55% Shade Cloth?

[Zahboo]

Is this a good roof for my run? It's 40x20, which is a good size. I only have 10 chickens always wanting to expand. The run is 6' tall. It's 40x whatever I make it. I'll try to get pictures later. There are no shade trees, and I can't move a dog run that's been in the ground for 5 years, so I was thinking shade cloth would help a lot. Opinion?

 

[RendonRoo]

It will work fine for shade. I wouldn't rely on it for predator proofing the run. It would keep hawks out but not coons or opossums.

 

[annek]

This would be fine for a run as long as you lock them up at night and don't have things that want to crawl over the top to get them. Don't know if you will want it shady in the winter though.

 

[Zahboo]

We don't have a lot of predators. Just hawks.

 

[chickachickadoo]

That's what I was planning to use for shade over our run until we decided to move it to another area. I would have put hardware cloth over the run first and then topped it off with the shadecloth.

Later, if you decide that that isn't enough, you could erect a small (or as large as you see fit) piece of playwood for shade. In fact, depending on what the top of your run is like, I have seen people prop a piece of plywood over the edge of a run to make an impromptu lean-to. No extra nails or anything.

 

[Zahboo]

My run is actually a dog run. It is 30x40 in it's entirety. I wanted to save space for the lawnmower to go through (this run is connected to another chainlink pen) so I'm going with 40x20. Still plenty of space. There will be chainlink at the front with a door and all breaking it off. I'll try to find camera batteries!

 

[azelgin]

I have 80% shade cloth over one of my runs. As far as I'm concerned, it's not dark enough. If I were to do it again, I'd go even darker, or metal. On hot days, the chickens still hide in the shadows of the coop.

 

[Zahboo]

It helps a little though. It's either this or deer netting, which offers 0 shade.

 

[astylishgirl]

where do y'all get that cloth? Is it an inexpensive alternative? I am looking for something to cover my runs to keep away hawks. They will be in the hen house at night.

 

[azelgin]

Quote:
I bought from these guys:

http://shadetreefabrics.com/index.htm

It's not cheap, but the custom sizes makes things go bunches easier.