What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[Calamity Jane]

When you make a walk in run and put a roof on is this enough to keep floor covering dry. Doesnt the rain come in at the sides and wet floor ?

[MummyHen]

I added some glass tarp from

http://www.tarpaflex.co.uk/acatalog/glass-clear-pvc-tarpaulins.html

 

Keeps the rain out - its been very very wet here the last few days and the inside is dry

 

[scarlettohara]

Mummyhen - your run is about the same size as mine - which sizes did you use ?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I do find rain comes in at the sides (and wind!) so I bought a massive tarp and cut it to size. There are photos in my signature link .

[MummyHen]

This what I ordered

GPVC5 Glass Clear Tarpaulin 2m x 4.6m x 1

GPVC1 Glass Clear Tarpaulin 2m x 2.4m x 2

TAPE High Quality Tarpaulin Tape x 1 Colour of Tape: Clear

BUN2 Ball Bungees - 30 Pack x 1

EYELET50PK Plastic Eyelets - 50 Pack x1

 

The back of the WIR is close to a boundry fence and the tarp only covers the top half, additionally I got some cup hooks, made holes in the tarp with the eyelets, and hook the holes on the hooks so the tarp doesn't flap in the wind. (does that make sense ) the hooks are midway down and at the bottom - if you look near the middle door hinge, (in the pic) you can just make out the cup hooks. Along the bottom edge seam I threaded some conduit - bunged up one end and filled with sand, added some water, to give it some weight when down and it also helps when trying to roll it up.

I think it works very well - if the forecast is for rain then tarp comes down.

[Heidi-Hi]

That is BRILLIANT!! I've been thinking about doing exactly that, and now you have answered all my questions!!! Fantastic, you've made my day

[Mercedes55]

I'm seriously considering getting some tarps for our WIR with all the rain we had last night. I haven't had time to have a good look inside yet but I'm sure the rain must have got in a bit

 

I do have a couple of questions about it though. I don't understand the sizes they sell, is the first figure the width of the tarp? You would think they would say on their website but they don't. Also does it make the WIR like a greenhouse if too much of it is covered? I have no idea where to start at the moment. We have put our WIR against a fence on the long side and the end of it is quite close to a fence too, so I don't think that gets wet. One end has trellis up against it and we are going to put some climbers up that, so hopefully that should cut out the rain somewhat. However the other long side is 24ft long and so far we have put 4 lots of trellis across the middle and my thought was to put some tarps on the inside of the WIR so that we could grow plants up the outside of the trellis. Would the girls be okay with that or would they try to eat it? Also not sure if you have them over doors or not.

 

I have to say yours look brilliant

[Plum]

If you put the tarps on the inside won't the rain just run down onto the floor?

 

They have holes on all sides so it doesn't matter which way you hang them and I bought the little kit to make extra holes. I have mine hooked on so they are just below the top of the wire which has protection from the roof but gives high level ventilation and prevents condensation.

 

I take them on and off all the time but will copy Mummyhen's method with those bungees to make it easier to roll up and leave for my chickensitters when I'm away. My chickensitter laughed when I explained it and asked if I read them bedtime stories as well (well I sing to them)

[MummyHen]

The tarp needs to go on the outside of the WIR not the inside otherwise water will run into the run and defeat the purpose of the tarp.

The first number is the height 2m (6+ft ish) the second number is the width. I used different widths, put them up and then cut them for the door and round the cube. The back of my WIR is against a fence and the tarp is always down but only covers the top half. I'll take some closeup pictures of how they are fixed ... give me a mo

[MummyHen]

Pictures taken, hope this helps

 

 

 

[Mercedes55]

You can tell I'm clueless about all this as I thought having some inside would be okay

 

My only reason for thinking of doing that was that we now have 6 lots of trellis on the outside of the WIR. We have bought some climbers to grow up them and so wouldn't be able to put tarps on the outside as all of that would be in the way.

 

We have had a lot of rain in the last couple of days. The only part of the run that has got wet is the same part that was leaking when we had the WIR built a couple of weeks ago. I guess my OH is going to have to try and repair it again. Kind of a nuisance having to do all that when we have only just had it built.

 

I might look at buying some tarps for the outside of the rest of the run and just hope that the plants and trellis will stop any rain getting into the rest of it.

 

I can't believe how much money we have spent lately

[Isabel]

That's absolutely fantastic Rachel! How did you secure the tarps along the length of the run. Looking at your photos, I can see you have what look like curtain holders (?) to roll the tarp up onto but what about inbetween those - is it secured with the bungees to the weldmesh? It's just perfect

[Plum]

I used cup hooks in the wood and looks like Rachel did the same.

 

Mercedes the plants should help a lot. You need the good cover the side where most of the wind and rain comes from and I've found that is the South to West side so have screwed pvc sheets on most of that side.

[Isabel]

Thanks Plum ... can see them now on closer inspection.

[MummyHen]

Cup hooks is the way to go, down the sides.

However, there is a design flaw in my method.

We had a torrential rain storm today; I was cleaning out the WIR, replenishing water and food when the heavens opened, I got a chickens eyed view of the inside during a storm.

It was exceptional rain but it showed that the tarp isn't high enough up and under the guttering, the rain gushed in down the inside of the tarp especially the bit in the photo that’s above the cube (2nd photo and last photo). See how the tarp sags – this is not good. Tomorrow it will be all removed and repositioned a couple of inches higher and additional fixings across the top.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

As we're all talking tarps , I'll just share this with you ...

 

My tarps had got very dusty and dirty from last winter and being stored in the garage so I popped them in the washing machine on 40 C and they've come up a treat .

[Mercedes55]

I used cup hooks in the wood and looks like Rachel did the same.

 

Mercedes the plants should help a lot. You need the good cover the side where most of the wind and rain comes from and I've found that is the South to West side so have screwed pvc sheets on most of that side.

 

Yes we are hoping that the combination of plants and trellis will stop some of the rain.

 

I'm trying to work out in my head which way our run faces. I think the long side, which is where we have most of the trellis, faces South East. We've had an awful lot of rain this past few days and the only place I've found it to have got inside the run is the top end which faces North West and is right near the fence, so I think it's still the actual roof that is leaking.