snow in run

[gtaus]

so it’s slightly slanted. I got stuck at the farm and lost time in what I really wanted to do. The PTZ cameras and power took most of my tune

That run looks like it is made out of prebuilt modular panels. I was thinking of something like that, too, but my roof would have to be much more slanted to shed off snow. Did you buy those panels, and if so, what/where did you get them from? Thanks.

 

[aart]

OK, I went to the link and read how you put together your run. I thought maybe you used that heavier metal like on dog kennels. I could see where that 3/4" EMT pipe would not hold much of a snow load unless you had supports much closer to each other and maybe a much higher angle on the roof.

Yeah, it was never meant to carry snow load, spacing fits 6' mesh width, just keep hawks out and slow down most everything else.

 

[CindyinSD]

Yeah, it was never meant to carry snow load, spacing fits 6' mesh width, just keep hawks out and slow down most everything else.

Looks like it keeps hawks out all right. Great pic!

 

[aart]

Looks like it keeps hawks out all right. Great pic!

It has bounced a good dozen hawks, that I've seen.
Some folks gave me a lot of crap about how I built the run.
That pic, taken the first day run was done and chooks came out of coop, shut them up

 

[Trevorusn]

In the middle of a snowfest here in NH now. Tarps will do no good under the weight of any snow, never mind the wet heavy snow we often get. I have one small covered run and one uncovered on my 4x6, even the roofed one still gets snow in it. I open the doors and let them choose. Fortunately if they choose to stay in they have room to do so.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

Like @Trevorusn , next door in Vermont we are getting a nice-sized storm. I shoveled a small area for my pullets, but they wouldn’t consider it till I covered it in peat moss (I suspect DH of throwing out the rest of my hay because it had run low). And threw out a bit of scratch. They all came out, and stayed out for maybe 5 minutes, and came out a few more times in case I sneaked more scratch out there (I didn’t)!

I think if they can’t get used to walking around outside a bit now, with 4” this morning, they will be stuck inside all winter. I want them to come out for a little fresh air. My coop is completely roofed now, and not tall at all, so it’s quite dark in there.

 

[Golden Chicken Master]

I just pulled the snow off of mine- WNY here and we had some wet thick heavy snow these past few days. I have a tent (carport) that is 10 X 20 that is their run, it covers the nesting boxes and the feeding/water areas. i have some fencing all the way around and I put double layer chicken wire as well as tarps on the sides to protect from the wind. I pushed the tarp sections up today and let the snow fall off but yep there is snow on the sides of their run, I will shovel it into a pile tomorrow at my lowest area so it will drain. My chickens dont mind it too much but it is hard to give scratch when there is snow on the ground and if it freezes that is just a waste of feed! Anyway I got my tent on amazon, 135$ I got my other stuff from country max and the tarps that I cover the sides with are from some dog houses I bought at lowes.

 

[gtaus]

Some folks gave me a lot of crap about how I built the run.

I don't know why anyone would give you a bad time about that chicken run. It looks perfectly good to me.

 

[gtaus]

I just pulled the snow off of mine- WNY here and we had some wet thick heavy snow these past few days. I have a tent (carport) that is 10 X 20 that is their run, it covers the nesting boxes and the feeding/water areas.

I was wondering if those car ports would shed off the snow, or if you would have to go out and clean it off? If you did not pull off the snow, do you expect the carport to break under the snow load? Those car ports look nice for most of the year, but I am thinking about the dead of winter and snow storms. I want to build something strong enough that it would not have to be cleaned every time it snows. The domed cattle panel houses look promising, but an A-Frame design might be even better for me.

 

[CindyinSD]

I had to go up to my greenhouse... inside with a push broom... and bump the snow off from inside. The chickens all clustered as far away from the madwoman with the broom as they could get, and muttered amongst themselves. “Don’t excite her... act like everything is perfectly normal... maybe she won’t notice us.”

We started out with freezing rain and then high winds and around a foot of snow, so it really stuck on the damp south side. The wind was brutal and from the north, so very little snow accumulated on the north side—it got blown around where it drifted on the south side, right where I needed some space to put the snow. I had DH plow right beside the south side, as close as he could get, then I shoveled it away by hand, but at least I had a place to put it. The snow was so sticky I could hardly get it off the shovel.

But yes, if the snow stuck to my glacier greenhouse so that I had to push it off, it will stick to a hoop house made from cattle panels for sure, or a carport tent. It may not *always* or even often stick, but sometimes it will. If you want something that’s guaranteed to slide off, a true A-frame seems to me like your best bet. It’s not an efficient shape space-wise, but roofed with ag metal, nothing will stick—or at least not very thick. Plus it’s easy to build if you’re building for undemanding folk like chickens.