Mrs

[Popularfurball]

So my poor chickens have left the coop for several days - it appears they "don't do snow"!! Mrs skyline squawks angrily at me from the door telling me to sort it out, but it's fruitless as snow just keeps blowing in

 

It also got drenched in rain last week and so I gutted wood chip then as well...

 

I made sheets which were ripped by wind before I even got in the house and so bought corrugated plastic to make removable window panes but have tried all sorts of ways to cut it and it just keeps cracking....

 

Any suggestions welcome! We are in a bad wind tunnel as it is, but these winds take the mickey!!

 

 

On the upside, mrs black rocks feathers are growing back - vaporub seems to have helped... Though mrs skylines anger issues aren't!!! That's for another post!!!

[suebee]

... my ladies don't do snow either! They study it briefly, and suspiciously, then run back inside!

 

Your roll down windbreaks look pretty good in the photo, but if you're having problems with them, you could try (perhaps as a temporary measure) stapling some oblongs of stout plastic to the two exposed sides of the coop. I did this, with builders' rubble sacks cut open to make them bigger (clear ones are obviously best) on my last run, and they lasted all winter. Because they were smaller sheets, it was easier to handle them to get them into position, and they flapped about less than a big sheet.

 

Or, for a better finish (though rather more expensive), you could buy polycarbonate sheeting, cut it to size, (looks like you'd need 8 pieces, or 4 long ones), and screw them to the wooden framework of your coop. They take down again easily once the weather improves, (if it ever does!) and look reasonable. If you use 8 smaller pieces, you could leave them on around the lower part of the coop, like a skirt, to act as a draught shield for the chooks, and to help stop your bedding blowing about and getting wet.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That's what I've done - I've got thick perspex and polycarbonate panels which are cut to size and held on with Rapstraps. They work brilliantly as wind/rain/snow proofing, are easy to remove and clean and shouldn't ever need replacing.

[Popularfurball]

The sheeting was cable tied (with eyelets), but it hasn't survived the wind at all

 

I got the plastic corrugated roofing but I have failed miserably at cutting it to size - tried scissors, Stanley knife, jigsaw, coping saw and hair dryer... And it just kept cracking so gave up no even managing one of the eight pieces!

 

I think small pieces of twin cell will blow away as too light.

 

Maybe ill wrap it in cling film!!!!

[Popularfurball]

Where did you get Perspex from?

 

The twin cell polycarbonate stuff will be about £70 from b&q due to sizes needed... But they don't sell plain Perspex which was what I was looking for originally

[RyanR]

Where did you get Perspex from?

 

The twin cell polycarbonate stuff will be about £70 from b&q due to sizes needed... But they don't sell plain Perspex which was what I was looking for originally

 

http://www.theonestopplasticsshop.co.uk/

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I got mine from Trent Plastics (who are very helpful and will cut to your size specifications).