need ideas for shade on the outdoor run.....(pic added)

[patandchickens]

Quote:
It is only cheaper in the short run.

Tarps will catch rain and often collapse your run (sometimes damaging it seriously in the process) unless supported by a cattle panel hoop or something like that; and they flap SOMETHING AWFUL in the wind under most circumstances, which can lead to their departure downwind (sometimes with bits of run still attached) and shortens their lifetime greatly.

Shade cloth, OTOH, is basically forever. It does not sag under the weight of rain; it considerably diffuses rain so that it falls as more of a mist under the shadecloth rather than hard big drops; and it does not flap in the wind so therefore it also does not rip itself or your run apart nor does it "leave".

You can try a tarp as a short-term solution, but unless you install it very differently than the way most people do, it will come back to bite 'cha in the butt soon enough. (And if you do install it so that it is reasonably secure and reasonably durable, you have sunk enough extra money into the support that shadecloth probably would have been the same price

)

Just sayin',

Pat

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I use both shade cloth and grapevines to keep my coop and run shady and cooler. Grape vines are great because the chickens love to eat the leaves and they provide constant forage for seven months of the year here.

 

[darkmatter]

Tarp for the short term. Plant trees for the long term, something that will also provide food, I use the Illinois Everbearing Mulberries trees in my Run. (See my BYC page for pics)

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Is that shade cloth in your pic? How much does shade cloth cost?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
Is that shade cloth in your pic? How much does shade cloth cost?

Yes, it is shade cloth. I bought mine at Home Depot where it cost about $78 for a 6' X 50' roll. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Here's the route I went with, good quality shade material at a good price.
http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplie...rumb_categoryIds=|46353&maxRecords=200&isDoc=

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
It is only cheaper in the short run.

Tarps will catch rain and often collapse your run (sometimes damaging it seriously in the process) unless supported by a cattle panel hoop or something like that; and they flap SOMETHING AWFUL in the wind under most circumstances, which can lead to their departure downwind (sometimes with bits of run still attached) and shortens their lifetime greatly.

Shade cloth, OTOH, is basically forever. It does not sag under the weight of rain; it considerably diffuses rain so that it falls as more of a mist under the shadecloth rather than hard big drops; and it does not flap in the wind so therefore it also does not rip itself or your run apart nor does it "leave".

You can try a tarp as a short-term solution, but unless you install it very differently than the way most people do, it will come back to bite 'cha in the butt soon enough. (And if you do install it so that it is reasonably secure and reasonably durable, you have sunk enough extra money into the support that shadecloth probably would have been the same price

)

Just sayin',

Pat

So the shade cloth will not allow rain to get in?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I am going to do shade cloth in my duck runs because we haven't any trees except on the east side where they are not needed. The ducks love the morning sun.
I will put mine in somehow over poles or 2x4s because during the summer the sun is directly overhead, not to the south. The sun is only on the southern horizon in the winter and you want as much sun then as possible. Put your shade overhead and to the west. I always have shade on the west side of my pens and tractors because the afternoon and evening sun is just as bad as midday.
The east side of my pens and tractors stay open summer and winter.

Gosh, I guess we are lucky that our chickens and ducks have not touched our grapevine leaves. They do eat grapes as high as they can reach but they have not ever eaten any leaves. The way we have our grapevines set up they do not provide shade either so that does not work for us. They grow along wires but I guess we can train them to run over head for shade. I don't want to encourage them too much to eat what we need.

My chickens and ducks eat some of our white Mulberries but not much. The foxes really love them and have ignored my chickens and ducks to eat Mulberries. Scared the dickens out of me though! The LGD took care of the foxes and now my Mulberries don't get picked up off the ground much. With all my farm offers I think the birds have a large variety.

I have trees started next to my duck runs but anything I try to plant inside they trample. So I plant on the north and west sides of fences. On the north side I do evergreens to block wind in the winter and canopy trees like Chinaberry for shade. The canopy trees reach over the run from the north side and still shade quite well.

 

[savingpurple]

Wow such good ideas ! We have live trees and bushes at work this year, and there are 2 grape vines left on clearance. Maybe I will get these and start this for next year, and then work on something else also for this year. Will check into the shade cloth locally or the remanant site too.

Thanks so much for all the ideas!

 

[samouw]

We used a shade cloth that only lets 25% of the suns rays through and blocks 75%. It was not expensive and the chickens spend more time outside now than they did without it.