Need Chicken Run Improvements for Winter

[ChocolateMouse]

If I were in your position with your needs, I would build a small, semi-mobile run for the winter, like the afore mentioned hoop house, that is hefty and sturdy and hard to move so it could be moved only twice a year before snow and once after it was done. Then I would have the spring/summer run be big and temporary so I could take it down when the snow hit and throw it up wherever I wanted when it was done.

As it is I just let my snow damage my fencing and repair in the spring with bailing twine, tbh. I knock off the snow after a big snowfall, sometimes during, but I don't fuss too much. But I also have a wood fence for the majority of my run that stays up fine.

 

[Sequel]

If I were in your position with your needs, I would build a small, semi-mobile run for the winter, like the afore mentioned hoop house, that is hefty and sturdy and hard to move so it could be moved only twice a year before snow and once after it was done. Then I would have the spring/summer run be big and temporary so I could take it down when the snow hit and throw it up wherever I wanted when it was done.

As it is I just let my snow damage my fencing and repair in the spring with bailing twine, tbh. I knock off the snow after a big snowfall, sometimes during, but I don't fuss too much. But I also have a wood fence for the majority of my run that stays up fine.

I have a lot of baling twine repairs too! Don’t you love how it comes in different colors now? I can tell how long it’s been there by color. Oldest is blue, then they came out with orange now pink and the hay that is certified safe to go on I think it might be federal rangeland is light green and yellow. Sometimes I miss the wire they used to use in the old days.

 

[aart]

I just accepted the way BYC reformats their links.

Bold, italics, and underline can be applied before or after inserting the link....it just makes it easier for everyone to see.

 

[gtaus]

If I were in your position with your needs, I would build a small, semi-mobile run for the winter, like the afore mentioned hoop house, that is hefty and sturdy and hard to move so it could be moved only twice a year before snow and once after it was done.

That is certainly one of my top options. I like the idea of having the domed hoop house to use as a chicken run in the winter, and move it to where ever to use as a green house the rest of the year.

 

[PirateGirl]

I have read through most of this. Long story short, the only roof that will for sure support snow load would be one built just like the roof of your house to building code including snow load specifications. Anything else you will risk failure/collapse if you do not clear snow. Additionally, homes are heated so some snow melts off, your run is not heated. that being said, a steeper pitches roof will not hold as much snow. You could build your run as an A Frame and it would probably help.

 

[gimmie birdies]

NOT looking for advise myself... just sharing. A friend of mine last spring gave me this chick coop-

I put the glass on it and made it into a green house, (and made it ugly, but it works) it is easy to put up and easy to take down. I had chicks in it over the summer, and was planning on it being extra winter space for hens, but then I saw a special at Meyers, no shipping and I had some credit, so I ordered chicks that came on Halloween. I had them in a home made brooder in the coop, now they are 4 weeks old. I removed the brooder they had and put in 2 small end tables with a baby gate laid on top, I strung some hanging lamps (very secure so no preaching) though the baby gate fencing, the under side of lamps do not aim at any burnables and are suspended and have safety covers for lamps. The chicks have the whole ground floor to play on, but warm areas if cold and when they start to fly, they have the tops of the tables they can stand on and be in the sun-window. With out disturbing the lamps. This is how my other summer chicks had it and loved it.

Floor is just dirt, and I scraped up all excess dirt till it was bear ground.

 

[gtaus]

the only roof that will for sure support snow load would be one built just like the roof of your house to building code including snow load specifications.

There's the rub. Any "real" roof that would support snow load from my area pretty much eliminates any chance of making it portable due to the weight and construction of the roof. If I make the run small enough, and slant the roof, it should be OK. But any good sized roof would require much more planning.

I have built and/or helped to build houses, garages, and sheds in the area where I live. I know the problems with a low pitched roof and snow loads. It does not work well where I live and houses and garages have to be built to code. Heavy construction runs counter to my goals on a portable modular system, so I may never meet all my objectives.

I know I can build a modular portable panel chicken run, but then I don't know how to cover it. I can build solid, snow load bearing roofs but then they are not portable. That's the problem, of course.

 

[gtaus]

@gimmie birdies, I was thinking about making a small 4X8 attachment to my coop with a slanted roof like on your coop. With a big slant like that, it would shed off most snow and/or be very easy to brush off if needed. Thanks for the picture.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I move mine around, I had it coming off the coop at one point- just no glass, but I wanted it to catch sun. short ends are pallets, with point added on top for slant on the back side there is a pop door.

 

[gimmie birdies]

in the spring I will have it on the back side of big coop, maybe with the glass to the back instead of the front.