Dry Chicken Run

Our chicken coop is small.  It’s only big enough for the girls to roost at night and to lay their eggs in the day. There also isn’t enough room to keep their food and water inside or for them to roam around together.  So, as we approached winter weather I needed to find a way to keep their run dry and snow free not only so that they would venture out in the event of blizzardy winter weather but also to keep their food dry.

I thought about green house plastic but this was too expensive and potentially difficult to install without ripping it.  I also considered  screwing boards onto the run to extend their coop just for the winter, but I wanted them to have fresh air and sunlight.  I needed something cheap, easy to install and take down in the spring, and something that would still allow sunlight and air flow.  Mostly, I wanted to be prepared for something like the 1 ft of snow we got last year.  My neighbor had to dig a path for her chickens so they would come out of their coop!

So, I bought 6 cheap clear shower curtains.  I zip tied them to the top and Jamie nailed scrap wood to keep the bottoms from blowing around.  There is still plenty of air flow and so far the curtains keep the driving rain out so the girls have plenty of dry space to be outside.  Plus, the clear plastic warms the run when the sun is out.  I’m really happy with how it is working out!  I’ll let you know how it works when it finally snows!

North side