Newbie beekeepers here (and long time chicken owners). I agree with your assessment regarding a new queen; I'm assuming your hives are now queenless or soon will be to help deal with the aggressive traits being passed on to the bees.
Gail
We use Brace Rail Clamps to attach the PVC pipe to the top rail of the dog kennel. They can be found in the chain link fencing section of big box stores like Lowes; typically under $2 each. A 1/2 inch PVC pipe will fit into them. You attach them to the top rail with a socket wrench...
"How did you attach the PVC pipe to the wall of the run?"
See the posting above these few showing the brace rail clamps holding the PCV pipe. Attach these to the top of the run, place your PVC pipe in them and tighten the bolts.
Gail
I'm not sure this will help you but for our runs we've used dog runs. For the tops we add brace rail clamps (found in the chain link fencing section at Lowes for under $2 each) to the top rails, then add PVC/electrical pipe and run hardware cloth over these, attaching them to the rails and the...
In the far right hand corner you might be able to see where we placed one of our coops IN the 5 by 15 dog run but then added another run (using PVC pipe and hardware cloth) to give these bantams a bit more space)...
Sure; the coop doors get opened before I go to work in the morning (this morning it was 5:30 am so they were still sleeping and it was still dark) and they stay open so the chickens can go out in the run and back in the coop to (hopefully!) hit the nest box to lay eggs all throughout the day...
If this helps...we've used clear panels on all our coop roofs with no issues of chickens not feeling safe nor the problem of the coops getting too warm (chickens are out in the runs during the day anyway).
Gail
Well, I just took a piece of cardboard, cut a hole in the center of it and "duct taped" it to a clamp light and it's worked fine for me for a number of eggs.
Gail
Actually, they really don't need either unless you wish to do so and then I'd suggest sand over dirt.
I use newspaper...if you do the little ones will soon be making confetti out of this (and soon afterwards you look forward to putting them outside!).
Gail
Couple of our runs are made with PVC pipe (these are built on former raised beds for roses). Doing fine so far.
Picture of the latest one...
Our other runs are all dog runs....
What we recently did with our last run (built it over a former raised bed rose garden). This one out of PVC pipe. Did use 36" hardware cloth but ran two rows (cable tied together) so the end product is six feet tall....
Mention this because it's a way of working hardware cloth into the size...
I agree that a four or five foot high run will cause an aching back!
Have you considered using a dog run for your run? We use those for all of ours. They come in six foot heights and aren't difficult to put together.
Our local Lowes carries one that can be made into either a 10 x 10 run or...
I know I've posting this before (and I apologize to those who have seen this) but this is what we did with our coop (an arched roof of hardware cloth). I do live in Georgia so snow is not an issue here...Gail
Most of these type coops have very small runs. It makes me sad to think of six hens in small runs. The coops MAY be fine (the second coop is likely better made than the first; often the pre-fab coops have limited life spans due to the quality of the wood used).
I always suggest dog kennels...
For what it's worth.....
We helped my son build his coop and run. He has four chickens. His coop is a 4 by 4. We did this size because he wanted only four chickens and it was easy to cut a sheet of 4 x 8 plywood in half.
However, the focus on size was on the run since chickens are out...
I'm not sure if this will open but I thought this was quite an innovating idea!
http://www.pearltrees.com/pjpuas/perma-culture-gardening/id3502071#item27113392
Gail