Transitioning from roofed to roofless run

[Fishychix]

where all that bamboo in his yard came from....it must have come in in some dirt he brought in or a squirrel dropped a piece.

......note to OP......burn all receipts....

In reality, that could actually happen. Running bamboo can travel quite a ways before popping back up.

 

[21hens-incharge]

In reality, that could actually happen. Running bamboo can travel quite a ways before popping back up.

Crazy squirrel moved a piece of blackberry from the side yard to behind the chicken run.....roughly 60' and it went nuts there.....it can happen with bamboo too....

 

[K0k0shka]

This person is a real jerk! I'm sorry you have to deal with that.
I've kind of skimmed the thread, so forgive me if this has been suggested before. What if you covered the top of the run with mesh, and then but plywood against the mesh, inside the run? Then it would not technically be a roof.

Town said there can't be anything solid overhead, just wire mesh

 

[K0k0shka]

All I can say is I feel your pain. My family owned and operated chicken houses for decades. The property being in the family for over 100yrs. Some development company bought land next door and built a subdivision. They built right up to the property line. Many times the builders were caught trespassing and trying to use their land for access and to dump dirt and debris during the building phase. Anyways, people moved in, they got a property line inspector to come out and removed 1ft from the property line all the way around for a total of 1 acre removed. The neighbor then placed a solid 15 foot long wood fence within 9ft of one end of the chicken house. Then they called the building inspector who told them they could no longer operate that chicken house because the fence had to be at least 10ft away. It became a financial burden. That fence was obviously placed there intentionally for that purpose. If they didn't like chicken houses they should not have moved there. Some people have zero consideration for others, think they themselves are on a level above others or something sick like that.

We still kept pet chickens and pea fowl (who can be quite noisy lol). I caught the neighbors kids an older brother and younger sister in the act of breaking into that chicken house and letting their labrador mix dog chase and kill our birds. I caught them because I came home from school and heard them cheering the dog on. I chased them off with a shotgun. I was probably about 10y/o at the time, about the time when I realized what evil truly was. When their parents were confronted with my parents and the police they of course denied it.

Look into spite laws and lawyers, don't let this neighbor walk all over you. And keep a watchful eye on your birds, maybe place a camera on them if you haven't already.

Wow that is horrible!!! What kind of person... And worst of all, they've raised a new generation of kids who are just like them! I'm sorry you had to go through that

 

[K0k0shka]

Beware planting anything on the 'pergola', vines can tear down structures, and trees.
....and bamboo.....
Double Beware(unless you mow it on your side and let it spread to his side<snickers>)

I don't really want to grow anything on the "pergola". No good options that are evergreen, anything else would shed and have leaves stuck in the mesh that I'd have to clean Not sold on the bamboo either, looks like it loses its leaves in cold climates or suffers other kinds of cold damage. I need a permanent screen of some sort.

 

[K0k0shka]

Put up 1/2" or 1/4" hardware cloth.
Can you add a sun shade like 90% shade cloth on top of the wire/hardware cloth?

That's a no on the shade cloth, wire is okay but I'm hesitant to add anything dense because of snow load in the winter and fallen leaves in the fall (the run is underneath a massive 8-story maple tree that drops a truckful of leaves). Though maybe if I leave the leaves there, they can act as a "roof" and privacy screen all piled up there

 

[NatJ]

Though maybe if I leave the leaves there, they can act as a "roof" and privacy screen all piled up there

That's a good thought--it's not you putting something there, just you not cleaning an awkwardly high top of the run

But I think you're right to worry about snow--with leaves up there, the snow won't fall through, and that might be too much weight for the wire cover.

 

[K0k0shka]

But I think you're right to worry about snow--with leaves up there, the snow won't fall through, and that might be too much weight for the wire cover.

Yeah, leaves+snow would be a problem. Even just snow would be a problem with 1/2" HC, especially wet snow. That's why I was thinking I should go with something less dense, like this 2x3" welded wire.

 

[aart]

That's why I was thinking I should go with something less dense, like this 2x3" welded wire.

Or 2x4.
Pretty easy to bang the snow down from underneath, tho not fun(wear a hood).

 

[K0k0shka]

Or 2x4.
Pretty easy to bang the snow down from underneath, tho not fun(wear a hood).

Yeah, 2x4 would do too, 2x3 is just what I happened to have found on Amazon at the time. For knocking things down - snow or fallen leaves - I was thinking I could try going at it from underneath with the leaf blower May just spread it more than anything, but at least it would be fun!