Roof or No Roof Over Run?

[chickenmadness7]

I am a new chicken owner and trying to do everything right for my babies. I have a shady 10 X 10 run that is covered with hard cloth to keep predators out. However, there's no actual roof to keep rain and snow out. Should I add a roof?

 

[MohicanHase]

on my duck pen I just attached a tarp to a portion of it, and they go under it when it rains.

 

[RJSorensen]

I really like covered runs, and try to use them when ever I can. If you have snow, a roof would be needed, should you choose to have a roof, to support the snow load. Tarps are ok with water, to a point, but not having to shovel out the snow for the birds in winter is worth quite a bit to the bird keeper, and the chickens like it as well.

Best to you and your birds,

RJ

 

[Smorz]

We had about half of our run tarped and then only wire on the rest of it. Sometimes the water was an issue when heavy rains.

 

[MohicanHase]

yes that is true, tarps can only go so far. I was thinking of making my run with a removable roof for winter, and when it storms. but tarps work for quick temporary setup.

 

[ECBW]

I would say roof, to keep rain and snow out.

My run did not have a roof. After observing that the run getting muddy or snow covered, I built a "slab" of a roof that can be easily removed to allow sunlight.

Now, the slab stays on more than not. So yes, roof is better.

 

[FireTigeris]

I have 2/3 unroofed and 1/3 roofed- the roofed side is the side that's gets 5 of 6 'walls' (floor, roof and N,E, and W -walls) It works well- in rain they go under cover and they still get sun throughout the day in different spots (heavy tree cover) .

I'm in FL so no snow expected.

 

[SFCountryGirl]

My run is fully enclosed with chain link fence and chicken wire. We have a tarp for shade with a pvc pipe bowed underneath. The water runoff will go the direction you place the pvc. But, i know tarps are only temporary because of wear. Another thing that bothers me is that i'm a little nervous of little scavengers getting in. So i say either cover your run with bird netting or a solid roof. You can never be to careful.

 

[tiffrosef]

We used a net for the roof, luckily the girls get loads of shade from a large maple tree so that was no worry. We have a ton of hawks around so we had to enclose them or risk losing our whole flock very quickly.

 

[donniek]

An option I decided upon for my run is heavy duty white canvas drop cloths... with a decent "slope" (3 or 4/12 pitch) they will shed rain and are as easy to put on and take off as tarps and will trap less heat in the summer.