Help - Omlet Eglu owners - how to ventilate the roost?

[Crazy Maizie]

Hi, I am on FB and would like to know the groups please. Thank you for sharing with us.

Just type in Omlet, click on groups, and you'll find them. Omlet USA and unofficial... Omlet Chicken keepers are two that I follow.

 

[Zenmonkey]

I'm not pretending that this post is useful to anyone.

My favorite way to ventilate random things is with a shotgun. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Love Donkeys]

I'm not pretending that this post is useful to anyone.

My favorite way to ventilate random things is with a shotgun. Your mileage may vary.

Air going in one side and going out the opposite side?

 

[Trinbean]

What did you end up doing? I’m in so Cal and I am truly so sad. This was my dream coop and I’m pretty devastated how not great it is. The more I cute into it the colder it’ll be in the winter

 

[Bawkbok]

The more I cute into it the colder it’ll be in the winter

Why are you cutting into it? You're voiding the warranty.

 

[thecatumbrella]

What did you end up doing? I’m in so Cal and I am truly so sad. This was my dream coop and I’m pretty devastated how not great it is. The more I cute into it the colder it’ll be in the winter

Which model do you have? I have a good amount of experience cooling these things down in summer, so hopefully I can help.

 

[Bawkbok]

I have a good amount of experience cooling these things down in summer, so hopefully I can help.

Curious to hear your methods. We have the Omlet Pro and it seems to be constructed of thinner material than the Cube which kept the interior cool in heat, not with the Pro. Thinking it's the thinner walls and insufficient ventilation. Thoughts?

 

[thecatumbrella]

Curious to hear your methods. We have the Omlet Pro and it seems to be constructed of thinner material than the Cube which kept the interior cool in heat, not with the Pro. Thinking it's the thinner walls and insufficient ventilation. Thoughts?

I have a Cube, but we're literally building the Pro right now... . I'll have to ask my husband if the quality seems different. That's really disappointing to hear!

I didn't review all 6 page of this thread, so sorry if there's redundancy.

- Keep the number of chickens down. Omlet bloats how many chickens it will reasonably hold. IMO, the Cube will hold 2 large, 3-4 medium, and 6 small.
- Don't let a drop of sunshine touch the thing. We keep ours in the deepest depths of our covered run. I also use sun shades to diffuse morning light in the summer.
- Replace the ventilation covers with hardware cloth. Reuse the screws that are already in there and add some washers.
- Replace the poop trays with framed hardware cloth inserts. This is higher risk if the coop isn't in a protected run.
- Fans! We don't let them use the nest box in the Cube. Instead, I have a battery powered Ryobi fan that I set up at night with a piece of hardware cloth covering the nest box opening (you can bend it over the top of the wall). If you've removed the poop tray, you can also set a fan up below them.
- To the point above, have them lay in the run. The next box becomes an oven at midday, and I've seen way too many people losing hens in there. Repurpose the area for fans or to extend where they can roost at night to spread out.
- Air it out before bed. I take the back door off and let our huge run fan blow any hot air out of it.
- You can also leave the front door open at night -- again, at your own risk.

The Eglus really aren't meant for most people in the US. The UK seems much more temperate. We're reluctant users until we can convince the town to let us build something.

 

[Bawkbok]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree the cube holds no more than two adult hens, which is why we upgraded to the Pro for more spacing. Honestly, the Pro won't comfortably contain more than four to roost. The ventilation is woefully inadequate and we are discussing removing all the vent covers to replace with h/w cloth.
We cannot leave the door open at night due to night critters; our coop is attached to a run, not included in it.
We also have a fan running in the coop all night.
We never used the wall divider in the cube for the nest boxes, it was always removed so they had more air flow and space and it just wasn't necessary. We will also be removing the nesting dividers in the pro. Again, for more ventilation and you have to remember to open and close it every morning and night if you don't want them sleeping in it. We have a hen who likes to lay in the wee hours of the morning while still dark and the nest door is not open yet so she laid where she roosted - not good. The wall will be coming out. Three nests are not necessary as it makes the sizes too small but since they market it to hold 10 -15 chickens (crazy) they create three nest box spaces.
I would love to build a custom coop but in this muggy, buggy, constantly humid, hot climate I am reluctant to do so just due to insect issue and required maintenance of wood. I can't see chickens down here using coops for anything more than laying and roosting anyway so this product makes maintenance easy from that perspective.
Good luck putting that thing together. I'd be interested in hearing what your thoughts are and how you modify it to meet your needs.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

When I was mulling over the same issues with the Nestera, I thought of one possible solution that might work. I didn’t purse it with the Nestera because of the way that the individual pieces hook together, but…

Depending on how your coop is assembled, could you with (1) replace a side with a wooden frame filled with hardware cloth, or (2) “raise the roof” by adding a similar frame, but this one going around the entire perimeter, sitting on the top of your walls and with the roof resting on top? This would be a band of ventilation, 6”-8”-10” high in the HWC screen area.

Either possibility raises all sorts of challenges like secure attachment and structural strength, but you would get a lot of ventilation in without cutting any holes.