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

[ChicoryBlue]

The new poop tray modification. Cut with first a hole drilled through each measured and marked corner, then jig-sawed from there, slowly and as carefully as this non-carpenter could manage. I did it on a pallet laid over a bedsheet to catch the cuttings. A plastic tarp would have worked better for that but the sheet was fine.

I lay a piece of porch screen over the HC, helps with poo removal and whatever gets mushed on there it's easy to take the screen off and hose it. A little dusting of hemp and hemp along the solid edges helps every thing roll off well.

Keep the cutout piece - it's good for laying back on top if there's an early cold snap. Too drafty in all the wrong places for real winter though.

If you're nutsy about getting everything super shiny clean all the time then a warning here - some hemp and wood chips will catch under the HC where it overlaps the solid edges and even with a hose it's tough to get everything off. PDZ might work better that way?

I ended up buying two extra poop trays to do this modification, and two extra roosting bars, to easily swap them all out for cleaning - I like cleaning the roost bars when I can get to it, or even lay them out in the rain first - and for the winter setup.

The underside, achieved by not drilling the zip tie holes all the way through, and placing them between the grooves.

Closeups of the zip ties. I got 8" supposedly 75 lb strength non-reuseable zip ties. The closure parts are on the upper side, to keep the underside better for sliding and for the chickens. I decided to weave the excess through the HC because I'm not sure about where to cut - how long to leave them.
Upper

Underside

Next post will be the fans, can't do it right now, please be patient, thanks!

 

[thecatumbrella]

The new poop tray modification. Cut with first a hole drilled through each measured and marked corner, then jig-sawed from there, slowly and as carefully as this non-carpenter could manage. I did it on a pallet laid over a bedsheet to catch the cuttings. A plastic tarp would have worked better for that but the sheet was fine.

I lay a piece of porch screen over the HC, helps with poo removal and whatever gets mushed on there it's easy to take the screen off and hose it. A little dusting of hemp and hemp along the solid edges helps every thing roll off well.

Keep the cutout piece - it's good for laying back on top if there's an early cold snap. Too drafty in all the wrong places for real winter though.
View attachment 4142419
View attachment 4142421
If you're nutsy about getting everything super shiny clean all the time then a warning here - some hemp and wood chips will catch under the HC where it overlaps the solid edges and even with a hose it's tough to get everything off. PDZ might work better that way?

I ended up buying two extra poop trays to do this modification, and two extra roosting bars, to easily swap them all out for cleaning - I like cleaning the roost bars when I can get to it, or even lay them out in the rain first - and for the winter setup.

The underside, achieved by not drilling the zip tie holes all the way through, and placing them between the grooves.
View attachment 4142422

Closeups of the zip ties. I got 8" supposedly 75 lb strength non-reuseable zip ties. The closure parts are on the upper side, to keep the underside better for sliding and for the chickens. I decided to weave the excess through the HC because I'm not sure about where to cut - how long to leave them.
Upper
View attachment 4142424
Underside
View attachment 4142426

Next post will be the fans, can't do it right now, please be patient, thanks!

Thanks for sharing, especially with all the detail photos! Bookmarking for later.

 

[Bawkbok]

Love this idea! What is the black framing you did there? Is that a protective tape, or a firm frame of some kind?

The framing is simply Gorilla tape to prevent someone from poking their eye out on the frayed edges of the h/w cloth, wrapped on both sides and screwed into the frame using the same holes as the plastic window and taped on the bottom for extra security. Even in this humidity, it is holding like a champ.

 

[Bawkbok]

The new poop tray modification. Cut with first a hole drilled through each measured and marked corner, then jig-sawed from there, slowly and as carefully as this non-carpenter could manage. I did it on a pallet laid over a bedsheet to catch the cuttings. A plastic tarp would have worked better for that but the sheet was fine.

I lay a piece of porch screen over the HC, helps with poo removal and whatever gets mushed on there it's easy to take the screen off and hose it. A little dusting of hemp and hemp along the solid edges helps every thing roll off well.

Keep the cutout piece - it's good for laying back on top if there's an early cold snap. Too drafty in all the wrong places for real winter though.
View attachment 4142419
View attachment 4142421
If you're nutsy about getting everything super shiny clean all the time then a warning here - some hemp and wood chips will catch under the HC where it overlaps the solid edges and even with a hose it's tough to get everything off. PDZ might work better that way?

I ended up buying two extra poop trays to do this modification, and two extra roosting bars, to easily swap them all out for cleaning - I like cleaning the roost bars when I can get to it, or even lay them out in the rain first - and for the winter setup.

The underside, achieved by not drilling the zip tie holes all the way through, and placing them between the grooves.
View attachment 4142422

Closeups of the zip ties. I got 8" supposedly 75 lb strength non-reuseable zip ties. The closure parts are on the upper side, to keep the underside better for sliding and for the chickens. I decided to weave the excess through the HC because I'm not sure about where to cut - how long to leave them.
Upper
View attachment 4142424
Underside
View attachment 4142426

Next post will be the fans, can't do it right now, please be patient, thanks!

Fantastic idea and workmanship. This is awesome! Thank you so much for taking the time to document the photos and your details. Much appreciated. I see more modification work in hubby's future. LOL

 

[ChicoryBlue]

wrapped on both sides

There's HC on the outer side of the Coop's window besides on the inner side? I'll have to disassemble mine to see, or maybe you can explain....all I've done is remove one screw to try to match it with a longer one that would fit the existing socket, because I thought HC and a washer would be thicker than the window it would replace. I looked in Home Depot, no luck. I've been assuming the socket can't be removed.

 

[Bawkbok]

@ChicoryBlue - No need to dismantle any part of the coop. We removed the screws from the socket in the plastic panel, leave the sockets in - we could not remove them and didn't want to break the plastic window since we'll be replacing it for winter. You can use the same screws you just removed from the sockets to install the HC on the opening. The screws are long enough; no need to buy anything different.
Lay your HD cloth on the floor and use the plastic piece as your outline guide to cut your cloth, taking note as to where the screw holes are. Cut the space necessary to accommodate the holes.
Then apply your gorilla tape, or tape of your choice, wrap both sides of the cloth just to cover the jagged edges since the cloth is cut on an angle and you don't want any eyeballs (or your hands) finding an edge.
You will have to crawl into the coop from the back door. Then hold your newly designed window screen up to the opening from the inside and screw it in. We had to use an awl to cut holes in the tape before inserting the screws. We did not add any washers to the window. There is nothing applied to the outside, only the one piece of cloth on the inside. Hope I explained that well enough, I need more coffee!

For the back vents, we replaced those with HW cloth as well. These were clean edged cuts and they are recessed so no need for taping. We did add #6 flat washers to these vents and used the original screws for installing.

We're all working way too hard!!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Fans

I bought this Sweetful brand last year, rechargeable, it generally lasts all night, or most of the night, on low. 4,000 ma. It is small enough to fit under the roof pointing out the left back vent, also to clip on the nestbox structure, and only the right hand tubes in front of the right back vent. I've just recently thrown a power multiple in there on the power line already there (for the occasional use of a coop warmer or heating pad) and adapters for charging the fans, and they will run on the charger. I have the power line on an app so I control when power is sent out there.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CNJZRSLC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A4BBO00J6TH94&psc=1

These are rechargeable fans, not switched fans. So I can’t turn them on and off by turning the powerline out there on and off. The buttons have to be pushed to turn on, and if I turned the power off they will run until I push the buttons to turn them off or the batteries run out.

This setup was a quick Gerry-rigged situation that needs fixing up. Probably some good Gorrila tape to attach wires to the roof will work, for instance. The wire you see below is coming from the other side of the coop back, from the other little fan. The white T- shirt cloth is to cover the lights on the end of the multiple. I want to get a multiple that doesn’t light up, and get the multiple up higher.

The one under the poop tray is this one, Koonie, 10,000 ma
https://www.amazon.com/10000mAh-Bat...6RDYK&psc=1&ref_=pd_basp_m_rpt_ba_s_4_nped_sc

It’s sets low as I have it clipped to a square bean pole, then it hangs under it. Plus the litter is deep under there. A little box -style fan, if there is such a thing, attached directly below the hanger pole, with the power coming off one of the sides and not the back, would present a skinnier profile. Another thing is that the clip on this is really, really stiff. Good for knowing it’s not going to slip off. Bad for my arthritic hands. But this fan is easy to point any which way, which I do like.

Hazel has a hole she likes to rest in right there, but she just made another one next to it. That’s Annie checking it out.

That’s Hazel surveying everything from outside the coop run. I made a porch (for the Cube originally, see the notched ends) which works very well, it’s wood so I keep it weather protected, which most of the runs are anyway.