Transitioning from roofed to roofless run

[no fly zone]

That is why i want to live in the middle of nowhere.

 

[MarkJr]

Out of curiosity, did they move in before or after you got chickens?

 

[Teddytoo]

In an unfortunate turn of events, I'll have to take the roof off of my run, because the town is counting the roofed run as a "building" and applying the building zoning code to it, and, as a building, it's too close to the property line (nevermind that I asked permission to build it as such in that location and got the okay from the two town officials in charge of this... ). So, we are where we are, and I need to take the roof off. I have two questions.

First - can I replace the roof with this welded wire mesh:

View attachment 2380000

It's 2x3 inches and 16 ga. I know the spacing is too wide to stop everything, but this will only be over the top in place of a roof, and the chickens will be locked in the coop at night... I'm doing this balancing act between the town saying it can't be "covered" on top (definition of "covered" being stretchy and up to interpretation here), and my chickens being safe. Wider mesh makes it look less "covered". I know there are no clear answers, and dense HC is the best, but still... Given my situation, what do you think the risk is? I live in the suburbs and while we do have some animals, it's not teeming with wildlife.

And my second question. I'm sad to see the roof go because it kept the run dry. My chickens have never known precipitation, and probably won't be happy with the roof gone I still want to give them something overhead so they can use the yard in rainy/snowy weather, but I can't put anything on the roof. So I had this idea and bought two large patio umbrellas Nobody regulates those, so I can just put them in the run under the overhead mesh. They are square shape, so I can put one against the side of the coop flush with the wall, and give them a dry area to walk out onto when exiting the coop. And I'll put the other one in the opposite corner over their run perches, so they can have another dry area to hang out in. Patio umbrellas are meant for the outdoors so I'm hoping they'll do the job and be okay outside, though I've never had one myself and don't know how well they do in wind/rain/snow. That's where I'll appreciate your input. The run is pretty sheltered in a corner of the yard, with a 5' tall retaining wall 8 feet away on one side, and a 6' tall privacy fence on the other side of that corner (west and north respectively). For the winter, I'll put plastic (shower curtains) along the sides of the run on the south and east as well. So it will be pretty sheltered on all sides, with not a lot of wind blowing through. I'll anchor the umbrellas as well (one against the coop wall, and the other against the run wall). And I'll tilt them so they shed rain/snow better. Would that be enough? We don't get a lot of snow anymore. Every few years I'll have to take the snow blower out, the rest of the years there isn't enough to justify it.

What do you think? Again, I know there are no clear answers and part of this is accepting some risk. I just want to see what people with more experience think about this setup.

On my last farm, I used that welded wire as a roof and I also made my pens out of 2 x 4 frames with that wire. I would put heavy plastic over one side or a tarp. This time as I cannot cover my whole run, I found the largest swingset frame I could and used a heavy, really large tarp to cover it. I also used 2 x 4's spaced out on each side to give the tarp some structure to keep the snow from weighing down and tied down the tarp with heavy rope to the swingset frame plus I anchored the tarp to the ground with tie down attached to stakes pounded into the ground. Yesterday was the test as we had our first snow and it works! I put roosts inside the structure plus hang their food from the swingset and keep their eggshell and water underneath. The birds loved it.

 

[Reecerhead]

Boo on your neighbor! With so many many things to worry about... I call that sweating the small stuff. I also would say a roof or blue tarp? I’d pick the roof if I was the neighbor. Ug. I don’t know if this will help as an idea but my niece ran into a similar problem in her neighborhood and ended up agreeing to use lattice as the top. She also bought clear roofing pieces to lay on top during inclement weather. Funny thing? That neighbor moved recently... Good luck.

 

[Karen K]

I am so glad I have wonderful neighbors. We checked with them before we even got chickens. Now that they are finally laying, we plan to gift them with some eggs. We have lived here 33 years, and several of our neighbors have lived here as long or longer than us. In a couple of cases the kids bought their family home and the parents moved to retirement communities. Basically, a wonderful neighborhood, with low turnover. You can buy a house anywhere, but finding a good neighborhood is priceless. And this is why we never moved, not because of the house.
I'm really curious to see how this all comes out.

 

[hfchristy]

It's so silly for them to make you remove a tasteful and thoughtfully planned roof, just so you can fill the run with a hodgepodge of little mini shelters.
Have you asked about a MORE solid roof? It would increase the "it's a building" claim, but would block the chickens from sight so maybe the neighbor would agree? Probably not since it sounds like he just wants them gone, but maybe worth a try. Tell him he can even pick out the shingle color...

When friends were going through a chicken war like this one of the big things they had on their side was a letter from a realtor stating that chickens do NOT reduce property value of neighboring lots. Usually the people who say "oh - the neighbors have chickens" consider it a positive and the rest don't take much notice of them one way or the other.

 

[Pugsiehens]

I'm at war with the neighbor over the chickens and the town is trying to please both sides, so they're letting me put wire on top, but no tarp, sadly. I would have LOVED to put a fluorescent-colored tarp for him to look at, though!

What about a camo net.

 

[Annasg]

In an unfortunate turn of events, I'll have to take the roof off of my run, because the town is counting the roofed run as a "building" and applying the building zoning code to it, and, as a building, it's too close to the property line (nevermind that I asked permission to build it as such in that location and got the okay from the two town officials in charge of this... ). So, we are where we are, and I need to take the roof off. I have two questions.

First - can I replace the roof with this welded wire mesh:

View attachment 2380000

It's 2x3 inches and 16 ga. I know the spacing is too wide to stop everything, but this will only be over the top in place of a roof, and the chickens will be locked in the coop at night... I'm doing this balancing act between the town saying it can't be "covered" on top (definition of "covered" being stretchy and up to interpretation here), and my chickens being safe. Wider mesh makes it look less "covered". I know there are no clear answers, and dense HC is the best, but still... Given my situation, what do you think the risk is? I live in the suburbs and while we do have some animals, it's not teeming with wildlife.

And my second question. I'm sad to see the roof go because it kept the run dry. My chickens have never known precipitation, and probably won't be happy with the roof gone I still want to give them something overhead so they can use the yard in rainy/snowy weather, but I can't put anything on the roof. So I had this idea and bought two large patio umbrellas Nobody regulates those, so I can just put them in the run under the overhead mesh. They are square shape, so I can put one against the side of the coop flush with the wall, and give them a dry area to walk out onto when exiting the coop. And I'll put the other one in the opposite corner over their run perches, so they can have another dry area to hang out in. Patio umbrellas are meant for the outdoors so I'm hoping they'll do the job and be okay outside, though I've never had one myself and don't know how well they do in wind/rain/snow. That's where I'll appreciate your input. The run is pretty sheltered in a corner of the yard, with a 5' tall retaining wall 8 feet away on one side, and a 6' tall privacy fence on the other side of that corner (west and north respectively). For the winter, I'll put plastic (shower curtains) along the sides of the run on the south and east as well. So it will be pretty sheltered on all sides, with not a lot of wind blowing through. I'll anchor the umbrellas as well (one against the coop wall, and the other against the run wall). And I'll tilt them so they shed rain/snow better. Would that be enough? We don't get a lot of snow anymore. Every few years I'll have to take the snow blower out, the rest of the years there isn't enough to justify it.

What do you think? Again, I know there are no clear answers and part of this is accepting some risk. I just want to see what people with more experience think about this setup.

From my own experience, the umbrellas will help to give them some shade but the run will be terribly muddy. I had the mesh wiring on the top in the beginning as well and one day I caught a hawk pilling one of my chickens thru the wire mesh. Luckily the wire was close enough together that it would not fit thru the holes or it got scared and flew off because it got caught. At that point I put on a solid roof. If I were caught in a dilemma with the town, I would try the wire with the tarp on top. The wire so the tarp does not collect as much water in the middle of the tarp. Just a suggestion.

 

[Debby R]

In an unfortunate turn of events, I'll have to take the roof off of my run, because the town is counting the roofed run as a "building" and applying the building zoning code to it, and, as a building, it's too close to the property line (nevermind that I asked permission to build it as such in that location and got the okay from the two town officials in charge of this... ). So, we are where we are, and I need to take the roof off. I have two questions.

First - can I replace the roof with this welded wire mesh:

View attachment 2380000

It's 2x3 inches and 16 ga. I know the spacing is too wide to stop everything, but this will only be over the top in place of a roof, and the chickens will be locked in the coop at night... I'm doing this balancing act between the town saying it can't be "covered" on top (definition of "covered" being stretchy and up to interpretation here), and my chickens being safe. Wider mesh makes it look less "covered". I know there are no clear answers, and dense HC is the best, but still... Given my situation, what do you think the risk is? I live in the suburbs and while we do have some animals, it's not teeming with wildlife.

And my second question. I'm sad to see the roof go because it kept the run dry. My chickens have never known precipitation, and probably won't be happy with the roof gone I still want to give them something overhead so they can use the yard in rainy/snowy weather, but I can't put anything on the roof. So I had this idea and bought two large patio umbrellas Nobody regulates those, so I can just put them in the run under the overhead mesh. They are square shape, so I can put one against the side of the coop flush with the wall, and give them a dry area to walk out onto when exiting the coop. And I'll put the other one in the opposite corner over their run perches, so they can have another dry area to hang out in. Patio umbrellas are meant for the outdoors so I'm hoping they'll do the job and be okay outside, though I've never had one myself and don't know how well they do in wind/rain/snow. That's where I'll appreciate your input. The run is pretty sheltered in a corner of the yard, with a 5' tall retaining wall 8 feet away on one side, and a 6' tall privacy fence on the other side of that corner (west and north respectively). For the winter, I'll put plastic (shower curtains) along the sides of the run on the south and east as well. So it will be pretty sheltered on all sides, with not a lot of wind blowing through. I'll anchor the umbrellas as well (one against the coop wall, and the other against the run wall). And I'll tilt them so they shed rain/snow better. Would that be enough? We don't get a lot of snow anymore. Every few years I'll have to take the snow blower out, the rest of the years there isn't enough to justify it.

What do you think? Again, I know there are no clear answers and part of this is accepting some risk. I just want to see what people with more experience think about this setup.

Wow, what a pickle. I started out with a tarp over HC then got a roof. With a tarp you will need like a 2x6 under the length to prevent rain from pooling.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Ask them to make an exception. Tell them the alternative is a blue tarp, and you would rather not do that.

I think they’ll agree to keeping the roof if the OP spray paints the tarp hot pink and spells out “THIS IS YOUR FAULT” in neon green, To of course be seen from google earth satellite view until they finally give in