Help! Ideas to Maximize Run Addition?

[khind]

Some positive progress: It didn't rain at all yesterday! Yes! Got half of my predator-proofing skirt and most of the odd gaps that needed securing done. Large run smells decent again! Discovered that 2/3 of my roof caulking got tacky enough to beat the last pop-up shower the other day, so at least finishing/redoing that job will be fairly quick. No rain in the forecast for a few days!

Not great: The ground is still a wet mess (in most grass and dirt areas, for everyone in my area), & the grass is even Longer than before... so the littles Still can't go to forage because we can't mow it - I'm only allowing the adults out for so long for the same reason. (We actually started having lots of rain & long grass not long before the long rain stretch, so these little ones will be in heaven once they can safely touch grass again!)
But, an experienced chicken-keeping, awesome neighbor is adopting my little cockerel today (from my supposed-to-be all-pullet flock of chicks)!! That is such a relief!

 

[khind]

I have that option. If you go to my coop page I show how we did it.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/a-desert-oasis-updated-2-2020.75224/

Well, after finishing my new run/addition, I just looked at your coop and description again the other day. It's so helpful! I've gotten valuable ideas from it. Thank you for all the detail!

 

[khind]

I put dark gray poly panels on the roof of the 8 x 8 run. The entire roof is covered in panels which is great for shade (AZ heat) and predator protection (hawks).

At first I thought a gray almost black roof might absorb heat and add heat to the run. Just the opposite! I read that the poly panels block UV which causes heat.

I love these panels! The run is so shady. BTW, if the roof is high enough (mine is only 5 ft.) the chickens get plenty of sun from the sides.

It might be hard to see

You have many plans ahead of you. I am still trying to visualize all that you described.
If I was in the backyard with you next to me, I would be able to offer much more, since a back and forth conversation is priceless, in conveying a message.
Let me offer some advice about what I do know. The Polycarbonate panels are good and I have them on the back of my garage as a overhead weather shield. Mine are a blue clear color, and it seem not available. Clear and smoke color are. Had mine up for over 20 years, and served me well. I have my panels supported every 2 feet, since I do encounter a significant snow load.
View attachment 2716244
There are also same size panels available in Fiberglass. which is stronger. Not available as commonly as the polycarbonate, but If you search,,,,,,,,, sure you can find some.
In my area, Menards carries them. I did not check other stores, but Home Depot does not have them listed .
View attachment 2716245

The panels are comparably priced.

This is my input to your many questions.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

In the pics above of my starting coops, before building this addition, you can see I have some kind of roofing panels I added to create awnings. I don't know what the material is (but they don't seem to match the description of yours when i Google yours), but when I put my hand on the metal roof inside of the origin run, the area covered by them is not nearly as warm as the bare-metal-roofed areas, so that's good - that means I have some helpful roof coverings to start with anyway. My finished product may end up a hodge-podge of various and differently- colored materials. A mosaic! Lol.i was going to simply take these off and get rid of them after rewiring the run, but after rereading your comment, I thought I'd check, and I'm glad I did. Thank you for your suggestions!

 

[igorsMistress]

Well, after finishing my new run/addition, I just looked at your coop and description again the other day. It's so helpful! I've gotten valuable ideas from it. Thank you for all the detail!

Good morning. I’m so happy it has helped you! If you have any questions I’m happy to answer them.
Do you have pics of your new run/addition?

 

[khind]

I will post a few pics later today. Just before my last comment here, I realized one of my hens had gone almost completely blind, with telltale eye appearance... (I started a couple threads about it.)

 

[khind]

Here's one pic though. I made some funky cutouts (they weren't supposed to be funky, but that jigsaw just had a mind of its own) into the wall of the coop/roost area to increase ventilation. Seems like the adults are pleased .
But now that these teenagers are integrated full time, they're doing THIS during the day. And last night - which would have been their first time going to roost at night with the adults - they did it again! I had to finally pull them off and put them back into their area to sleep. (1 out of the 6 actually stayed perched on the roost, so he/she got to sleep all night with the adults.)
I wouldn't actually mind, except that wall is only about 1/2" thick or so...? Bad for their feet/ankles.
So at the moment I'm screwing on hc as screens so they can't jump up! But I Really hope they learn fast! I'm going to pick them up one by one once I'm finished and show them. I'm also going to place them on the roosting bars while showing them, and then spend some time again showing them tonight. But you know those young chickens - I've seen some of them occasionally fly into some screened wall while they're settling in at night! I'm afraid these guys are going to break a wing or leg!

I also thought of just building sturdy enough "window sills" for them, but I don't have the materials or time right now, and plus I want them to develop the habit of roosting in that actual coop.
I also thought of doing the easier thing and just cutting and stapling on garden shade cloth, but I thought that anything with any give at all might encourage them just to try pushing a little harder to get through. These clowns!
Any thoughts or other ideas? I'm all ears!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I also thought of doing the easier thing and just cutting and stapling on garden shade cloth, but I thought that anything with any give at all might encourage them just to try pushing a little harder to get through. These clowns!
Any thoughts or other ideas? I'm all ears!

If predator proofing isn't an issue, something like bird netting (preferably the stiffer, easier to handle stuff) or deer fencing stretched fairly taut and stapled on should work to keep them out of the openings.

If predator proofing is needed, then you'll want to go with hardware cloth or welded wire for sure.

 

[khind]

I just went ahead and used hc since it was the thing I had most handy that would be stiff enough for them to get the hint the first time they flew at it to try to sit in the openings (& some of them did indeed fly at it last night). I should have said that this is an interior wall.

 

[khind]

I'm finally attaching some pics of my run addition! I finished it - for now - in early July. But soon after getting the main work done, I discovered one of my sweet hens had gone blind... Maybe you can fill in some blanks... It broke my heart!! It also changed my daily work load for quite a while until she recently took a turn which indicated I would no longer be able to give her a happy, healthy life on earth... Thankfully, all others are asymptomatic, for now anyway, but I'll be keeping a closed flock from now on.
Here are pics I took back in July. The Run Addition is all the way on the RIGHT, to the right of the big wire outside door. At this stage, my adolescents would soon be integrated into the adjoining wired run and coop with some adult hens. (The small coop, also attached, is to the far left, visible in a pic or two. My adult roo is currently in there til the adolescents get a little older.) We made an inside door to the addition to keep the birds separate. It's also proven handy for doing things like wellness checks on the birds, in "privacy." Lol.
I also rewired the original run - the one in the middle with the big outside door- which is why that run and door look extra- cagey.

You'll be able to see cut-outs to the coop wall (a green wall) which I also covered in HC to keep the adolescents from perching on the thin walls. However, between my hen's health needs and now returning to work in brick and mortar, with a long drive, I'll have to pick up the job of creating suitable coverings for some wall holes I also cut on the Outside wall of the original coop (outside green walls) at a later date. Temps are currently back to the 90s and it feels like 103, so the chickens were happy for the extra holes in their coop walls.

On the new run, I wired on an apron. At this time, there are square pavers on it which serve as a makeshift walkway.

We had some challenges to adding on to the existing building. We ended up with some weird and wavy places, so I had to go back and add more lumber in places to make it all secure.

I planned on adding 2x4s to the outside to match the horizontal 2x4s in the inside, and I also need to find a suitable material to screw in to the outside corners from top to bottom, as the HC overlaps there and catches on the shade cloth. (I hope that makes sense. ) We also had to stop short of making awnings! The metal-cutting blade kept popping out during cutting of the roof, which made the work take longer than we would have liked... and made for a very sore arm! A wood blade stayed in! But it left jagged edges on the metal. Anyway, we'll return to the awning task when we figure out what's going on.

 

[khind]

The roof looks flat, I see, but it's pitched. We've had enough rain and hosing-down of the roof to test it, and it runs off well!