[cloddopper]

After being at Leslies & Ian's today and knowing that their chook house got wrecked when the trees landed on it i sat pondering about a cheapish but strong replacement .

In the USA they make cheap strong arches out of 5 mm galvanized weld mesh panels
 ( they call them " Cattle panels " .
They  often cover it with tarps or plastic sheets and make cheap poly tunnelds out of itor use it for chicken housing  .

Because the weld mesh is a welded square it is a very strong construction & fox proof un like chicken pen wire which foxes can chew through . It can be pinned to the ground with " J " hooks/pins  two  feet or so long and you can use as many as you like .
You can also make the arch , tie with cord like a "D " on the flat side and then dig a trench along the sides  to about 18 inches deep & sit it in the trench work , slip a tarp over with or with out the plastic over membrane , drop the free ends in the trench and back out , then start to fill the " gutter " with the spoil, pulling the sheeting taut once you have a few shovels of spoil  on the material .

 Ends can be cut from weld mesh sheets & again use wire ties to secure them ( potato sack wire ties and a hand operated tie twister are ideal for this ) ,  wooden door or windows can easily inserted with a cheap pair of small bolt croppers from the likes of Aldi or Lidel for about £9.00 .( My 500 mm long ones that can cut a 1/4"  / 6.4 mm mild steel bolt with ease  came from ALDI and are as good as any high priced Record type bolt croppers).


Currently an 8 foot x 4 foot panel in 100 mm squares of 4.7 mm galv wire is around £30 ish each

Two panels can be wire wrapped when over lapped to make a 12 foot arch able length.  three or four arches can be wire tied to make a m=longer arched construction .
 You can make the building with roll up sides on wooden battons.

if you interested  look up " cattle panel greenhouses "  or " cattle panel chicken sheds ".
 For details of the UK mesh copy and paste the link

 http://www.weld-mesh.com/welded-mesh/

[lord flynn]

its a good idea. I made one from large cloche hoops bolted onto a tanalised, heavy wooden frame, covered in weld mesh. Its very secure, moveable and works well for broodys and chicks, then growers. Its blinking heavy though! I put a small tarp over one end for shade/shelter. in this winters high winds though, I took the tarp off as it did move about 15 feet one night-and it was pegged in lol. I built it with a mesh skirt but personally I don't think it needs one and it makes it a pain to move. Its 12 ft by 4ft x 3ft, not in use atm because of the weather.
A bigger one you can get in and out would be great but doubt I could build one to withstand a Scottish winter tbh, not using a tarp.

[cloddopper]

   Put the tarp on the inside