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I solved the problem with the leaky chicken coop several weeks ago, but I wanted to be sure before I blogged about it. We have had plenty of rain in the last few weeks, and the coop has been staying dry, so I guess I can tentatively consider the problem solved.
The solution was to make the pitch of the roof steeper. The roof I designed had about a 5 to 10 degree pitch. That was well and good for summer, but not enough to properly shed the kind of rain you get in November in the Pacific Northwest.
That big hump in the middle is what I added. It’s enough to shed the rain, instead of letting it puddle up and seep through the tarp. (Turns out a tarp is pretty waterproof, but not completely waterproof.)
I accomplished this additional pitch by using a roll of grody chicken wire left over from the first chicken tractor. (The one that got kicked apart by giant dogs on its very first day of service.) I just kind of squashed it into a semi-triangular shape, and tucked it under the tarp.
I was so proud of this chicken tractor when I finished it. It was so perfect. Now it is a collection of ad hoc fixes. The entire setup must be at least 30% kluge at this point.
Tags: My Peeps
Comments (9)
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Well as long as the chookies stay dry
Speaking of tarps, those blue ones are not great, I have just had to purchase some new tarps but I got them from the automotive section at Walmart. The new tarps are black and grey and much heavier that the old blue ones, and actually repel water!
Comment by Katharine —
December 1, 2009 @ 3:50 pm
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Read the sentence about your not wanting to post about the fix to the leak until you were sure that it was working, and I thought, “Chicken!” Then I laughed.
Thanks for the help with the light box. Am quite pleased with it. Definitely need to make a sturdier one, though.
Comment by Ryan —
December 1, 2009 @ 4:24 pm
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Having grown up with a million varieties of coops and way too many chickens per the Los Angeles city codes I can tell ya that as pretty as they begin? All coops end up having a million fix-its as you start using and “improving” the design.
30 years down the road you can have coops like my dad’s…which have fewer hodge-podge fixes, but yet they are indeed still there…
Comment by Mary —
December 1, 2009 @ 4:40 pm
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Isn’t the 30-70 ratio of kluge to good about the same for computer programs?
Comment by kmkat —
December 1, 2009 @ 6:03 pm
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Yay chickens!
Comment by lisa eaton —
December 1, 2009 @ 6:14 pm
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Dry and happy chickens are all that matter. They don’t care what the house looks like. UNLIKE MOST MOMS
Comment by Debi —
December 2, 2009 @ 10:15 am
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You’re only running a 30% kluge factor? That’s practically pristine!
Comment by gayle —
December 3, 2009 @ 5:35 am
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ugh, we had the same pitch problem covering our boat this year.
I agree with the commenter that says the blue tarps are crap, look on ebay for super heavy duty tarps, they are much better & longer lasting.
One last thought, you want to anchor the ends down someway (we use half filled half-gallon milk jugs tied through the grommet holes) else your handy-dandy wire suport may get blown away tarp & all.
~Dani (who had never heard of kluge)
Comment by Dani C. —
December 3, 2009 @ 8:30 am
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A minor improvement to make would be change the order OR layering of the blue and clear sheets so that the opening points “down hill” to keep rain from running between the two layers (not chickens but sheets!!). You might also want to make certain the coil of wire has nothing protruding to rub on the tarp; over time it will wear holes in the tarp.
I agree about fastening the ends of the sheets down; since you’ll be dragging the tractor around, fastening them to the tractor itself would be, as Martha opines, a good thing.
Speaking of kluges, have you seen this?
Comment by merriam —
December 4, 2009 @ 10:53 am
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