cattle panel run caves in with weight of the snow last night

[Dawn419]

When Skip and I built our cattle panel run for our Playhouse coop, we doubled 16' cattle panels and used pressure treated 2 x 4's for our center supports in the run.

We added fence posts to the 2 x 4 uprights to hold them in place an it has worked well for us, so far. We've had several wet snows since we built this in the late summer/early fall of 2007 and the run is standing strong.


Hope this is some help!


Dawn

 

[Cowboy Joe]

The snow around here was wet & heavy last night. Add in the wind and viola! Went out to feed rabbits this morning and noticed our chicken run, PVC pipe & poultry netting, sustained some damage last night too. Think one of the 'T' fittings broke. At least the run is empty. This in only the second time the pen has broken in six years.

Wayne, cool door!

 

[waynesgarden]

Thanks. The door was an extravagant use of time that could have been put to more profitable endeavors, but with all the steel wire, the run was starting to look like a max. security prison.

I decided on using the cattle panels after seeing photos of Dawn's run here. I only had space for a narrow run and a single 16 foot long panel wouldn't give me the height I needed to stand up in. Attaching one end to the top of the long wall of the coop gave me the height and widened the area of the run. Three 16' panels attached this way gave me a run 13' long and 10 1/2' from coop to front. The wire ties keep it rigid for most of the year but not enough for ice and snow build up, so as Blueskylen said, posting in the center is necessary in the winter.

Wayne

 

[blueskylen]

Those are nice looking runs! our problem was that we only had posts about a third of the way in from the sides - not right down the middle - so the top portion was not supported as well as those in your pictures. They are now.

live and learn tho!

 

[ridgefire]

Must be nice to still have an outside run. My girls haven't been outside in a couple of months. The snow is so deep it completely covers the pop door.