Anyone use vines for shading on the run?

[farmgirlroots]

I planted sunflowers a few feet by the coop and it is working perfectly! Next year I will be adding even more for better shade.

 

[Nicole01]

Nice!

I've tried sunflowers, but the hens are smart and eat them all up. We ended growing them in the garden now.

 

[Bleenie]

Try Hops. We've got a patch of them on the property and I built the coop next to them to help keep the coop cool and give extra shade. One side of my coop is covered with them and although it does block air flow it seems to keep things cooler than without them. I suppose they'd help insulate the coop if i left them.... I have a semi-open air coop so i don't think it'd make a huge difference in temp so I opt to keep things looking nice by cutting them down after they die off.

hops die off at the end of the season but their roots continue to grow through winter so they come back even bigger every year. Every few years I dig up some of the outlying roots(rhyzomes) and sell or give them to family/friends, it helps keep the bush under control come next spring. My mother got a handful from me last spring and they're currently taking over a 10ft long section of her cyclone fencing.

 

[mudvstheory]

Vines should help, but a small tree would allow better airflow. Think mulberry for chickens. The fruit may stain, or you can get white fruited ones, but the berries will feed he chickens for months.

If you want vines, make a separate trellis to leave airflow between the vine and the coop. If you let the vine grow straight up the coop wall, you will trap moisture against the wall, and ruin it. Not to mention the little suckers and tendrils and such. Uncontrolled vines do damage.

Grapes or kiwis might work as well for shade and food. There are fussy grapes, and native american grapes. The muscadine grapes grow fine without spray in humid weather, but taste a little funky.

Virginia Tech did a study of vines for cooling small buildings and said cinquefoil was best because it does the least damage to the structure. I never checked toxicity on that, though.

I always wanted to try hops. It seems like they will allow more sun than a tree until late spring, then because of the established roots, POOF it grows. You have shade when you need it, and then when you want the sun back in early fall, just cut it down.

But be careful to think of any predator that might climb the vine/trellis.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I have grapes that grow up through the center and out over the top of my covered run. They do not noticeably restrict airflow and make for a very cool micro-climate inside. During the hottest parts of the day in the hottest part of the summer it can be up to 20 degrees cooler inside than just outside the run. I credit the vines with avoiding losses to heat over the four summers now of raising chickens here in our extreme climate. Even when given the opportunity to free-range, they prefer to be in the run under the vines during the hottest part of the day. The other added benefit is the forage the leaves provide for much of the year; the chickens really like them. The 100+ lbs of grapes every year is pretty awesome too. The vines do require some maintenance. I have to periodically attach the vines to the trellis that grows over the coop as they grow during the spring/early summer. In November, after the first frosts, I have to trim and remove the vines but it takes under a half-hour to complete, less if I have help.


Here is the coop and run in the spring, before the vines grow out of the run.




Here is an old picture of the run in mid-summer with the vines covering much of the run. The vines grow longer and faster every year and now they grow over a new trellis that covers the top of the coop too.