"Eglu" & the winter

[KAJAM416]

I live in MN and it is COLD already, but my 4 hens are doing great in the Eglu. I have the winter jacket around the coop and the weather protecting cover for the run, with deep litter that I turn (dried leaves and shavings). The Eglu has kept them nice and warm, and they seem quite content - you can feel a poof of warm air when you open up the Eglu. That said, I know this is the land of extremes so I bought extras. My husband teases me about $100 per egg costs, but my girls are happy, warm and dry without a heater.

 

[thecreekhouse]

I looked at the Eglu but decided it’s too small. I honestly think only 2 full size birds would be okay in that size coop and especially in the small run that comes with it. Additionally, the run does not seem predator-proof to me. Also, I don’t like the fact that the floor of the Eglu is made up entirely of what are supposed to be the roosting bars. Chickens like some height for roosting; they don’t want to roost on the floor. Also, what about when they want to spend time in their coop but not be roosting? The Eglu has no free indoor space for chickens that doesn’t have a floor made up entirely of plastic bars.

I ended up spending around the cost of Eglu on a coop and run (see above) truly big enough for the 6 hens I wanted to have, built like Fort Knox and moveable, like the Eglu is. An awesome master carpenter built it for me because I don’t know how to do so much as properly hammer a nail into a board. But for the price of the Eglu you can definitely get something bigger and better - with a covered run even so you don’t have to worry about snow (my run isn’t covered because we hardly ever get even 2 inches of snow.)

 

[thecreekhouse]

PS - I will say that a plastic coop has the advantage of being easy to clean because you can hose it down, however who wants to deal with watering a coop in the wintertime. And without taking it apart and cleaning it with water the Eglu actually seems harder to properly clean than a different type of coop.

 

[SW31]

I’ve just bought my second Omlet cube and also have a small Go. It’s easy to clean, keeps nice and warm and takes five to six birds and easily four large, and I mean large, birds. Omlet units are very secure and keep the hens safe.
I have a 2mtr square full size run. The current cube is hooked up to this run so, in the daytime if they are locked in, they have 2mtrs under the coop plus a further 2 mtrs with the enclosed run. Finally, when not locked in, this lot is kept within a 50 mtr electric fenced run.

 

[thecreekhouse]

Chickens get aggressive with each other in tradtional coops as well. I have seen cases of overcrowding in traditional coops on this forum. I don't think any Eglu owner plans to lock their chickens inside the coop. The runs are available with full cover for winter, allowing the chickens to exit the coop portion. If some Eglu owner's are stupid enough to crowd 10 birds into an Eglu then they are just stupid. There are many Eglu owners out their with healthy and happy birds just as their are traditional coop owners out their who don't take very good care of their chickens...

---IM

Just FYI, I looked at the Omlet website and read the info on the Omlet Cube and they are advertising it as suitable for up to 10 chickens. If you dig a little deeper into the specs they clarify and say that it’s up to 10 bantams. The coop is clearly not big enough for even 10 bantams. It appears to me that only a maximum of 4 full size chickens would fit in the coop. Only three if they’re big heavy breeds like Cochins or Brahma. And about six bantams would probably fit. But read the Omlet site. At various points in the promotional info for the Eglu Cube they’re definitely telling people to stuff more chickens into this coop than can possibly be good for the health or comfort of the animals.

 

[SW31]

Sorry, but I’ve had four very large birds in my cube at night and there is not only room for two more but my French neighbours were impressed with the space. Hence the reason I’ve just bought another one. Experience counts plus a bonus I’ve just bought it with a 20% discount - result as we english say!