Advice about the best type of roof to cover the henhouse and run?

[Goronson Chicks]

Hi Folks,
I'd like your help with advice about the best type of roof to cover the henhouse and run.

We're in Maine and sometimes winters get pretty deep and cold. Last year we lined the chain link 'walls' of our 20 X 45 ft run with Suntuff panels. Then, this spring we covered half of our roof area with Suntuff panels as well.

The other half is topped with just aviary netting to keep hawks and owls out. I noticed this summer that I had flies in the half that was covered, which I never had before.

We had several spells of quite hot weather this summer. We do have a barn fan on an automatic timer which goes on when it reaches 80 degrees in the run. It creates enough of a draft to keep the birds in the run until I come home from work and let them out.

We are considering roofing a quarter of the open roof with wood and shingle roof and the rest with strong hardware cloth to leave a part of the run open to the air.

I'm trying to balance cold winters and lots of snow with summer and heat. Can anyone give me advice or stories about that you've done?

I wish I were wiser/more experienced. We strive to keep our birds healthy and in very good conditions.
Thank you,
Maureen

 

[greenleaf]

Check out this thread for some ideas.
http://AmeraucanaAlliance.org/forum/index.php?topic=254.0

 

[Goronson Chicks]

Thank You for this. I will post photos of ours tomorrow. The difference between this and ours is that our walls are now all Suntuff.

Thanks,

Maureen