Chicken tractor roof material

[Gwhite3678]

We are a building a Joel Salatin style chicken tractor and had initially planned on putting metal roofing for 1/2 but then thought we could possibly use a tarp instead to keep the weight down.
Does anyone see an issue with that plan?
The tractor is 8x8 the roof will be about 1/2 of that with the remaining space open air.
I added a photo of our gram we basically just need to wrap in wire and add the roof

 

[Gwhite3678]

A tarp is going to catch rain water, sag and collapse.. Those cheap plastic corrugated panels will shed rain and do not weigh much more than tarp material.

It's going to be heavy. Do you have wheels?

I think the wire should hold up the tarp so I’m not as concerned about that.
We are putting wheels on the back yes and will have a rope to pull at the front.
Right now it’s not that bad to drag and will probably only need to move it 1-2x a week for the size of it and the amount of birds we got to start at least til they start to get closer to butcher size.

I guess I was more worried about the breathabilty of the tarp / protection from the elements

 

[Ridgerunner]

Since you are going to have wire mesh under the tarp it will probably work OK. A high wind might rip it up. To reduce weight you might consider panels and not put wire under it. With tarp you will need support.

 

[Penpal]

Use the best quality tarp. How do I know this? I always used a tarp for our sheep hoop house. It suffered 80 mph winds, then later 100 mph winds. It should last two years.

For my rooster hoop house I used a lesser quality, I guess mid range, and a big storm tore it apart. Roosters decided they preferred the green house.

The tarp does not have breathability, but neither does any other roof. You will have pretty good ventilation, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Mountain Roost]

I use a tarp on my pasture coops and at the end of the season I pack them up and store them out of the elements. I got a couple years out of them before they started to shred. The sun is brutal on them so I use landscape fabric over and under to protect from the coop wire and sunshine. I also use some thick plastic sheeting as it is what I had around when the tarps went.

Your build looks great but heavy. Do you have super flat ground to put it on? I found out the hard way that the uneven ground is a great weasel invitation. I ended up adding dig aprons with water filled jugs to weigh it down. And then I had to add little hooks on strings to hold up the aprons while we pull the coop.

 

[Gwhite3678]

I use a tarp on my pasture coops and at the end of the season I pack them up and store them out of the elements. I got a couple years out of them before they started to shred. The sun is brutal on them so I use landscape fabric over and under to protect from the coop wire and sunshine. I also use some thick plastic sheeting as it is what I had around when the tarps went.

Your build looks great but heavy. Do you have super flat ground to put it on? I found out the hard way that the uneven ground is a great weasel invitation. I ended up adding dig aprons with water filled jugs to weigh it down. And then I had to add little hooks on strings to hold up the aprons while we pull the coop.View attachment 3564828View attachment 3564827

We ended up going with the metal roof
It is heavy! We have wheels going on the back to help.
The yard is pretty flat so I’m hoping that isn’t an issue but will need to see once we get it finished and think of a solution. What you did looks like a good idea!