Ultimately, I hope the crossvine will grow up the sides and across the top of the chicken runs, providing shade in the summer (and a whole host of orange blooms). Several times last year I had to redirect trailing vines away from the man made shade sail I put up. Rather than have warring shade makers, this year I put the sun sail inside the run to keep the afternoon blaze off their food dispenser (which is metal and gets hot).

The hens were not happy at first; having me rustle around their enclosure with a huge scary cloth was not appreciated. To keep the cloth from flapping too much in the wind, and scaring them further, I used cable ties like a stitch to hold the fabric to the poultry wire.

The next afternoon, they were all clustered happily in the shade in front of the coop. Mission accomplished.