[cambee]

When I started with chickens 9 years ago, back yard at the time, I bought 2 eglu classics and they've been brilliant. Super easy to clean, no maintenance and 9 years later still as good as new. They now house my bantams and will eventually be used to separate broodies. Now having moved to a smallholding with more chickens and a wooden hen shed it just seems so much harder to keep things fresh and clean ( though the fact that they've been cooped up in there for the last few months due to Avian flu probably didn't help). The other thing about the eglus is they seem to hold a good value second hand.

[Bionic]

I would have thought that rats can chew through (light?) plastic even faster than through sturdy wood....

I have never seen a rat here so, fingers crossed, I will be ok

[landroverroy]

I would have thought that rats can chew through (light?) plastic even faster than through sturdy wood....

I have never seen a rat here so, fingers crossed, I will be ok

Also, while they have a pretty good incentive to chew through a plastic feed bin, there's not the same ultimate feast to be obtained just by chewing through a hen house wall.

[TheSmilingSheep]

4 years with arkus pig arks and chicken coops, and no sign of a rat gnaw yet!
We've put our coops on the arkus chicken stand, which I'd fully recommend (don't have to bend so far to clean out!)...
Oh, and no pig chewing on the arks either...

[Bionic]

4 years with arkus pig arks and chicken coops, and no sign of a rat gnaw yet!
We've put our coops on the arkus chicken stand, which I'd fully recommend (don't have to bend so far to clean out!)...
Oh, and no pig chewing on the arks either...

I have ordered the stand, an extra perch and an automatic door. They will be living the life of luxury :-)

[TheSmilingSheep]

I'd love to hear how well the automatic door works... We were tempted, but then I worried that without the guilty need to let the chickens out I might burrow into the duvet for too long!

Lucky chickens, anyway.  Just don't do the calculations as to cost of each egg!!!

[Bionic]

We already have an automatic door on their old coop and now that I have it I wouldn't be without it.

If we don't get home in time they put themselves to bed and the door shuts behind them.

Never had one not get home on time :-)

[mojocafa]

I have 2 eglu cubes, both second hand, 1 cost £200 and the other was £350.
My cleaning regime on a weekly basis takes less than 10 mins to do both. Then every 6 weeks or so, blast it with power hose. Would absolutely recommend.

When lockdown was put in place. I wheeled coops into a field shelter then netted the entrance, job done, so that was fab!

[Eve]

I did look on ebay every day for many months on end to find these like a woman obsessed, you need to be ready to pounce 


The very best thing is how predator proof he Omlet coops are (foxes have been trying to get in for years without luck), how easy to move (I've moved a Cube with a 4 metre run attached to it over a bumpy field on my own), and how easy to clean. Plenty of ventilation, too.
I only have Cubes and Classics, though, can't speak for the Go.


We sited ours on top of 1/2 mesh so rats can't dig under, and used tent pegs in case of strong winds.
Never had anything gnaw its way in. The seller of the first secondhand Cube we bought did point out where something had tried to chew its way in, but whatever it was hadn't succeeded, didn't even damage the plastic much.   


All the panels come apart and can be pressure washed, and it is really easy to find, squash and spray red mite. In our garden the coops are all firmly screwed together but on the field the coops are all inside a large fox / rat / stoat proof run and we've just slotted the panels together. When red mite strikes the coops are treated in literally under a minute.


They're not perfect, for example on the Cube, the nest box and the door handle are on opposite sides, and the pooh trays are taken out at the back with the coop door being at the front. So you need space around every side of the coop, you can't put it against a wall. The Classics would have been good on a frame with wheels, but they're not and given our lack of skateboards or similar so we just drag them.


There are a number of brackets that allow you to slightly adjust them to the ground the coop is sited on and make sure the rainwater drains properly.
Siince our garden isn't perfectly flat, one coop has dropped a bit in a corner making the roof more difficult to open. So we could adjust the roof bracket slightly so that it all opens and closes easily (except we keep on forgetting to do this as it's not a big enough deal).


I never looked at the other plastic coops, I just like the design of the Omlet coops so can only speak for those.

[Womble]

Thanks Eve, that's very helpful.

One thing I noticed is that the 'perches' are really just a grid floor which lets droppings fall through. Since the birds aren't actually raised off the ground at all, don't they end up sleeping in a pile of their own wait a minute, isn't it time we had an emoticon for that [member=1]Dan[/member] ?

[TheGirlsMum]

We have 3 cubes 1 classic and 1 go!
They work well for us, all have been bought 2nd hand.
They live out in our field we do balance 25 litre containers full of water on the skirts to prevent them blowing away, very windy site, but otherwise do the job for us.

[Dan]

wait a minute, isn't it time we had an emoticon for that [member=1]Dan[/member] ?

Your wish etc: 

<sigh> What has my life become?

[Womble]

 

I don't know what you mean Dan! 

[Eve]

Thanks Eve, that's very helpful.

One thing I noticed is that the 'perches' are really just a grid floor which lets droppings fall through. Since the birds aren't actually raised off the ground at all, don't they end up sleeping in a pile of their own

No, you just put newspaper in the trays to catch the pooh, then once a week take the trays out and let the contents slide in the wheelie bin. If there's a Waitrose near you: their free weekend paper is an excellent fit for these trays!