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I chose orange because DD chose blue, DS chose green, and DH chose red. I figured if no one got their choice, then there would not be a fight. Didn't work that way. DD was very upset and thought we should have waited for a color no one wanted. (They also had a PINK one available, but there is no way I'd take that!)
I loved my cube up until it snowed. I did get the extended run, which I wrapped with 1/2 inch hardware cloth to keep the raccoon paws out. Even though the thing is heavy, it is easy to move around, and held up very well to the neighborhood dog pack coming around and jumping/pawing/grabbing at the wire with their teeth on multiple occasions. (The dogs came around so frequently that my chicks were used to them! They would continue foraging right where the dogs were clawing at the pen!) I first put my chicks in there at about 4 weeks old. I put cardboard over the roosting bars then as the bars were too large for them, and I put pine shavings over that, and clamped a heat lamp inside. When the weather was warm (this was August but this past summer was cold here), I let them out. It took them about 2 weeks to figure out how to use the ladder, so I initially I put the cover ov a kitty litter box in the run for the chicks to go into when they wanted. Any time a breeze blew they would all run for it! I've seen other people put mesh over the ladder so the ladder is longer with closer, smaller rungs, but I did not want to do this as I think the distance from the ground and distance between the rungs make it very difficult om maybe impossible for a rodent to enter the coop.
The lamp only works when the chicks are small ... it would likely singe large birds as the coop is not very tall inside. I once they reached 8 weeks, I removed all heat/light, and they do just fine. In fact, I had a banner day today: all 9 hens laid an egg today!
Initially I had 6 chicks in there, and another 4 in another tractor (a wooden ark style one). Sometimes I would put a portable fence around both coops and let all the chicks run together, they would all end up in the Eglu together in the evening. The ark doors are also very hard to open in wet weather, so I eventually just let them all stay in the Eglu. I have all 9 hens in there now (a dog killed one when they were free-ranging in my fenced yard). I think it is very small for 9, so I am having another coop built.
The Eglu is very easy to clean ... I just pull the trays out and dump the newspaper and poop into the compost, hose the poop trays out if needed, line them with newspapers and pop them back in. When it is sunny, I pull off the roof panel, wipe the inside clean and let it air/sanitize in the UV light. The egg door and coop door are easy to operate. I've heard people complain that water gets inside, but I have had no such problems; though you do need to be careful when you put the lid back on and make sure it is on correctly or the water could channel to the inside instead of the out. We get very heavy rain with hight winds here, and no problems with leaking.
I did discover that the coop is impossible to move in snow, and when the snow melts, the run is a very muddy mess. I do keep a clear tarp over the run, so no snow gets in it, but that does not stop the rain and melt from running through. I even put it on 6" of wood chips, and it is still a muddy mess! The issues I have with it are really issues that would be true of and tractor-style coop. It only takes a day or two for my girls to eat all the vegetation in the run, and this time of year, the grass does not grow back! I'm running out of places to put the thing that are not already pure mud, so I let the girls free-range to try and limit the mud, but then DS, DD and I have to take turns hanging out in the yard so the neighborhood dog pack won't eat them. (my neighbor just paid me $28 for the chicken her dog ate because she wanted to buy eggs).
I'm building a walk-in coop with a 10'X20' covered run in the kids old play yard (good drainage, 10" of wood chip over ground cloth = no mud!). I still plan on using the Eglu in nice weather when the lawn grows back, and out in the orchard whan I have my dogs loose to hopefully deter any visiting bears from snacking on them. I also will likely use it as a breeding pen.
Lets all have a virus free new year.
