Cheap way to cover our run for the winter that can manage snow load?

[Beekissed]

Easy peasy....arched cattle panels over the run with tarping. It can be accomplished with a few of T posts, cattle or hog panels, zip ties and tarps. Sturdy, reusable, will definitely hold the snow load and if built right, will not even stir in the wind. When you are done it can be deconstructed and stored flat for the next season.

I built a bigger structure for a sheep run in out of the same materials~added a cargo net and some roping to keep tarps from flapping~ but it can be vastly scaled down for your short and small run. We built this in about an hour and took it down in even less time.

 

[teach1rusl]

If you get up to three ft. of snow in a sitting, I would not attempt to put anything over your current run unless you beef it up quite a bit. I'd opt for sheets of cheap plywood (covered in tarp to protect wood) across saw horses, or even on top of stacked straw bales. Your birds will be much happier if they have the opportunity to go outside...

 

[ailurophile23]

Cattle panels with tarp works great as so does pvc pipe arches with heavy duty clear plastic - I use the pvc/plastic set up as a cold frame in the garden and just attach the pvc to pieces of rebar driven into the ground. The cattle panels are less likely to sway side to side and are thus sturdier but we'va had 2 feet of snow on the pvc/plastic and it did not collapse. Plastic just lets in more light.