Heavy winds and rain need advice

[Rob Tof]

Last night we had heavy winds and bad rain. I came to my coop and my pen roof collapsed in thank God my hens were in the coop for the night. Looking for advice on how to fix this issue. I don't want to totally rebuild the pen. Here is a pic of what it looked like this morning. I used a old trampoline for the structure. I need a way to secure the top? Any ideas I'm at a loss how to stop this from happening again. Oh the top is a 15ft pool cover with center pole.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

You need a supportive arch through the center so that water runs down instead of collecting in the middle.

 

[Folly's place]

x2! More structure, or more frequent disasters. In a cold climate, plan for maximum snow load too. Mary

 

[Rob Tof]

Still at a loss how to get my pen safer. If we all had unlimited funds it would be easy but I don't. I do need to contend with snow and rain+ wind.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

As far as safer:

1. It's not dig proof
2. It's mainly just netting (definitely not predator proof)

You need supports radiating out from the center pole. Or you can get really long pieces and make arches from one side pole to the opposite side, and then lash them all together in the center.

What is the diameter of the run?

 

[BYChickenAl]

I had something similar happen with high winds. I would hate to suggest something that either doesn't fit your budget or doesn't fit your situation. It doesn't matter what you do for the short-term. You can NEVER predict what an extreme weather event will do to your setup. Good luck with whatever design improvements are suggested...or whatever you decide on your own.

 

[Clucksworth12]

View attachment 1048535 Last night we had heavy winds and bad rain. I came to my coop and my pen roof collapsed in thank God my hens were in the coop for the night. Looking for advice on how to fix this issue. I don't want to totally rebuild the pen. Here is a pic of what it looked like this morning. I used a old trampoline for the structure. I need a way to secure the top? Any ideas I'm at a loss how to stop this from happening again. Oh the top is a 15ft pool cover with center pole.

The best way to fix this problem would be to put a post straight up in the middle so that the water runs off and doesn't collect in the middle causing it to cave in.

 

[Rob Tof]

The best way to fix this problem would be to put a post straight up in the middle so that the water runs off and doesn't collect in the middle causing it to cave in.

I have a center post already punched a whole threw.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Yup, that is what I was going to say. A center pole does not do much. Either the weight will pull the tarp through it or the wind will make it rub a hole through... unless you put a dome of some sort over the pole (upside down bowl for example) which will help with the rubbing, but you still need supports radiating out and then you need the tarp to pull taught in all directions with nowhere for water to collect, which is hard to do using a rectangular tarp over a round pen. What I had to do in the past before I build my support system was regularly siphon collected water off of the tarp during rain storms.