Omlet Eglu MK2 - Perches

[AnnPann]

For ventilation: What if I removed the poop tray in hot weather? Then there should be much more ventilation..

You only want to do this if you have a secure run that the coop is enclosed in. Some have designed HWC inserts to replace the tray, which is another option, depending on how worried you are about nighttime predators.

 

[KatyT]

You need the ventilation 24/7/365.

If you put your location into your profile people can give better-targeted advice.

Added my location. Thanks for the tip.
Also, the coop has permanent ventilation. Removing the poop tray was meant only for extreme weather.
Thanks again, I’m learning so much!

 

[KatyT]

I have an Omlet cube (MK2). I agree with your vet's specific concerns, but it's not something you can't overcome. I am not that handy either, but I loved that I could get the Cube and the walk-in run built almost entirely by myself. Cubes are also super easy to keep clean.

A) Yes you can add your own perches. Adding your own perches means removing the nesting box divider, which I'd recommend anyway to give them more space to spread out, especially in the heat. If you ditch the grey roosting tray and use Sweet PDZ in the bottom, it's even easier to keep clean.

View attachment 3215474

B) Yes it heats up quite a bit in the summer sun. You will need to put it in the shade or add shade over it. Depending on how hot it gets where you live, this might not be sufficient. I lock my hens out of the coop during the day when it's hot as it gets over 100 degrees in there. I spend my energy keeping them shaded and cool in the run during the day, and then if I need to cool off the coop in the evening, I hose it down. If it's been really hot for days, then I sometimes take out the tray/bedding and hose off the inside, which will cool it off by more than 10 degrees instantly. It dries quickly because it's plastic. Closing the pop door during the day allows me to open up the back and egg doors which improves air flow during the day.

I also replaced the grey vent covers with hardware cloth for the summer. It's an easy cheap change and makes a big difference in air flow, especially on hot nights.

View attachment 3215475

C) I have my hens lay in a litter box on the ground in my well-protected, shaded run, in order to 1) give them more room in the coop for sleeping and 2) keep them out of the hot coop during the day. It's the kind with the removable top, so I put the top on in winter, and take it off during the summer.

D) Ventilation. The Omlet Go model has horrible ventilation and is not big enough for 4 hens. The Cube has better ventilation than it appears, especially if you do the HWC cloth swap for the grey vents. During the winter I monitored the temperature and humidity inside and outside the Cube and the humidity never exceeded the outside air. However, I also got blowing snow and rain INSIDE the Cube (blowing in from the top/roof vents and side vents). I finally had to just throw a tarp over the top if we were going to get blowing snow. So air flows through the thing quite well!

E) Insulation-wise, Omlet's claims of "cool in the summer and warm in the winter" just didn't pan out for me. It is the same temp inside the coop during the winter as it is outside, and in the summer, it's hotter.

The short runs that come with the MK2 are OK but not nearly enough space for 4 hens, even if you get the 13' one. They are also a pain to get into to change food/water, catch a hen, and to keep clean. Moving the Cube gets old fast and overrated. You will want a walk-in run (whether it's the Omlet one or another brand).

The knob covers you see on mine are child-proofing door knob covers to keep raccoons out.

Depending on predators in your area, you may need to add hardware cloth to the run, so budget for that expense as well.

All that said, I purchased my Cube when I got my first 4 hens and it has been a great starter coop, although expensive. I have learned a LOT without having to put in all the effort of designing one myself, and accidentally making some fatal mistake that allowed predators in. After a year of having chickens in this coop, I learned what I want in a coop and run, and I'm in the process of building a custom one. I'll probably keep my Cube for a broody/injured/chick coop.

Wow! Just wow! This is exactly the information I was looking and hoping for. Thanks a bunch.
Did your girls accept the litter box - egg boxes outside the coop immediately?

 

[AnnPann]

Wow! Just wow! This is exactly the information I was looking and hoping for. Thanks a bunch.
Did your girls accept the litter box - egg boxes outside the coop immediately?

I gave them about a month in the early spring to get used to the idea. I had the fake eggs in the Cube all winter, and then when I decided to change it up (for space at first, but once it got hot, I was so glad I was already setup!) I put the nesting box in the run and moved the fake eggs to the litter box. I let them choose for a month (2 switched immediately and 2 stuck to the Cube for a while), and then changed the setup in the Cube to be the wooden roosts, so they had to accept the litter box nest. Now they will lay wherever I put those fake eggs! Silly chickens.

 

[3KillerBs]

Also, the coop has permanent ventilation.

Inadequate ventilation.

Each hen needs 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

 

[My Three Chicks]

Hi there!
I need help.
I want to buy an EGLU MK2, but now the county veterinary office (in Germany where I live) surprisingly advised against it.
I want to keep 4 regular-sized chickens in it.

They claim that
a) it does not have enough or the right kind of perches
b) the coop heats up too much
c) the nesting area is too small.

I am not a handy person at all, and I really like the EGLU and was hoping for some input from experienced keepers.

Re. a) Any idea how/if I can add “normal” perches, e.g. out of wood?
Re. b) I was thinking of adding some cover (maybe bamboo canes) over the coop for shading… ?
Re. c) Do you agree that the nesting box is too small (for 4 chickens)?

Thanks for your help! I really want the chickens to be happy.

Your newby,
Katy

I have an Omlet cube (MK2). I agree with your vet's specific concerns, but it's not something you can't overcome. I am not that handy either, but I loved that I could get the Cube and the walk-in run built almost entirely by myself. Cubes are also super easy to keep clean.

A) Yes you can add your own perches. Adding your own perches means removing the nesting box divider, which I'd recommend anyway to give them more space to spread out, especially in the heat. If you ditch the grey roosting tray and use Sweet PDZ in the bottom, it's even easier to keep clean.

View attachment 3215474

B) Yes it heats up quite a bit in the summer sun. You will need to put it in the shade or add shade over it. Depending on how hot it gets where you live, this might not be sufficient. I lock my hens out of the coop during the day when it's hot as it gets over 100 degrees in there. I spend my energy keeping them shaded and cool in the run during the day, and then if I need to cool off the coop in the evening, I hose it down. If it's been really hot for days, then I sometimes take out the tray/bedding and hose off the inside, which will cool it off by more than 10 degrees instantly. It dries quickly because it's plastic. Closing the pop door during the day allows me to open up the back and egg doors which improves air flow during the day.

I also replaced the grey vent covers with hardware cloth for the summer. It's an easy cheap change and makes a big difference in air flow, especially on hot nights.

View attachment 3215475

C) I have my hens lay in a litter box on the ground in my well-protected, shaded run, in order to 1) give them more room in the coop for sleeping and 2) keep them out of the hot coop during the day. It's the kind with the removable top, so I put the top on in winter, and take it off during the summer.

D) Ventilation. The Omlet Go model has horrible ventilation and is not big enough for 4 hens. The Cube has better ventilation than it appears, especially if you do the HWC cloth swap for the grey vents. During the winter I monitored the temperature and humidity inside and outside the Cube and the humidity never exceeded the outside air. However, I also got blowing snow and rain INSIDE the Cube (blowing in from the top/roof vents and side vents). I finally had to just throw a tarp over the top if we were going to get blowing snow. So air flows through the thing quite well!

E) Insulation-wise, Omlet's claims of "cool in the summer and warm in the winter" just didn't pan out for me. It is the same temp inside the coop during the winter as it is outside, and in the summer, it's hotter.

The short runs that come with the MK2 are OK but not nearly enough space for 4 hens, even if you get the 13' one. They are also a pain to get into to change food/water, catch a hen, and to keep clean. Moving the Cube gets old fast and overrated. You will want a walk-in run (whether it's the Omlet one or another brand).

The knob covers you see on mine are child-proofing door knob covers to keep raccoons out.

Depending on predators in your area, you may need to add hardware cloth to the run, so budget for that expense as well.

All that said, I purchased my Cube when I got my first 4 hens and it has been a great starter coop, although expensive. I have learned a LOT without having to put in all the effort of designing one myself, and accidentally making some fatal mistake that allowed predators in. After a year of having chickens in this coop, I learned what I want in a coop and run, and I'm in the process of building a custom one. I'll probably keep my Cube for a broody/injured/chick coop.

Wow I had the Omlet Cube for my 4 girls too until I moved 2 months ago. I am SO impressed with what you did to yours!
In response to the original posters questions...I think 4 chickens is the absolute max you can have in the Cube. And although the next box is large enough for 2 or even 3 to sit at once, mine treated it as 1 nest box so there would be a lot of squabbling when they needed to lay at the same time. Added squabble time pic.

It does get quite hot in the summer so I always left the large 'back door' off during the day. It also gave them easier access to the nest box especially when sharing was needed.
In terms of not a 'normal perch' I assume it's because the roost side is more a slat/tray so they aren't really facing a certain way or gripping onto one bar. But this wasn't really a problem. I think as a result, my girls now (in a different, larger walk-in coop) still roost parallel to the bars sometimes haha (see pic).

So in the end I loved our coop as a new beginner too. But since chicken math is real and I moved to rainier climate (LA to Seattle), I needed something more suitable. The Cube wasn't the right fit. Plus we had the Omlet Walk-In-Run which obviously only has a wire top and we needed a real roof here in the Pacific Northwest.

 

[CatsMeowMix]

I have an Omlet cube (MK2). I agree with your vet's specific concerns, but it's not something you can't overcome. I am not that handy either, but I loved that I could get the Cube and the walk-in run built almost entirely by myself. Cubes are also super easy to keep clean.

A) Yes you can add your own perches. Adding your own perches means removing the nesting box divider, which I'd recommend anyway to give them more space to spread out, especially in the heat. If you ditch the grey roosting tray and use Sweet PDZ in the bottom, it's even easier to keep clean.

View attachment 3215474

B) Yes it heats up quite a bit in the summer sun. You will need to put it in the shade or add shade over it. Depending on how hot it gets where you live, this might not be sufficient. I lock my hens out of the coop during the day when it's hot as it gets over 100 degrees in there. I spend my energy keeping them shaded and cool in the run during the day, and then if I need to cool off the coop in the evening, I hose it down. If it's been really hot for days, then I sometimes take out the tray/bedding and hose off the inside, which will cool it off by more than 10 degrees instantly. It dries quickly because it's plastic. Closing the pop door during the day allows me to open up the back and egg doors which improves air flow during the day.

I also replaced the grey vent covers with hardware cloth for the summer. It's an easy cheap change and makes a big difference in air flow, especially on hot nights.

View attachment 3215475

C) I have my hens lay in a litter box on the ground in my well-protected, shaded run, in order to 1) give them more room in the coop for sleeping and 2) keep them out of the hot coop during the day. It's the kind with the removable top, so I put the top on in winter, and take it off during the summer.

D) Ventilation. The Omlet Go model has horrible ventilation and is not big enough for 4 hens. The Cube has better ventilation than it appears, especially if you do the HWC cloth swap for the grey vents. During the winter I monitored the temperature and humidity inside and outside the Cube and the humidity never exceeded the outside air. However, I also got blowing snow and rain INSIDE the Cube (blowing in from the top/roof vents and side vents). I finally had to just throw a tarp over the top if we were going to get blowing snow. So air flows through the thing quite well!

E) Insulation-wise, Omlet's claims of "cool in the summer and warm in the winter" just didn't pan out for me. It is the same temp inside the coop during the winter as it is outside, and in the summer, it's hotter.

The short runs that come with the MK2 are OK but not nearly enough space for 4 hens, even if you get the 13' one. They are also a pain to get into to change food/water, catch a hen, and to keep clean. Moving the Cube gets old fast and overrated. You will want a walk-in run (whether it's the Omlet one or another brand).

The knob covers you see on mine are child-proofing door knob covers to keep raccoons out.

Depending on predators in your area, you may need to add hardware cloth to the run, so budget for that expense as well.

All that said, I purchased my Cube when I got my first 4 hens and it has been a great starter coop, although expensive. I have learned a LOT without having to put in all the effort of designing one myself, and accidentally making some fatal mistake that allowed predators in. After a year of having chickens in this coop, I learned what I want in a coop and run, and I'm in the process of building a custom one. I'll probably keep my Cube for a broody/injured/chick coop.

I totally love what you did here with your Cube set up. I have a Cube myself, with my group of 3 girls in the NY suburbs of NJ. We lost one of our ladies this fall to ovarian cancer and lately I've been toying with adding a couple new girls to the flock for a total of 5 (or maybeeeee 6), because it's nearly impossible to add just one hen to a flock. I know the space limitations on the Cube and I think (hope at least) I have made up for it with their daily enclosed run size being about 200sq.
Anyway, my point/question is this: I would feel more comfortable increasing the flock size if I can remove that nest partition and cover the nest box with roosting bars, like you. Do you have the specs of what you did, just to save me from engineering something that has already been done? Did you find them slow to adapt to the mods? I too thought about using covered litter boxes for exterior litter boxes
I know the Cube has its limits, but I love how easy it is to keep clean and the lack of insects that like to hide in the wood coops of my friends' set ups.

 

[AnnPann]

I totally love what you did here with your Cube set up. I have a Cube myself, with my group of 3 girls in the NY suburbs of NJ. We lost one of our ladies this fall to ovarian cancer and lately I've been toying with adding a couple new girls to the flock for a total of 5 (or maybeeeee 6), because it's nearly impossible to add just one hen to a flock. I know the space limitations on the Cube and I think (hope at least) I have made up for it with their daily enclosed run size being about 200sq.
Anyway, my point/question is this: I would feel more comfortable increasing the flock size if I can remove that nest partition and cover the nest box with roosting bars, like you. Do you have the specs of what you did, just to save me from engineering something that has already been done? Did you find them slow to adapt to the mods? I too thought about using covered litter boxes for exterior litter boxes
I know the Cube has its limits, but I love how easy it is to keep clean and the lack of insects that like to hide in the wood coops of my friends' set ups.

I too loved how easy it was to clean, but I vastly overestimated my 4 hens ability to allow newcomers into their Omlet. There was definitely space for more, but my existing hens are way too set in their ways to allow the 3 chicks I got in April into their space without a fight. I ended up having to buy a Go (I do not recommend it) to give them some place to sleep when they outgrew the brooder. I spent the summer building a new (much larger) coop/run. The NIGHT BEFORE they were to move into the new (larger) coop, the 3 pullets fought their way into the Cube and all 7 reluctantly slept together in there. So yes, there's technically room for 7 (if you take out the divider). But adding 3 hens to a flock of 3 will require more space than 6 hens raised together need. You could try it - maybe your hens are more laid back and accepting than mine are. But be prepared for a long integration process and for it to not work out in the end (and budget for another coop if it doesn't work out). Also, keep in mind when it's hot, even hens who get along will want more space at night.

My hens adjusted very quickly when I swapped out the bars for the wood roost. They were adults when I got them andwere used to a traditional roosting bar. So they may have adjusted quicker than if they had always roosted in a Cube.

Also, yes the covered litter boxes worked OK for nesting boxes. It was preferable over having them lay in the Cube during the hot summer days, which got dangerously hot. However, keeping the bedding dry was a battle and I don't miss that chore now that I have my new coop. If your run stays dry when it it rains, you'll be in much better shape that I was!

Good luck with what you decide to do!

 

[Krugerrand]

I too loved how easy it was to clean, but I vastly overestimated my 4 hens ability to allow newcomers into their Omlet. There was definitely space for more, but my existing hens are way too set in their ways to allow the 3 chicks I got in April into their space without a fight. I ended up having to buy a Go (I do not recommend it) to give them some place to sleep when they outgrew the brooder. I spent the summer building a new (much larger) coop/run. The NIGHT BEFORE they were to move into the new (larger) coop, the 3 pullets fought their way into the Cube and all 7 reluctantly slept together in there. So yes, there's technically room for 7 (if you take out the divider). But adding 3 hens to a flock of 3 will require more space than 6 hens raised together need. You could try it - maybe your hens are more laid back and accepting than mine are. But be prepared for a long integration process and for it to not work out in the end (and budget for another coop if it doesn't work out). Also, keep in mind when it's hot, even hens who get along will want more space at night.

My hens adjusted very quickly when I swapped out the bars for the wood roost. They were adults when I got them andwere used to a traditional roosting bar. So they may have adjusted quicker than if they had always roosted in a Cube.

Also, yes the covered litter boxes worked OK for nesting boxes. It was preferable over having them lay in the Cube during the hot summer days, which got dangerously hot. However, keeping the bedding dry was a battle and I don't miss that chore now that I have my new coop. If your run stays dry when it it rains, you'll be in much better shape that I was!

Good luck with what you decide to do!

You should consider doing a coop article on your Omlet Cube with modifications its advantages and disadvantages. These questions pop up fairly regularly. It would be great to be able to point people to this information.

I build my coop for 4 less-than-large hens. When I got down to two, I added two more pullets. It definitely takes some extra space and careful attention to details. It's something that we would do well to consider early on the planning stages. For me, it meant enlarging the run and dividing the roost bar in two so that each pair had their own section.

 

[jbd2018]

I totally love what you did here with your Cube set up. I have a Cube myself, with my group of 3 girls in the NY suburbs of NJ. We lost one of our ladies this fall to ovarian cancer and lately I've been toying with adding a couple new girls to the flock for a total of 5 (or maybeeeee 6), because it's nearly impossible to add just one hen to a flock. I know the space limitations on the Cube and I think (hope at least) I have made up for it with their daily enclosed run size being about 200sq.
Anyway, my point/question is this: I would feel more comfortable increasing the flock size if I can remove that nest partition and cover the nest box with roosting bars, like you. Do you have the specs of what you did, just to save me from engineering something that has already been done? Did you find them slow to adapt to the mods? I too thought about using covered litter boxes for exterior litter boxes
I know the Cube has its limits, but I love how easy it is to keep clean and the lack of insects that like to hide in the wood coops of my friends' set ups.

I know this is old but did you end up trying this? I’m not handy but would love the specs if so; I can have the hardware store cut the wood for me!