I keep changing my mind on what to cover the run with. First I wanted to do a solid roof (maybe some type of corrugated roofing). I have tried to locate some of this type of roofing locally but unable to as of yet!??! Then I thought of covering it with some more chicken wire which is a viable option. Now I see a lot of fellow BYC'ers using netting. I am at a loss. I need advice and I need it now!!! What are your opinions?
Quote:Hello, you can use metal sheets roofing, and you can find the Phone # in your yellow oages under still or still building, or poll barns, man I can't imagine that there is none what so ever at your area. Omran
I live in Central MA. All my large runs are made of 1" plastic covered chicken wire (wish I could have afforded to do the original runs in hardware cloth!). Walls, flooring, ceiling. Then I covered them with those plastic "wavy" sheets (don't know the name) to help with snow load. Plus, it keeps an area where they can get out of the rain. The wavy plastic sheets weren't too expensive, less than $20 for an 8' x 4' sheet if I remember correctly. My silky run is all hardware cloth but I didn't put a solid cover on it at all since they can run under the coop (18" up off the ground) for cover. Of course, we might be talking of two different things here. I consider my runs the area that is attached directly to the coop and it can be locked up. My yards are beyond the run/coop and can not be locked. I do have some netting over some areas of my yards that don't have many trees and it gives further protection from hawks.
Chicken wire or netting of any sort as a roof of your run will sag and fail under the weight of a 40 lb. raccoon. Are you willing to risk it?
I would love to cover all mine with corrugated plastic, but it's cheaper to buy deer netting. I suggest shade cloth also! It depends on your needs. If you just want to avoid hawks and hens escaping, then netting, if you want shade, or rain barrier, then solid roof.
You're going to want a solid roof or snow will collapse it, and corrugated plastic won't hold up, either. Around here you just go to the local sheet metal manufacturer; they make metal roofing to order. Metal roofing can be bought around here at Home Depot or Lowe's, but a sheet metal business is cheaper and offers more choices. But maybe that is a southern thing. Probably half the houses around here have metal roofs.
I keep my breeds in their own coops so I have 3 smaller runs, about 4' x 7'. I went down to the Habitat re-sale shop and got exterior doors for $5 each. I hinged them on one side of the top of the run (only about 4-5' high) so we can lift up the door and throw greens in each morning. Won't work for a large run but it seems to be working good for our small ones.
