[chicken henry]

Hi Folks
             Thought you may like to see our effort in making a roof for our girls because after all the rain we have had their run was just like a mud pit at times and we thought that when it rained they just sheltered under the coop which was ok and that was planned when building the coop .

But after seeing that they were not happy being unable to roam and scratch when it was raining we decided to do the roof project.

Of all the times to pick to do a roofing project was the time we were about to suffer gale force winds! But yes it stood the test of the winds so well pleased!

We found that when using the corrugated sheeting that when you tried to drill it often it fractured so to get around this problem I used a hot soldering iron to make the screw holes with no more splitting !

Got the screws with spacer under the corrugated so they do not rattle in the wind and they do seem to hold the sheets down better.

[bravemurphy]

nice one on the soldering iron I have never thought of that.

that's like a chicken conservatory 

The lucky things.

[grinling]

does it slope? will you put a gutter on it to collect rainwater.
keep an eye on snow as it is heavy.
will you cover the side most wind and rain comes from?

[chicken henry]

Hi yes i did slope off and checked run off when installed first sheet . will do guttering into water butt when weather permits again .tested with slabs for snow weight was ok with 5 slabs per sheet so all i can do now is wait and see .

Do intend to do splash barrier around lower half of run of approx 12" high but after recent high winds roof did not even twitch so was very pleased about that . do like them to be open to wind but do not like them to get wet and muddy in run .

thought that shelter underr coop would suffice for rainy days but after run turned run into a mud pit and saw how dirty and sorry looking they were knew had to do somthing roof wise .

Still very much " work in progress " and will do what i think will benefit them most and give my girls the best i can within the confines i have .

I am a strong believer in good animal husbandry and do take care and welfare to the best i can .

[finleyfreyaseth]

lovely job,but as soon as horizontal rain or blustery rain will be back to mud pit again found this out myself with my run

[chicken henry]

Hi finlay
            Thank you for your post , and yes i agree with you but we have an high wall on one side and a see thru fence on other so one can only try 

But as i have said it is an ongoing project and keeps me out of mischief with her indoors !they do get lots of out of run time and we are lucky that we are well surrounded by high wall and good fencing so we will see how we get on over the winter months but as we all know it is always a never ending jobs to do list that keeping chickens entails ! but the endless entertainment they give me is well worth all the effort i put in to try and make thier home as best i can .

[grinling]

if it takes slabs, then snow will be fine. I use polytunnel sheeting from local garden centre for the main area sides to keep rain out with out door run they hardly use!! free range all day, luckily they don't like the plants in the garden.
corrugated tip is excellent.