New Coop/Run Setup, All Suggestions Welcome! (Eglu Coop)

[CaseyGCrosbie]

Hi friends,

We are just getting our little chicken farm up and running, and I wanted to share our setup with the community for any suggestions or things I may have overlooked.

I was raised on a ranch with chickens, so I'm not a complete novice, but my parents' setup was quite different. They had a large coop with 30+ hens, designed to survive South Dakota winters. We live in the Los Angeles area and just wanted a few birds for my elementary-age kids and me to experience life a bit.

Our plan for tomorrow is to go pick up 3-4 young hens from a local market. That way, the kids have something to do while the rest of us watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. =p

I went with an Omlet Eglu coop, which I have mixed feelings about, but I hope will be easy to clean. The run space is 6x9, and we plan to experiment with letting them loose in our backyard. The biggest threat is that they fly over a fence into one of the neighbors' yards that has a dog. If they are too flightly they will have to stay in the run.

We have a ton of squirrels (daytime) and raccoons/opossums/rats (evening) because of all our bushes and trees, so I'll also have to watch how secure the run/Eglu coop ends up being. Suggestions on varmint-proof feeders or other ideas would be appreciated.

Any other general ideas are also welcome!

CGC.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Welcome to BYC, Casey!

I used an Eglu coop for 2 years. If you'd like to read about my experience (and suggestions), here's my article.

My first thoughts on the setup are: Where will the chickens go when in rains? Certainly not in the Omlet. Do you plan to add a cover for the run? Omlet does make very nice, heavy-duty ones that are perfectly fitted. I'd also suggest at least doubling the size if they'll be in there close to full time. Chickens are busy creatures. More space = more room for activities. I also have an article on building a dig box. It's very simple, and gives them a place to dust bathe or have something to dig through for goodies (like a handful of treats tossed into leaves).

Best of luck with your new feathered friends!

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

A great start! I second the suggestion of covering the run. It will help with giving them some shade as well as rain cover. Did you get the racoon locks for the omlet latches? If not, definitely will need to figure that out as the UK version (where there are no racoons) is not racoon proof. For your run, I would suggest some stable roosting spots (think like a wooden sawhorse or even a couple smaller 2x4s on logs as I have noticed adult hens don’t really like to be on anything that’s unstable or wobbly like the string ladder will be. I’m excited for you!

 

[CaseyGCrosbie]

Welcome to BYC, Casey!

I used an Eglu coop for 2 years. If you'd like to read about my experience (and suggestions), here's my article.

My first thoughts on the setup are: Where will the chickens go when in rains? Certainly not in the Omlet. Do you plan to add a cover for the run? Omlet does make very nice, heavy-duty ones that are perfectly fitted. I'd also suggest at least doubling the size if they'll be in there close to full time. Chickens are busy creatures. More space = more room for activities. I also have an article on building a dig box. It's very simple, and gives them a place to dust bathe or have something to dig through for goodies (like a handful of treats tossed into leaves).

Best of luck with your new feathered friends!

Yeah, I have the Eglu cover ordered. Was going to see if I'd end up expanding before I got the cover, but ended up just ordering it now that the family is champing at the bit to get chickens. It would be fairly easy to make my 6x9 into a 9x9 using Omlet's extensions, which will probably happen eventually.

I also have the kit to expand under the Eglu itself. Assuming we leave it 6x9 for a while. I'm guessing I'll throw that on one afternoon to provide a bit more area and to give another covered spot.

And thanks for the dig box idea! We actually have a bunch of bricks around (some of them you can see I used to weigh down and secure the run), and I'm sure I could build one from what we have.

C.

 

[CaseyGCrosbie]

A great start! I second the suggestion of covering the run. It will help with giving them some shade as well as rain cover. Did you get the racoon locks for the omlet latches? If not, definitely will need to figure that out as the UK version (where there are no racoons) is not racoon proof. For your run, I would suggest some stable roosting spots (think like a wooden sawhorse or even a couple smaller 2x4s on logs as I have noticed adult hens don’t really like to be on anything that’s unstable or wobbly like the string ladder will be. I’m excited for you!

Yeah, the kids helped pick out the ladder and are super excited about it, but in my head, I was very skeptical our chickens would want to use it (also feel like the twine will weather terribly). I was thinking I'd do 2x4s or build something out of pipe for them.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

Yeah, the kids helped pick out the ladder and are super excited about it, but in my head, I was very skeptical our chickens would want to use it (also feel like the twine will weather terribly). I was thinking I'd do 2x4s or build something out of pipe for them.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Definitely do that! I used 12” shelf brackets to mount 2x4s and big branches along the walls of my run and the ladies love it, they hang out on them all the time. You may be able to fix a board on one side of your run to let you have a solid surface to do that? Get creative