could this be transformed into a chicken run ?

I just read an article in Mary Jane Farm magazine how they used something similar to this along with pallets for a barn. You may want to pay a visit to a local book store and pick up the current issue.

 

It would work for a run if you covered it in wire; for a portable run you would want to also add some diagonal bracing (although *possibly* if you used hardwarecloth or stout 1x1 mesh AND could attach it firmly and thoroughly enough to the frame you might be able to get away without). (E.t.a. - around here, those things are not too hard to find secondhand on craigslist or kijiji, being sold for cheap b/c something has happened to the tarp cover. If you just want something to put WIRE on, this might be an ideal buy for you)

When tarped, though (as of course they are intended to be), be aware that they tend to leave and/or self-disassemble in high winds. I cannot tell you how MUCH of that we see around here, people buy them as temporary garages or snowmobile/motorcycle storage and the first good storm comes through it's a pile of miscellaneous metal tubing, or gone altogether. The cheaper ones are worse at this than the better ones (I am sort of under the impression that the Shelterlogic line is kind of middle of the road, but am not positive), but ALL will do it in high winds.

Thus, if you wanted to have it wholly or partly tarped, you would want to a) use some SERIOUS ground anchors (either screw-type or heavy weights) which is obviously going to interfere with frequent portability, and b) be prepared for the possibility of it self-destructing if it is in a wind-exposed area as I gather your previous roofed run was.

Honestly a cattle-panel style run would be waaay cheaper to build, and no less robust in an un-tarped configuration. (How robust it would be if tarped, compared to the frame-and-tarp garage style thing, I do not know, it would depend exactly how the cattle panel hoop run was constructed and braced).

Pat

 

That shelter appears to be constructed to be akin to a sailboat sail with light steel framework like a kite's. So I would expect it to go up, up, and away ! A few years ago I baught a mare motel barn ( in Central Cal.)... 2 stall barn, each 12 x 16 ( 12 x 32) with 1 7/8" steel bars from ground and every 1' to 6' height then the steel roof sloping from 8' to 10'. and weighed in at @ 2000 pounds. I used cement footings at all of the corners 1' wide to 16" deep to secure it to the ground. . One wind storm night this barn decided that flying lessons would be fun. It flew over a 6' chain link fence 30 feet away from where it stood and 50' into a neighbor's field only to crash land into a totally twisted steel mass. Needless to say it didn't get a pilot's license.

 

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I thought about using something like that but we get some fierce winds non-stop year round here on the Colorado plains. They wouldn't last a season.

They could work for you. Depends on your weather.

 

Wouldn't work here, but we get 40-60mph windstorms here.