Supporting snow in winter

[Evelyn's Mom]

I can't help much but I do LOVE your poll options!! Clever!!

 

[path.otto]

Collapsing is one thing but in addition to snow load, when you are engineering your roof, you need to take wind load into account as well. If you are in town it is very likely your housing official will require it. (In case anyone has bothered to get a building permit ) In Iowa we have blizzards with 60 mph and up winds. I don't bother with a roof, I have the northwest corner sides tarped and I leave the roof open. In early winter I can just blow the light snow out of the run. In the spring with heavier snows, I add straw paths and if it gets too bad, well, that is what the coop is for. When it starts snowing the girls just stick their heads out the pop door and go, "Nope", anyway.

Love your darling set up!

 

[Blooie]

Because there are others who may not have reached this point in their design and winter prep yet, I offer another option - a hoop run. Ours has withstood heavy Wyoming snow loads beautifully for years, and wind is no issue. There is no framing in our setup - I know @aart will chime in about the importance of structure but we found that without framing our run was able to flex in our 60 mph winds...it didn't fight it. This is our run in summer:

And in winter:

 

[Folly's place]

Arches are inherently strong, and hoop houses are inexpensive and reasonably easy to build! Some framing, at least for a door, and nest attachments at the back, do help.
Another good option, for sure!
Mary

 

[Blooie]

We just have one frame at the front for the people door. The nests and all of that stuff are in the coop, which is a shed type building. Thanks, Mary.

 

[Hoytman]

I'd really like to see some close-up pics of that hoop house. Where I live, that would work great, but I'd need hardware cloth on it for the predators...skunks, possums, weasels, minks, coyotes, hawks, occasional eagles, owls, and possibly some country neighbor's dogs'.

Here in sw Ohio we rarely see that much snow, but occasionally we'll as much as 20" or a tad more at once...on rare occasion.

Hoop coop would save me some money and be much easier to build for my current needs...which I need a semi-permanent coop in addition to my covered run...until I build my permanent coop in the spring time.

 

[Blooie]

If you go to MY COOP under my stunningly beautiful avatar photo, the whole build is on there. The hoop build and subsequent changes (enlarging, winterizing, etc) start about halfway down. Easier than typing it all out.

 

[Cryss]

I had a 10x10x6 chain link dog run as my original run with my prefab coop inside. I did like you, hardware cloth everywhere for maximum predator protection. Winter came and realised I needed to keep out snow. Threw tarps on top of HC roof. Heavy snows and eventual build up of melted and refreezed snow topped by even more heavy snow caused sagging in spite of hourly scraping during the 4 nor'easters we endured. Not a small feat for a 67 year old gal. Spring arrived and I was intent on giving my chicken math flock (thats another story) more run room and coop space. Added another 10x10x6 chain link dog run increasing the run to 10x30x6 and again wrapping up in HC. Did some coop wor extending their floor space, sat back on a lovely summerr day to admire my handiwork...uh oh....I suddenly realised the run structure had been weakened since it is now 3X longer but without any cross supports for the width! Panic mode sets in picturing me trying to keep snow and ice off of 3X the area as last winter. Son in law to the rescue. He is building a lean-to over top the entire thing. It's not done but its gonna be exactly what I need.
Hmmm. A hoop house just might be my answer for a future Guinea Fowl coop. And possibly a small one inside the chicken run for a mamabroody/hospital/introduction type coop.
Soooo many good ideas.
Good luck with your sweet babies. Can't wait to see pics of them growing into beauties!

 

[Hoytman]

If you go to MY COOP under my stunningly beautiful avatar photo, the whole build is on there. The hoop build and subsequent changes (enlarging, winterizing, etc) start about halfway down. Easier than typing it all out.

Ok...very nice read, by the way. I really like this type of run as it's expandable which is a nice feature. I've notice similar builds with wood center supports and wood framing on the ends, but I'm not so sure it's needed. The proof is in the pudding looking at the amount of snow in those pictures and the winds it's sustained.

So, how did you manage to brood those chicks in those temperatures in that run?

 

[Blooie]

Thanks. I use Mama Heating Pad. Their brooder pen is an old dog x-pen that I had from my dog showing days. The north end of it is the box I used for brooding my first batch of chicks, back in my bad old days of using a heat lamp and brooding them indoors. I stood the box up on its end, set up Mama Heating Pad on the bottom of it, then put in the x-pen. The pen has little doors in it so when they are opened the chicks can get in but the Bigs can’t follow. I start letting the chicks out of the brooder at about 2 weeks and kind of herd them in and out of the brooder a few times until I know they can get back in on their own if they need to warm up or if they get spooked. By 3 weeks the portal doors are opened all day long, and at 4 weeks they are fully integrated with the rest of the flock and the brooder is completely removed. By then they haven’t even needed heat because they are so well acclimated and feathered out. Every batch, every time.