covering our enclosure

[Hillerlee]

Good morning,
My girls are now 5 wks old and we're going to put them in their fully enclosed run with our coop inside it.
Wondering if because of the avian flu situation, we should cover the top of the enclosure. It has mesh metal
so no birds can get in, but it's the poop I'm concerned about. Any suggestions of how to cover, but allow the light
in? Materials and securing it? THANKS

 

[Battlepants]

It certainly wouldn't hurt to put a tarp over your run. In addition to reducing bird poop, this will give them extra shade to live in, which looks to be rather essential this summer (phew, it's hot out there!). As for still allowing light in, you can leave the sides non-tarped. Additional consideration for avian flu, I like to put my food and water in the coop to prevent nearly all interaction with wild birds. Additionally, I am not putting out bird feed for the wild birds to generally avoid attracting them to my property. Avoiding bird feed also has the advantage of keeping the wild bird populations from congregating, further reducing spread of the illness to begin with.

 

[Hillerlee]

Thanks - that's what I was thinking - clear tarp, at least over 1/2. I don't want them to bake in there and the wind on a ridge where we live is really crazy strong sometimes, but I think it's a good idea if we bungy it down??
We have wire mesh on the top, so we can attach it on the sides. Appreciate your reply

 

[Battlepants]

The cheap bungee cords that came with my prefab run seem to be holding up here, but I don't tend to get a huge amount of wind out there (decent amount of trees around, and the house absorbs most of the wind). If you want something a bit more robust, get some galvanized wire (marketed as electric fence wire) and use this in place of the bungee cords. That stuff can hold a fairly high amount of load. And wire it into many points on your tarp - usually they come with a fair amount of attachment points, use them all. This wire is fairly easy to attach directly to your mesh as well.

 

[townchicks]

Thanks - that's what I was thinking - clear tarp, at least over 1/2. I don't want them to bake in there and the wind on a ridge where we live is really crazy strong sometimes, but I think it's a good idea if we bungy it down??
We have wire mesh on the top, so we can attach it on the sides. Appreciate your reply

Clear tarp will be fine for winter, but this time of year they need SHADE and lots of it. I would recommend blue tarp and you can switch it out in winter if you feel they need more light. As has been mentioned, they will still have sun coming in the sides. Covering half the run defeats the purpose, if your desire is to protect them from avian flu.

 

[aart]

It has mesh metal
so no birds can get in, but it's the poop I'm concerned about.

Do you have a lot of waterfowl flying over your place?
It would help immensely if you posted some pics of your coop and run.

I don't want them to bake in there

Welcome to BYC! @Hillerlee
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[3KillerBs]

Photos, please? And your location?

Climate matters tremendously and you'll get better advice if we know whether you think of 90F as horrendously hot or as the coolest day of the week and if you think of 4" of snow as the winter's worst storm or hardly worth shoveling.

Thanks - that's what I was thinking - clear tarp, at least over 1/2. I don't want them to bake in there and the wind on a ridge where we live is really crazy strong sometimes, but I think it's a good idea if we bungy it down??
We have wire mesh on the top, so we can attach it on the sides. Appreciate your reply

Unless it's winter in a cold climate a clear roof is more likely to turn your coop into a rotisserie than provide any particular benefit. Shade is almost always good for chickens -- they're naturally creatures of the forest floor rather than the open plains.

Does the roof have any slope to it so that water would run off rather than pool on top?

You can attach tarp to wire with UV resistant zipties.