PVC Hoop House Design Assistance Wanted!

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yet.

Seriously.

"Yet."

Once a predator happens to come along and make an actual effort to get through it -- and there is no way of predicting whether this will be five years from now, or five hours from now -- that chicken wire is not going to even slow it down much.

Browse the "Predators and Pests" section of the forum if you don't believe me that chickenwire is easy for predators to get through, you will find many other people who figured the way you do, right up to the moment that suddenly there WAS a problem with it.

If you're ok with that, then fine (although remember that once predators get a sample from the buffet, they'll try much harder to get in *next* time, harder than if you'd just kept them from ever getting that taste in the first place)... just, make sure you're making the decision knowingly, not under illusions about how safe chickenwire is.

(typical chickenwire. Supposedly some people out there have heavy gauge old-style chickenwire, which is more predator-resistant, maybe good enough. Good luck finding any though.)

Pat

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Chicken wire is great until a dog comes along and decides to lean on it. Then it will rip.

Racoons pull it apart with their hands.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Okay, OKAY! I give up! NO HEX WIRE!

1/2" hardware cloth is almost exactly twice as expensive as 1" hex. Q: How much are 100 coturnix quail and greater peace of mind worth to me? A: Quite a bit more than the extra cost of the hardware cloth!

Thanks again y'all for the ideas! I'm leaning toward something like the cattle panel quonset that Mtn Cur linked to. (I want an aviary Fort Knox, but I have a Camp Swampy budget.

) Could you elaborate a little more on how the 2x4 and 1x6 are positioned? Both standing up side-by-side, or making an L with the 2x4 laying flat?

Very little snow here in southeast Arizona, and what we get burns off quickly. The sun can break down a plastic grocery bag in less than a year, so I think I'll pass on the PVC entirely. Buh-bye 10 cents a foot! Plastic tarps don't last much longer than grocery bags so, Cargo - I like how you used the roofing panels on yours! I'm a big fan of fresh air and sunshine for my critters, and the gap between the panels will help with cooling and ventilation.

Now, back to the drawing board (literally!). Thanks again for everyone's time and information!!! Keep it coming!

Bryan

 

[Beekissed]

You could get by with the cattle panels covered in the hex wire, covered with a canvas but waterproofed tarp. Cheap, durable and no large predator is going to be able to breech cattle panelling.

I recently made a cattle panel sheep hutch much like the quonset style mentioned and it is extremely sturdy in the wind and weather.

 

[chillmiller]

hey patches im in tonopah arizona and ya pve will last about 2-4 years untill it falls apart now what you could use is steel hoops
i havent seen a bunch of people use steel ( not alot of welders on BYC

) but its pretty simple if ya can find them ( i have a few laying around that i no longer need ) but ya get a few of them 4-5 and pound some rebar in the ground slide them on weld the cattle wire to them then attatch the hardware cloth and bam ya got a whole aviry in a weekend

 

[nelgkel]

Quote:
thanks Cargo...

 

[Cargo]

I just realized I forgot to say to use the gray UV rated PVC from the electrical department not the white stuff from irrigation.
UV gets too it and can make it brittle over time. The gray PVC electrical conduit is made to be used above ground and will last a bit better.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

And the gray PVC is cheaper than the white. No brainer, unless you really like white!

I just checked out those 50" x 16' cattle panels at the hardware store. (The THIRD hardware store I tried.) Big, beefy, and reasonably priced (in my opinion) at $24 each. Sold! My better half gave her thumbs-up to the aesthetics of the design, so I'm thinking of making matching ones for pigeon and quail, and just adjust the insides for the species.

I agree chillmiller, not too many welders on here. I'm more of a duct tape and WD-40 kind of guy, myself!

 

[Donner]

See my BYC page for the hoop house coop I just completed. It is definitely NOT portable though.

I put 1x2" welded wire on the inside 4' from the wood base to the ground. On the outisde, I buried an apron of the same welded wire.

Chicks have been in for 2 weeks now, and no predator problems. But, I can probably attribute more of that to guard collies than any construction tricks.

We don't get much snow, and I suspect the arc of the hoops and the heat from the chickens should be enough to make the snow slide off.

Do not skip the step of running a 3/4" AMT electrical conduit down the connector pipes at the top. It stiffens everything up tremendously.

 

[Bossroo]

You can also make the aviary out of the galvanized steel electical conduit and the fittings can make for any angle that you may need. You can also bend the pipe with a bending tool. Just cut the pipe with a hack saw to size and use the fittings to make any of the needed angles and tighten with a set screw that is provided. Or just bend the pipe to any desired angle.