what do you think of this for some shade ?

[MamaChic21]

I've tried plastic roof panels from Lowes and tried to secure them with 16 ft 2x6 and after the snow blizzard we had couple of days ago, it flew of 40-50 ft away from the run. http://www.lowes.com/SearchCatalogDisplay?storeId=10151&langId=-1&catalogId=10051&N=0&newSearch=true&Ntt=plastic+roof
Now we'll be doing a new run (chain link fence) all around even on the top of the roof and thinking of getting this
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_...3j&srccode=cii_9324560&cpncode=23-119572435-2
http://www.fencecenter.com/store/default.aspx?departmentid=15048
It won't fly away, will provide shade, and or if we decide to move the run somewhere else, we can just take the chain link fence with the privacy with it instead of building them a roof and make it impossible to move it. What do you all think of this ? Have anyone used this method before ?

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Manufacturer warrenty for 15 years but I don't think it will cover dogs, raccoons or other critters that may try to chew through it.

I wouldn't put it up as a roof. One snow like you got this time and the whole chainlink kennel will come crashing down.

You can put it on the sides.

I use a old patio umbrella. Doesn't matter that it's not perfect. Can sometimes be gotten off craigslist or freecycle. Can be reused the following year as a bean, gourd, or other kind of plant trellis

 

[MamaChic21]

Quote:
We were thinking of kind of lifting one end to 5 ft and the other end to 6 or 7 ft so if it snows it will go downwards. The chainlink fence is pretty strong, how could they chew it ? Right now they have chainlik fence all around, nothing happened God forbit, but should I be worried ?

 

[lilchick]

I use netting on top of my dog kennel pens. Great for daytime predators. In the summer I drape shade cloth over top of netting and secure with zip ties. When fall arrives I take off shade cloth and put away for the winter.
Even the heavy snow will go right thru holes in netting and not droop or pull on the kennel panels. If I get a bit of snow sticking to the netting I just tug on it and the snow drops off.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Do you have hardward cloth or chicken wire around the lower 2ft or so of your chainlink run? Chickens like to stick their heads out of just about any hole they find, especially if some critter is wiggling it's fingers through that hole. A dog can get their nose through the chain link and so can other critters. Nose through means that plastic is toast and possibly a chicken.

To prevent your roof from crashing in with "snow load", you are going to need support it at several locations. If it's a large, wide run you will probably have to put in support beams as well.

My run was 10x30 with an attached 10x10 divided pen. The 10x10 had a chainlink divider at 5ft and then cross supports every 2ft. This had chicken wire as a top. The 10x30 had 2x4 welded wire top that was not taught. It had some sage to it to help drop the snow off if it got too heavy. It also had a support at the center 5ft point and then every 2ft down the length. I used PVC pipe down the center and galvanized pipe for the length (recycled!)



Don't bet on the netting not coming down! This happened here in NC. Not half the snow MamaChick got in NJ http://www.wsoctv.com/news/26282748/detail.html

 

[MamaChic21]

we had over 36 inches of snow and no I am not thinking of getting netting

The 2ft that you're refering to, where is that ? The chain link I already have has 2inch gap in between. I have 4 10x10 chain link fence now for their run. But 2 out of 4 is still good and the rest we'll be buying it new.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

My run was built like an "L" The top of the L is the back end of the run the end of the 30ft length. I ran 2 1/2 inch PVC pipe down the center of it. It's not completely tied to the fence. It's a couple inches shorter than the top of the fence. Then I ran galvinized pipe crossed over that center pvc pole every 2ft. The PVC was supported with additional PVC poles dug into th ground

I had 12 10x10x6ft set up from my run. I had 3 of those kids playhouses as coops. They weren't the best, but the chickens liked them. Tore them all down and got rid of everything, coops, as well as the chickens. Had a new puppy who is deaf, she needed a safe place to run ad play.Then I was diagnosed with breast cancer,again, and have to stay away from chicken poop. Come spring I will put something else together for the next broo

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Sorry, I'm not understanding how you fastened the roof panels to your run. I have corrugated panels covering my runs, and I remember it seemed to take forever screwing the plastic closure strips to the underlying wood structure, then fastening the panels to the strips using their special screws with sealing washers. So far, though, the panels have stayed secure. The manufacturer doesn't recommend the panels be installed flat, but at a minimum rise which I can't recall offhand now.

About the plastic insets for chain link fence....it seems rather pricey to me for a product that won't keep rain out of the run and will only provide partial shade. Have you considered just a simple shade tarp?

 

[patandchickens]

We were thinking of kind of lifting one end to 5 ft and the other end to 6 or 7 ft so if it snows it will go downwards. The chainlink fence is pretty strong, how could they chew it ? Right now they have chainlik fence all around, nothing happened God forbit, but should I be worried ?

Are you talkinga bout using those aluminum (or vinyl) strip inserts that are usually used to give more privacy with a chainlink fence?

I would SERIOUSLY not count on them not to blow away when used on a roof, unless you bend back and poprivet each end of each strip. They are also rather loud in the wind as they rattle quite a bit.

I believe the concern raised about chewing and raccoon damage was not with respect to it letting the predators get in, just that if a raccoon gets to rippin' at them it will totally radically ruin your privacy slats and I'm sure it wouldn't be warranty-covered.

I totally am with the earlier poster who is concerned that the weight of snow on them will collapse your kennel, "hopefully" just the roof but potentially the whole thing. Snow is HEAVY, especially 2-3' of wet snow, and it will NOT slide off them like it would off a roof, and even with a slippery plastic roof it will not necessarily slide off much, so you need a supporting structure that is designed AS ROOF RAFTERS to bear that snow load. Chainlink won't reliably do it.

You don't need a different roof MATERIAL, what you need is different roof SUPPORT. Really really. If it needs to carry a roof's worth of snow weight -- as it does in your area, as you've recently discovered, and comparable storms are not SO rare because I know we got 26" of very wet snow when I was living in South River (E of New Brunswick NJ) in the late 1990s -- then the supporting structure needs to be engineered as a roof would be. Not just a flat panel of something and hope the snow-sliding-off-or-falling-through fairy pays a visit.

Build it as roof rafters and posts suitable to a solid roof with your snowload. Then you can put whatever roofing on you want, it needn't be solid or traditional roofing if you don't want to (or it can be if you do) but WHATEVER you put up, it NEEDS that support structure first.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[darkmatter]

Your best bet for shade is to plant trees. Every year is larger and more spreading shade. I planted a couple of Illinois everbearing Mulberry trees for shade and free chicken food a couple years before I got chickens where I'd planned to put the run. They only grew a couple feet or so till the chickens begin adding their special ingredient to the run soil. They've since put on 6 feet of terminal growth each year and now are a good 30 foot tall with ever growing spread. This is in spite of having repeated storm damage losing up to half their limbs which I just cut up for firewood each time. (Mulberry wood makes good firewood and has a good wood color and grain for odd projects.) See my BYC page for pics of the coop and run. I also fenced off my garden which shares a fence with the run and let the chickens in to till and glean my garden in the fall, making it great for spring planting.