Metal run in the snow?

[CarlaCo]

Hi all, trying to solve one potential problem at a time. We bought this metal run for our coop. I bought some tough tarp, but I can see how snow may cave in the wide expanse under the dome where there is little support. Does anyone who lives where it snows have a metal run? What kind of things did you do to winterize or weatherize it?

 

[mowin]

Is cattle panel as hard to work with as hardware cloth? We found that stuff so difficult to cut and attach to the mini run.

Lol, HC does take some getting used to. Cattle panels are easy to bend into a arch, but seeing they are a much heavier gage metal, bolt cutters at a minimum are needed to make a cut. A angle grinder with a cutoff wheel is the ideal tool for cutting them.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

I clicked on this thinking it was someone playing Whitesnake in their coops to raise egg production.

 

[mowin]

Got it... Had to do a screenshot of my pic. The closest end is framed for a door. I added additional 2x4s on both ends in a inverted V for additional support.

 

[aart]

It’s just the cheap stuff that came with the run. Really light guage. They call it hexagonal wire mesh.

Basically chicken wire.
Not gonna hold up well with what little structural framing is there.
@mowin's ridge beam isn't going to help much either.
Not sure what to suggest @CarlaCo , sorry.

 

[aart]

What kind(gauge and spacing) of wire mesh is on the top?

I have 14ga 2x4 mesh on my roof(see my coop page) but no tarps.
Even without a tarp the snow can start to stick and cave in the mesh. I have to keep it cleared off.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

I have a similar run (but the roof is spired /\ ), this will be our first winter with it, and we're going to add a corrugated roof in the spring. I live in Michigan, and the plan for this winter is to just keep the snow cleared off when we get heavy snows. It's going to be a pain in the patootie, but I don't know what else to do. Sorry, this probably isn't much help.

 

[mowin]

Hi all, trying to solve one potential problem at a time. We bought this metal run for our coop. I bought some tough tarp, but I can see how snow may cave in the wide expanse under the dome where there is little support. Does anyone who lives where it snows have a metal run? What kind of things did you do to winterize or weatherize it?

I put a ridge board with end supports . Had a tarp over half of it with no issues with snow. I tried posting a pic, but for some reason the pic won't load.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

I put a ridge board with end supports . Had a tarp over half of it with no issues with snow. I tried posting a pic, but for some reason the pic won't load.

Me: Googling "ridge board"

 

[mowin]

Basically chicken wire.
Not gonna hold up well with what little structural framing is there.
@mowin's ridge beam isn't going to help much either.
Not sure what to suggest @CarlaCo , sorry.

My ridge beam was for the snow load .