Curved Roof Support for Chicken Run

[chicken_good]

Hey all,

I have an area, ~10'x10', enclosed by U-posts and hardware cloth for a run. I'd like to put a curved roof of chicken wire over it, which would ideally be tall enough to walk in to. The overall shape is planned to be something like a quonsett hut, just with a mesh roof instead of curved metal. I was thinking of using aluminum flats, but they're pretty expensive, and don't seem to come in long enough pieces. I'm looking at bolting together a few pieces of punched steel flats, the kind that are sold for use in duct support, but I wanted to check here to see if anyone had constructed something similar and had other ideas.

Thanks!

 

[Trish1974]

@aart don't you have something like that?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Not sure how strong your fence is, this will put a lot of pressure on it to push the fences apart. A length of cattle panel is 16' long. Your width is 10 feet. If you attach a cattle panel to the top of your fence you will have a center height of an additional 5' or so. The arc should be strong enough to support wire. Snow or ice could collapse it.

 

[aart]

@aart don't you have something like that?

Yes,I bent up EMT for run roof...not curved, and limited to an 8' width, but...
Details in here, scroll down.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-coop-page.65912/

 

[BReeder!]

Curve PVC with a heat gun? Might be a pain without a form to bend it around though.
I think the cattle panel would be the best bet if you can prevent it from pushing out. Some well buried posts along the outside may help. I'm thinking wood posts buried 3ft deep and secured with concrete, and then attach the lower edges of the cattle panel with screws and blocks of wood to secure (better than large staples..).

 

[chicken_good]

The curve isn't that important; it just seemed like the easiest way to make it tall. I like the bent EMT conduit. Thanks all for the suggestions!