Adding a Coop + Autodoor -- Any thoughts?

[Hentrovert]

We are expanding our flock in the spring, and to prepare for our new chickens we are intending to add another coop and branch of our chicken run. Currently we have 6 hens living in 2 Omlet Eglu Cubes (usually 3 and 3 split evenly, but sometimes 4 and 2 depending on the night) that have served us extremely well, however, I'd love to have a coop with larger interior space in case the new pullets + our old flock all want to pile in to one area. We are not interested in wooden coops at this time, so we have narrowed our choices to the Omlet Eglu Pro + Omlet Autodoor *OR* the Nestera Wagon Coop + Run-Chicken Autodoor. We are also considering the Nestera Aspen 10 with an Omlet Autodoor.

Does anyone have experience with both brands? Nestera is still expensive, but less so than the Omlet. The interior space looks superior with a lot of head room, and the perches appear to suit a chicken's natural instincts better. However, I'm extremely confident in the Omlet coops' security, and not sure about the Nestera door design. Also, the plastic is thick on the omlet and more pliable on the Nestera. I'd also love to hear about the Run-Chicken autodoor as an option, and whether you feel it is reliable and secure. Is the bluetooth model upgrade worth it?

We are still ending up with a relatively small flock (we're adding 5 pullets), but I want to ensure that they have as much space as we can give them.

Thanks! Research has me going back and forth a LOT.

 

[RojoMarz]

I can offer nothing coop related...just a suggestion to update your thread title to include Nestera and Omlet. Maybe that would get the attention of members that have those coops and get you some responses.

 

[Hentrovert]

I can offer nothing coop related...just a suggestion to update your thread title to include Nestera and Omlet. Maybe that would get the attention of members that have those coops and get you some responses.

Thanks, I’ll try that!

EDIT: I'm ... not sure I can change the topic?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thanks, I’ll try that!

EDIT: I'm ... not sure I can change the topic?

I don't think you can unless you are a Premium Feather Member (paid membership).

 

[Mother of Chaos]

We are expanding our flock in the spring, and to prepare for our new chickens we are intending to add another coop and branch of our chicken run. Currently we have 6 hens living in 2 Omlet Eglu Cubes (usually 3 and 3 split evenly, but sometimes 4 and 2 depending on the night) that have served us extremely well, however, I'd love to have a coop with larger interior space in case the new pullets + our old flock all want to pile in to one area. We are not interested in wooden coops at this time, so we have narrowed our choices to the Omlet Eglu Pro + Omlet Autodoor *OR* the Nestera Wagon Coop + Run-Chicken Autodoor. We are also considering the Nestera Aspen 10 with an Omlet Autodoor.

Does anyone have experience with both brands? Nestera is still expensive, but less so than the Omlet. The interior space looks superior with a lot of head room, and the perches appear to suit a chicken's natural instincts better. However, I'm extremely confident in the Omlet coops' security, and not sure about the Nestera door design. Also, the plastic is thick on the omlet and more pliable on the Nestera. I'd also love to hear about the Run-Chicken autodoor as an option, and whether you feel it is reliable and secure. Is the bluetooth model upgrade worth it?

We are still ending up with a relatively small flock (we're adding 5 pullets), but I want to ensure that they have as much space as we can give them.

Thanks! Research has me going back and forth a LOT.

I have a Nestera coop that sits on a raised platform inside a very secure 8’x15’ run. It’s a size large, just the most basic model (no legs.) It’s great, but outside of Northern Europe (including Britain and Ireland), you will have to provide dense shade in summer.

I like it, and the girls like it. FWIW, the first three shared it at night for months and were happy. Then we added two more pullets, and at the same time added an outside (but within the run) L-shaped roost during the heat of the summer. Now the older three sleep outside (next to the Nestera) and the Littles (no longer little) in the coop. We’ll see what happens when it gets really cold. I suspect that they may sleep inside when it gets down to the teens (Fahrenheit), but that it will wind up becoming the flock nesthouse.

I don’t have an automatic door, and in fact, the door is now open all the time, along with the back, which leans up along the side of the run. I now depend on the run, a hardware cloth palace, for security.

So tldr: Nestera - good, sensible coop for maybe 6 fullgrown standard sized chickens, needs serious protection from direct sun outside of northern Europe and similar latitudes. The two nesting boxes are maybe enough if you don’t have a girl who likes to take hours and hours laying an egg. Buffy, your sisters and I are looking at you.

Adding @Perrin for additional comments, including an astonishing number of grown chickens willingly cramming themselves in at night.

 

[Hentrovert]

So tldr: Nestera - good, sensible coop for maybe 6 fullgrown standard sized chickens, needs serious protection from direct sun outside of northern Europe and similar latitudes. The two nesting boxes are maybe enough if you don’t have a girl who likes to take hours and hours laying an egg. Buffy, your sisters and I are looking at you.

I feel this so hard. Our two Eglu Cubes have caused some *issues* with egg-laying for a handful of our hens. Our Speckled Sussex is surprisingly domineering about wanting to be alone in the nest box (save for allowing the 1 hen who is above her in the pecking order to share with her), and we have another hen who is extremely stubborn about wanting to lay exactly where she is laying. Unfortunately, this has resulted in pecked-to-heck combs and a bloody scene resembling a massacre in the boxes, and we have had to forcibly pull one chicken out of the nest box and put her in the nest box of the opposite coop. We have needed to babysit these chickens while they are laying, and we're fortunate we work from home and can do that.

That said, it'd be incredibly nice to have a setup where we can add a handful of PRIVATE nesting boxes to try and prevent these conflicts.

EDIT: And another update. The Eglu Pro has a serious leaking issue through the nest box gasket. It's an awful lot of money to spend for a product that leaks so badly.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I feel this so hard. Our two Eglu Cubes have caused some *issues* with egg-laying for a handful of our hens. Our Speckled Sussex is surprisingly domineering about wanting to be alone in the nest box (save for allowing the 1 hen who is above her in the pecking order to share with her), and we have another hen who is extremely stubborn about wanting to lay exactly where she is laying. Unfortunately, this has resulted in pecked-to-heck combs and a bloody scene resembling a massacre in the boxes, and we have had to forcibly pull one chicken out of the nest box and put her in the nest box of the opposite coop. We have needed to babysit these chickens while they are laying, and we're fortunate we work from home and can do that.

That said, it'd be incredibly nice to have a setup where we can add a handful of PRIVATE nesting boxes to try and prevent these conflicts.

EDIT: And another update. The Eglu Pro has a serious leaking issue through the nest box gasket. It's an awful lot of money to spend for a product that leaks so badly.

There is a scenario running around my head where, if all five girls prefer to sleep on the outdoor roost (in the run), I might turn part of the current roosting space in the Nestera into a large communal nest.

It appears that for me, at least, a big part of the fun of chickens is carefully planning everything out and then 3 months later doing something completely different.