Which is better..A covered run or not?

Covered is best if you want to keep them safe from air predators and dry when it rains. Prevents them from having to stay inside all day. However, it will depend on what you want and the conditions where you live. If they can always free range, a covered run might be unecessary.

 

Total rain-proof covering is not necessary, unless you live in a very hot area where chickens would overheat in direct sun. Also, in my experience, chickens will go out in the rain if they feel like it.

I would advise at least inexpensive hawk netting, if nothing else.

 

I'm going with a wire-covered run to protect from predators plus a small area (4' x 6') just outside the coop that has a plastic roofing sheet over it to give some amount of rain/sun protection. There will also be food and water in this spot.

 

We're covering ours with vinyl(clear) corrugated roofing. I guess once you go to all that trouble it would be heartbreaking to lose birds because of that final detail...

 

We have had real troubles with our covered run because we get snow. Even if you are covering it with wire, don't expect snow to fall through. It will accumulate on the top and cave the whole thing in.

We learned this the hard way. I'm not quite sure what to do to keep hawks out, birds in and manage a load of snow.....

 

I use a deer fencing to cover the top. It will keep out hawks and is very inexpensive. Snow hasn't been a problem but an ice storm could be. I have a tree in my run which provides shade. That could be an alternative to covering it.

 

We are in the process of redoing our run and it will have buried wire for anyone trying to dig under the fence and a tin roof for shad-with some of the skye lite panels for sun.

 

Hi My huysband and I just finished our coop for the girls last night. We converted the shed from junky to "looks darn good". The folks who lived here before and sold this the place had a junky half done collect all shed with a slanted tin roof and down the center was the fiberglass see through panels, just one row! (Why?) Any way we divided the shed in 2 down the middle, insulated, leveled the nasty cement floor, added a new window and door and put up 1/2inch particle board walls. My husband used the spray in foam to fill all the cracks and crannies and now it is snug and warm and predator safe for the girls. The one thing we found with the see through panel- if you live some where that gets hot in the summers and your coop gets alot of sun- those panels REALLY heat up the inside. We ended up paintin up 1/2 the roof panels to cool it down and darken it up a little so the nesting box areas are not so BRIGHT. We extended our roof out over our run and are putting chicken wire and hardware cloth ground to rafters, to provide saftey from air predators and provide shade in the hot afternoons for them. I will try to add pics in a few days when it is done. Hope this helps someone. Trudy