Chicken run as a Woods coop?

[Finnie]

One other piece of advice, since you haven’t bought your tarps yet. Examine the label to make sure it does not contain any lead. The Chinese made ones do. I did not know that for a long time, and now I have tiny bits of deteriorated lead tarp all over my property and smooshed into my dirt.

And @cavemanrich is right. The silver tarps take a lot longer to shred than the blue or the green ones do.

I actually love these tarps:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09W3ZG691?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

They cost more, but mine have gone through two winters so far, and holding up very well.

I like that they block the wind but also let light in. And then in the summer, I fold the front half back so there is a double layer. That lets more air flow in the front area, and also doubles up the “shade block” effect in the back area.

Well I should say the “middle area”, because I do have the grey tarps wrapped around the side and back walls of the far back area. I tried to find an on line photo or link to mine, but I bought them on clearance from TSC 6 years ago and they don’t seem to be available now.

They are made of wood and have plastic roof panels in the back section, and just wire roof in the front section. And wire walls all around. So enclosed them in with tarps, and they have been in use that way for almost 6 years now. I do have a not-so-great photo. I have not folded the white tarp back for the summer yet.

 

[Allazzo]

One other piece of advice, since you haven’t bought your tarps yet. Examine the label to make sure it does not contain any lead. The Chinese made ones do. I did not know that for a long time, and now I have tiny bits of deteriorated lead tarp all over my property and smooshed into my dirt.

And @cavemanrich is right. The silver tarps take a lot longer to shred than the blue or the green ones do.

I actually love these tarps:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09W3ZG691?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

They cost more, but mine have gone through two winters so far, and holding up very well.

I like that they block the wind but also let light in. And then in the summer, I fold the front half back so there is a double layer. That lets more air flow in the front area, and also doubles up the “shade block” effect in the back area.

Well I should say the “middle area”, because I do have the grey tarps wrapped around the side and back walls of the far back area. I tried to find an on line photo or link to mine, but I bought them on clearance from TSC 6 years ago and they don’t seem to be available now.

They are made of wood and have plastic roof panels in the back section, and just wire roof in the front section. And wire walls all around. So enclosed them in with tarps, and they have been in use that way for almost 6 years now. I do have a not-so-great photo. I have not folded the white tarp back for the summer yet.

View attachment 3847379

Thanks for the tarp warning and the link! It's so hard to buy anything these days that isn't some cheap Chinese stuff I searched online for way too many days looking for a decent shed for coop conversion and even the expensive wood models had terrible reviews talking about how cheap and thin the wood was


I also stumbled onto a website that builds $10K+ "playhouses" that look like miniature castles, etc. Crazy world.

 

[Onyxflock]

Great advice on the tarp! I've had 2 10x10 runs attached to make 10x20. Using plastic shed for Roost house, works really well, but needs ventilation in hot weather. Be sure both your roofs have peaks, so snow won't weigh tarp down.
In winter I wrap it like a gift, leaving 1 long side open (away from the wind). And ropes over the top as suggested.
But the tarps last 1-2 seasons at best - even the heavy duty style.

 

[DreamertK]

I live in your area and the tarps are NOT predator proof. We did a similar thing when we first started out with the tarps and paracord, but then after one chicken went missing with a lot of blood and feathers (still not sure how the predator got in or took the chicken with it), we converted to a traditional wood structure with metal roof. No more problems, no worries of snow or tree branches falling on them. We do want to expand the area with more kennel fencing though.

 

[Allazzo]

Great advice on the tarp! I've had 2 10x10 runs attached to make 10x20. Using plastic shed for Roost house, works really well, but needs ventilation in hot weather. Be sure both your roofs have peaks, so snow won't weigh tarp down.
In winter I wrap it like a gift, leaving 1 long side open (away from the wind). And ropes over the top as suggested.
But the tarps last 1-2 seasons at best - even the heavy duty style.

Great set up! Fortunately the runs both have/will have pitched roofs. It's all under a tree so am hoping that slows down the snowfall a bit.

 

[Allazzo]

I live in your area and the tarps are NOT predator proof. We did a similar thing when we first started out with the tarps and paracord, but then after one chicken went missing with a lot of blood and feathers (still not sure how the predator got in or took the chicken with it), we converted to a traditional wood structure with metal roof. No more problems, no worries of snow or tree branches falling on them. We do want to expand the area with more kennel fencing though.

I do have hardware cloth under the tarp so there's another level of protection. Mostly because I had nightmares of a predator jumping from my garage roof to the top of the run