Plastic Wrapping Runs

[Folly's place]

I don't have a pop door either, just large human sized ones. In winter, the east door is shut most of the time, and only the south door is opened during the day. I have plastic sheeting over the upper part of the south door opening, so the birds go under it and less wind and snow blow inside.
Mary

 

[Blooie]

@aart explained how to do it very eloquently, only thing I can think to add to that would be to add a couple of pieces of duck tape on both sides of the plastic were your making the holes for the placing of the zip ties, it will help to keep the plastic from tearing in the wind.

Excellent point ! Love me some Duct Tape

First year of doing our hoop run, we used duct tape. Then we discovered a Gorilla tape and that was the end of the duct tape!

View attachment 1595069
For my hoop run....
PVC pipes attached to cattle panels with zip ties, heavy gauge plastic over the top and clips for greenhouse use holding plastic to PVC.
I can raise and lower the sides easily by unclipping the bottom then holding the raised plastic up with the same clips.

Seventy mile an hour winds did pop a few clips off but not enough to compromise it.

I do clear the snow using a sturdy broom. There is a space next to the coop that is 6" wide left open across the whole hoop.

Second winter with the same plastic and holding up well.

Mine has been through 4 winters now. It’s a mesh reinforced heavy mil clear plastic, (and don’t ask how heavy, I’ve long ago forgotten) and made the run so nice that I could raise chicks out there in temps in the teens and twenties without a heat lamp!

The first year we sealed that run tight. Didn’t take long to realize what a huge mistake THAT was. We had water literally running down the arched walls in there, and dripping down on us from the ceiling if we bumped it. We had a gap over the south side and the north side, but it simply wasn’t enough ventilation with the rest of the run being so tightly sealed,

So the first nice day we had - I think it was up to 30 - we did some revamping. Using a long 2x4, we rolled a sheet of the plastic around it a couple of times, marked intervals with Gorilla tape, then used large screws and washers to screw right through the tape and into the wood. We secured the top to the cattle panels as we had before, using heavy duty clips. Then we bought 2 large S-hooks, one for each side. If it was nice enough, we rolled that plastic up, hooked one end of each S-hook into the cattle panel, then secured the ends of the 2x4s into the outside curve. Worked just like a window shade - we could roll it down and secure it if weather was coming in from that side, but most of the times it was left open to let unfiltered sun in.

Then we made the vent on the North side larger. The east and west sides no longer went all the way to the ground....they were about 4 inches above it. Man, that hoop kept out everything except fresh air! It withstood heavy snow loads and our strong Wyoming winds. Our winds here are so strong that they often have to close Interstates 80 and 25 because semis are being blown over. At our place we had a wind gust in January of 2016 that was measured by the National Weather Service of 90 mph. Yeah. And year after year, season after season, that hoop hasn’t budged, or needed a single modification. And we’ve never lost a single bird to cold. Their pop door to the coop is open year round, 24/7. When we go out to do morning chores, we kept the people door open and they could range or not, it was up to them.

Sorry if I seem to be bragging, but that ain’t bad for 2 geezers in their late 60s (him) and middle 60s (me), each with slight disabilities, having put up by ourselves in one weekend!

 

[Aunt Angus]

Sorry if I seem to be bragging, but that ain’t bad for 2 geezers in their late 60s (him) and middle 60s (me), each with slight disabilities, having put up by ourselves in one weekend!

I'd brag, too! And once again, @Blooie has given me a great idea to emulate. I will either make "window shades" once I have the time and cooperative weather. I have the shower curtain liners, S hooks, gorilla tape, and PVC pipe that will work beautifully. Or I may make curtains that open and close ala @ChickNanny13 . Excellent ideas! I will have to see which will work best with my current set up.

 

[Blooie]

Thank you, @Aunt Angus. We also use plain old landscape fabric for summer shade. We just toss it from one person on the west side to the other person on the east side, cut it longer than we need on the east side for rolling, and then secure it just as we did the winter cover. In summer we use predrilled lengths of metal lath to start the rolling on, run it through with zip ties, and secure the west side with zip ties. We don’t want that strong west sun coming in, but having that east morning sun shining in there is very nice. We don’t cover the ends at all - no need to. But since the run is wider than the fabric, we end up with 3 lengths of shade that we adjust independently. Harder to explain than it is to do! Of course, after we expanded the run we had to add a fourth shade. I should note that to do this takes the right landscape fabric....the one that’s brown on one side and black on the other, with millions of perforations in it. The fibery one just doesn’t work as well, it shreds when you try to work with it and doesn’t repel water as well. Ever put that good stuff down then try to water the new plants? The water runs along wrinkles and then sits there, taking forever to soak in. Between that propensity and gravity, water doesn’t have a chance to soak into the run...it just runs down the sides like it does in the garden. Not on there long enough to soak through. Hope that helps, or you can click on My Coop under my delightful avatar. The run construction starts about halfway down. This is what it looked like before we added another section of panel. Looks the same with more, but don’t have any good photos of that.

 

[Aunt Angus]

We also use plain old landscape fabric for summer shade.

I use sun shade cloth that only covers about 2/3 of the run so they get sun.

Here is a pic of my run as of this afternoon:

The top is covered. Only the one side is covered with plastic so there is lots of ventilation. The front of the run isn't covered at all, but you can't see it in this pic. But now I'm itching to change it up. Once this storm blows through, I'm on it!

 

[Aunt Angus]

And looking at that pic also makes me want to add roosts to the run. I'm sure we will have many downed branches I can use in a few days - LOL!

 

[Blooie]

I use sun shade cloth that only covers about 2/3 of the run so they get sun.

Here is a pic of my run as of this afternoon:
View attachment 1595760

The top is covered. Only the one side is covered with plastic so there is lots of ventilation. The front of the run isn't covered at all, but you can't see it in this pic. But now I'm itching to change it up. Once this storm blows through, I'm on it!

Beautiful....so spacious!!

 

[EMoRY 913]

I've decided to wrap both of my runs in plastic this winter. Hopefully the birds will come out of the coop even in the cold. I'm curious to see other peoples methods of wrapping their runs. Post a picture of it too.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Good gravy, some of you get a lot of snow...

 

[ChickNanny13]

That's what so great about this site, we all share ideas & knowledge