HELP! How-to cover cattle panel w/plastic

[Lazur]

I need your help. I live in cold and windy NH. I built a cattrle panel run and have no idea how to attach the 6 mil plastic for a dry winter run for my girls. Have you done this? Please share any ideas & pics you may have. Thank you!

 

[Rammy]

Did you bow it up so you have a rounded top? Get some 4 or 6ml plastic, put over the top, then get a good tarp with the grammet holes in it, put it over the plastic. Use zip ties and tie it to the cattle panel. This will give them good cover from bad weather and shade.

 

[WI chickens]

Usually you build a box from boards and then bend the cattle panels into hoops inside the box. When you pull the plastic over the panels, you screw another board onto the top of the boards that made the box, pinching the plastic in between.

If that isn't clear, there are roughly ten million youtube videos showing how to do it.

 

[WI chickens]

Did you bow it up so you have a rounded top? Get some 4 or 6ml plastic, put over the top, then get a good tarp with the grammet holes in it, put it over the plastic. Use zip ties and tie it to the cattle panel. This will give them good cover from bad weather and shade.

People generally don't want shade for the run in the winter.

 

[aart]

People generally don't want shade for the run in the winter.

Exactly....and why use plastic if you do want to use a tarp?

 

[chiknGeek]

I use the giant roll of 6 mil plastic. I cut a piece long enough to overlap onto the ground about a foot on either side. Get some 1x2 boards, roll the end of the plastic around the 1x2 two or three times then screw the 1x2 into the base frame of your hoop structure. Do that on both sides. Make sure you pull the plastic taut over the hoop.

 

[Rammy]

This was before I put the plastic and tarp on mine.

 

[Krugerrand]

I use 1/2" PVC pipe with these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050B0N06

In the summer I use landscape fabric for shade. It doesn't take much to hold that down, as the wind can go through it some. I switch to plastic in the winter. That take a bunch to hold it down, and you want it fairly tight. Make sure you get then ends.

I picked up this technique from @21hens-incharge .

I used these on my mini-isolation coop too with tarps and the tarps didn't budge in some pretty high winds.

There's an EZ version of the same that go on and off a little bit easier:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AIE89CY
These are nice if you're using them somewhere that you expect to add/remove frequently.

I found these on Amazon, but haven't tried them. They're a bit cheaper.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YRTQ958/

Apparently 21 Hens used to find them in 4' (or longer) strips. That would have been great, but I never got my hands on anything like that. So, shop around as time permits.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I use 1/2" PVC pipe with these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050B0N06

View attachment 3349120
In the summer I use landscape fabric for shade. It doesn't take much to hold that down, as the wind can go through it some. I switch to plastic in the winter. That take a bunch to hold it down, and you want it fairly tight. Make sure you get then ends.

I picked up this technique from @21hens-incharge .

I used these on my mini-isolation coop too with tarps and the tarps didn't budge in some pretty high winds.

View attachment 3349123

View attachment 3349124

There's an EZ version of the same that go on and off a little bit easier:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AIE89CY
These are nice if you're using them somewhere that you expect to add/remove frequently.

I found these on Amazon, but haven't tried them. They're a bit cheaper.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YRTQ958/

Apparently 21 Hens used to find them in 4' (or longer) strips. That would have been great, but I never got my hands on anything like that. So, shop around as time permits.

Yes my initial purchase was 4' sticks we cut to size ourselves. I see a few reasons they aren't available that way (from my source) anymore. They were not the easiest to cut even with a fine blade on my chop saw. Several pieces kind of shattered.

Profit....sold by the stick it's not nearly what they can get if they sell them pre cut.

 

[theoldchick]

You can get a clear or colored tarp with grommets and use plastic zip ties to secure it to your coop.