarp for the run, taking it off when storms make their way in. I have the coops covered in hardware cloth and the tin wraps all the way around the bottom. My coop/run are all under big oaks, offers some wind break.

Are the top of your runs covered in hardware cloth also or just the tarp? If they are covered in HC then there is no need for the tarp other than to provide shade and protection from rain. If your oaks provide enough shade all day long, you may not need to tarp at all as long as it is critter protected with HC. We use deep litter method for the run so the tarp prevents it from becoming a mud nightmare and the girls' feet stay dry.

In our situation, the run is not predator proof as the squares are large enough for birds and squirrels to enter which is why we tarped it out, in addition to providing shade as we have no large trees during the hottest part of the day, only small trees from the south. Therefore, the tarp serves as a permanent roof until we remove it. It is extremely heavy and the bungee cords create a very tight fit so absolutely nothing can squeeze underneath it. I can't even fit a finger under the tarp unless I release a bungee cord. This solved the bird and squirrel problem and was a cheaper alternative than buying HC for the top of the run. So the tarp is shade and safety. We attached garden netting with 1/8" holes to the run on the sides with zippie ties (about1,500) and then attached HC on top of that in areas that I deemed could be points of failure for critter access.

The white canopy you see in the photo is only used during hot weather when the sun is overhead to keep the coop from baking. This too needs to be removed when rain threatens. We are considering a more permanent coverage solution for the coop in the spring; something like a small aluminum carport cover.

If this all sounds confusing let me know if you need clarification on anything.