An Eglu Cube Experience

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Quote:
WOW.

Hope Sunny grows into her feathers like your lady! Going on twelve weeks now and she still has just the one giant blotch of brown on her belly. It MIGHT be moving up her wings but it's hard to tell. Girly likes her dust baths!

I'll post updated pics as soon as I can find that dang camera...

 

[Ohhhdear]

I had an ISA Brown chick which was all white, and stayed that way while her sisters had turned brown. I was seriously wondering if perhaps this chick was a roo. But by the time she was 10 weeks old she'd developed two brown streaks up her chest, then more and more red-brown feathers. She's still about half white, more mottled than the rest, but lays the biggest, brownest egg of all 12 girls!

 

[gordonburrito]

They seem pretty expensive for what you get. We did a lot of pricing on buying kits and such since I'm in grad school and working full time and now have a kid. Building a coop from scratch wasn't really feasible for me. For $1500 dollars or so can buy you a nice coop of comparable size. The one I did buy I ended up modifying since I wasn't happy with everything about it. I was able to install a "poop deck" to protect the nest boxes and I installed my own set of roosts since the company I bought it from failed to send any with the coop. Those modifications are my favorite part of my coop...and I got some new hand tools, a new circular saw, and a new jigsaw out of the deal!

What more could a man want? I plan to put some chute style feeders as well. I don't see how you can do that with a plastic coop.

The other problem I worry about is the effects of sunlight on the plastic. A little story. One day we bought a large plastic basin for use around the house. I ended up using it for gardening and left it outside all summer. One day I was cutting my lawn and I tossed the basin out of my way. It shattered into a thousand pieces when it hit the ground a few feet from me. The sunlight had turned what was once a strong but flexible basin in a big mess on my lawn. I just wonder what kind of shape a large Eglu cube would be in after a few winters and summers...heating a cooling and breaking down under that hot Missouri sun. Then how do you repair the thing if something did break.

I will admit the Cube looks really nice and I really like the run and the fact that it looks really light.

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
lol EE's look sooo much alike xD

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

The plastic is really high quality, and Colorado is definantly going to be a test for it. We'll see. Part of my decision to get the eglu was that I figured I could at least take it with me the next time we move (military family). That's another 1000+ we won't have to spend next time we move (guessing in another 2 years??). And it is really light. I haven't tried yet but I'm guessing from rolling it around that two people could easily lift it. And plastic does seem to fade and go brittel fast up here, but as yet the cube isn't fading or showing any signs of breaking down. I just ended up missing a piece that we managed to fabricte on our own and I think that that might be what's causing the shifting (gaps).

And, of course, now I want more birds and can't fit them, so DH is happy. He finally admitted the other day that my chickens were a good idea, but he still rolls his eyes when I start taking about other breeds I want to get (eventually).

 

[donnavee]

I have an EE that looks a lot like Sunny, she is over a year old now and still "flighty" She takes treats from the hand and will come up and peck at my jeans if I'm stooped down in the run. However, try and pick her up and you would think I beat her every day. But sher lays pretty olive colored eggs and we have gotten used to her quirky, slightly paranoid personality.

Here is a pic of Buffy last winter:

 

[patricium]

I've had my Eglu Cube since last July, and it's okay so far in the sun. We move the chickens into the garage for the winter, so the cube was cold but sheltered. The color hasn't faded or anything.

Mine also has a wider crack on one side than the other, but it seem to function just fine. It's been that way every since we assembled it.

My chickens (5 bantams, 3 full size) also had problems with the wide spacing of the rungs. Especially at night when they're going in, because someone's always at the top of the ramp pecking everybody else who tries to come up. I cut a piece of 1" grid plastic fencing and cable-tied it over the rungs, so they can step wherever they like. This helps a lot.

One thing I really wish it had that's missing - a divider between the two sides of the nestbox. They say it's big enough for two hens at once, but given that my chickens don't like to be that close to each other when laying, it's functionally one box. I tried putting up a curtain between them, which helps a little. But since there's only one door, usually the second hen won't enter the box while it's occupied on one side.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

patricium -Hummmm... Hopefully I won't run into a problem with the nest box as I only have the three ladies. I also have a heater for the coop when winter rolls in.

donnavee- OMG!!! That sounds EXACTLY like Sunny! She's the first to hit me up for treats or dive into whatever I'm holding out to them but when I try to pick her up she acts like I just morphed into a serial killer!

Here are the latest pics of her (12 weeks).

 

[Lady Dre]

Wow, I really like the Eglu Cube. I wish I would have got one of those! I have the original Eglu and I don't really use it anymore. The Cube seems so much nicer!!! So jealous.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Ok, did a major cleaning today. We shifted the cube forward nine feet (it's whole length) onto new mulch and shoveled up a large portion of the old stuff. It's light but my poor hubby ended up doing 90% of the pushing to move it and I just made sure to lift on the front to keep it from catching on any ruts. It took all of about two minutes to move in with about half an hour of work preping first (including mulch spreading and bringing everything down from the garage). Also cleaned out the nest box and the trays. I used a new brand of sawdust for the nest box, it's really fine and light. Almost too light. I went to set the golfball down and it just went through all of it to the bottom! DH compacted everything down (after fishing it back out) while I was busy having a laughing fit and set it back on top. I'm just hoping it doesn't do that with eggs!