Well, I went out and got my normal 6 mil clear plastic in 10' x 25' packages- I staple-gun it to the coops in a 45 degree angle to the top of the coop and stick it to the ground with garden staples.
This makes a little angled tunnel so that the snow doesn't build up on the North side (because all of my people-doors are on the North side). I also use zip-ties to put the plastic on the wire fence all along the North of the runs, so that even when this isn't happening, the wind can't cut into them. Right now, it's preventing the snow from filling up the runs so badly by causing it to drift in front of the plastic.
The best part is that one can also loop the plastic over a coop and support it with a 2x4 'T' with the bottom board stuck in a bucket of sand. The snow just slides off, and when the sun comes out, it heats up inside a bit like a green-house, even if it's not closed on all sides.
I tend to make all of my runs with the people doors on the North, the pop doors on the South, and then the coop can act as a windbreak. In the Summer, I attach things to the coop and draw them out South so it gives them shade.
I also put shadecloth along the South fence to make shade, as well as leaned boards periodically for little islands of shade.
This is ugly. I don't like it.
