I'm just trying to avooid places where vermin could push the wire in where it hanging over the edge and get into the brooder. Maybe a peice of plywood could be cut with a jigsaw the shape of the tube and then cut again inside that leaving a few inches for the edge. Hardware cloth could them be attached to that
I was using a 100+ gallon round stock tank as a brooder. I had a design in mind for a cover. Plywood cut into half circles, with the center cut out .... like this: D
Wire covering the openings and hinges in the center, so you could open it like a lid.
That was my plan, anyway. My husband cut a circle of hardware cloth, a few inches wider than the top of the tank and shaped the wire to curve round the edge, so it kind of snapped onto the rim. he put a 2x2 board down the center for support. I didn't like it as much as I would have liked my design but it was functional enough.
Had to move the stock tank back out for feeding the cows cubes. So now I have brooders made of pallets and doors.
