The Eglu

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AZchickenchick

AZchickenchick

In the Brooder
11 Years
Nov 6, 2008
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I'm a newbie in the Phoenix suburbs with a husband who HATES the idea of chickens. He refuses to help build a coop, and I am not exactly skilled with tools. So I found this plastic prefabricated coop online, and it looks really neat...it looks a little like one of those colorful Mac computers.
Question: Is this cheating? Does anyone else have one? Sorry not to include a link but I'm not sure how. Just google Eglu. They seem to be very popular in England - I think keeping backyard chickens is more popular over there.
 
I have one for the $ go buy a prefab playhouse @ Lowes & see if you can hire someone to put it up. Probably spend less $ & have a better coop. I so wish I could turn back time & do it this way. Trust me.
 
I know they are major expensive, but what's wrong with them? I like that you can drag them around the yard, and they come with a chicken run.
 
I think they are way over priced, and very limiting to the amount of chickens one could keep. For the price on you would spend for the Eglu, you really could come up with a better set up. Don't worry about not having building skills, I don't either and have surprised myself on what I could come up with...
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My lastest project was taking a used prefab dog chain link dog kennels, to set something up for my two geese. Right now I just have a doghouse in there for shelter, but am in the process of attaching along the backside, and about 1/4 up the sides some fiberglass panels to the wire. This will act as a little house area. I plan on topping it with panels too for protection against weather and critters. Along the 3/4 of the remaining area on the sides and across the front....I put some of that white picket snow fencing that comes in rolls and planted daffodils along the outside of the fence. In my mind it's gonna look like a little country cottage when I am finished.

Oh should mentioned that 12X12 concrete pavers were laid down around the circumference of the kennel to help deter critters from digging under. It was no big deal, only had a few leveling details to deal with.....and laid them out in a rectangle with the dimensions of the kennel.

Stick around here for awhile and I am sure your imagination will be sparked....and you'll be on your way to fixing up something for your chickens.
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Well lets see, the clips that hold the run together are now breaking, have to use the multi-use ties to keep the run together.

The door hinge is made of similar type material that broke on me this morning.

It doesn't move as easily as it show in the video it is pretty cumbersome. The cube with wheels is probably still going to have issues moving cause there are no wheels for the run part & like I said its pretty flimsy.

The coop portion isn't very big & they hang out in there in bad weather & if you get more the 3 standard chickens it really isn't enough room.
 
Wow...that really stinks. Here I was thinking this was the perfect coop option (although definitely overpriced.) I'm just afraid that if I start buying lumber etc at Lowes, and then screwing it up, that I'll end up spending a ton of money anyway, plus end up with something too heavy to move, and ugly to boot - which will further piss off my husband. I guess I'll check out playhouses on Craigslist. Thanks for your suggestions!
 
We got a $75 play house from Lowes. It took my husband and a friend an hour to nail it all together, then we painted it yellow and white. It looks really nice! We spent less than $100 on wood and hardwire cloth to attach an 8 foot long rectangle for the run. It was extremely simple!
 
I was going to go with the Eglu, but the cost deterred me in the end. Instead, my husband and I followed the Forsham Ark design and built our own ark and add on run. In the end it only cost $250. And we ended up with an easy-to-move ark with more room for the birds.

Don't doubt your ability to build. Do take the time to view all the coops on this site. The Eglu would have cost us $900 and really it will only accomodate 2 standard size birds.

This is the Forsham design:

http://www.forshamcottagearks.com/poultry-housing/cat-prod-boughton-chicken-housing.htm
 
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They don't offer much room for chickens. Commonly excepted for full-size pet chickens is 4 feet per bird.

You can always buy a moveable ark off the internet or just slap some plywood together, put it on some cinderblocks, and paint it
 
This looks more practical, priced better and holds more chickens than the Eglu:

http://www.coops4you.com/scoop_orig.html

When I am on my school break in January, I am going to build this chicken ark:
http://www.catawbacoops.com/

The plans are inexpensive, and I have been collecting the necessary saws and tools for cheap off of Craigslist. I think when all is said and done, this coop will cost us less than $200.
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