Prepping for our first long New England winter - DIY tarps

[sals_chicks]

Your coop is beautiful! I can see why you would not want to cover it up with a tarp all winter. Eager to see how your project comes out, so please post updates when you’re done! I’m with you on trying to avoid “one season” materials. I used some clear shower curtains and cheap tarps for part of my run last year and they were in such bad shape, there was no reusing them, which made me sad to have the waste. This year I made wood frames and stapled heavy duty marine vinyl to them, so hopefully they last at least a few winters.

YES!! This! "One Season" materials is what we want to avoid too! We all should be thinking this way with every decision we make.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I read your post completely. Replied with caution that you may experience unwanted behavior having a greenhouse for a run. Despite your denial of a simple truth it most definitely is a greenhouse.

If you took the time to get off the soap box and read what I wrote you might understand I said nothing about ventilation. I was advising a means to ensure conditioning and behavior.

Good day.

 

[sals_chicks]

I read your post completely. Replied with caution that you may experience unwanted behavior having a greenhouse for a run. Despite your denial of a simple truth it most definitely is a greenhouse.

If you took the time to get off the soap box and read what I wrote you might understand I said nothing about ventilation. I was advising a means to ensure conditioning and behavior.

Good day.

Ventilation (or lack thereof) is a sort of key element of creating a greenhouse, no? You have to trap the air in order to warm it, right?

How a greenhouse works (according to google): glass or plastic sheeting are used to allow light to enter the structure where they are absorbed by the plants and converted to heat. When the plants release the heat, it is trapped by the glass and the greenhouse stays warm.

I have said multiple times over and over that I do not intend to trap air, so no further explanation necessary.

 

[DickMidnight]

wrapping the run only halfway up the walls would have achieved your goals. chickens are only a foot or two tall, so anything taller than that will keep the wind off of them.

wrap up to the horizontal framing on your run and you’ll be good to go.

less plastic, less sewing, happy chickens! win, win, win

 

[AmyMon]

Zip ties is a great idea as well!! You could even get the reusable ones to cut down on plastic waste, and then you could easily open up for ventilation on warmer days too!

I didn’t know reusable zip ties existed—will look into them!

 

[sals_chicks]

wrapping the run only halfway up the walls would have achieved your goals. chickens are only a foot or two tall, so anything taller than that will keep the wind off of them.

wrap up to the horizontal framing on your run and you’ll be good to go.

less plastic, less sewing, happy chickens! win, win, win

Yes. It was an intentional decision to make it go all the way up. I am guessing you dont live somewhere where snow blows sideways during some of the storms?

Fortunately, we engineered these so that they can be "released" from the top half, and folded down, any time we want, with very minimal effort.

 

[DickMidnight]

Yes. It was an intentional decision to make it go all the way up. I am guessing you dont live somewhere where snow blows sideways during some of the storms?

Fortunately, we engineered these so that they can be "released" from the top half, and folded down, any time we want, with very minimal effort.

i live in connecticut, with a similar coop/run setup to yours.

i cover the lower 4’ of the run walls, along with the area under the raised coop, in stiff polycarbonate panels.

between the roof overhangs and the panels, i get very little, if any, snow in my run during the winter.

 

[DickMidnight]

here you can see almost a foot of snow on the ground well into last winter and nothing at all in the run.

 

[sals_chicks]

here you can see almost a foot of snow on the ground well into last winter and nothing at all in the run. View attachment 3329951

I’m very glad yours works for you.

Mine will also work. I can adjust mine to be open or closed depending on weather and needs.

Just because I did something different doesn’t make it wrong.

 

[DickMidnight]

I’m very glad yours works for you.

Mine will also work. I can adjust mine to be open or closed depending on weather and needs.

Just because I did something different doesn’t make it wrong.

im not saying it’s wrong, just offering an alternative. best of luck