Omlet vs Nestara

[LaBelleSauvage123]

Anyone have opinions? We want to move from a wooden coop but have seen wide ranging reviews of these two brands. We only have 4 hens but would like to be able to go up to 6 if we can.

I’ve got 3 Omlet cubes and 3 large Nestera Lodges. I also have an Arkuus. Which breeds of hens do you have? If you have heavy breeds like Orpingtons or Brahmas, I’d definitely say go for a Nestera or Arkuus. The Omlet cubes are too hard for the bigger breeds to get in and out of easily. I’ve also had one of my older hens damage her foot after flying out the Omlet.

Nearly all my hens (I’ve got about 30 😬) prefer sleeping in the Nesteras and Arkuus, however weirdly nearly all the hens except the Orpingtons and the older hens prefer to lay in the Omlet Cube nest boxes.

Happy to answer any questions you may have 😊

I've got a cube, and I agree that they over-sell how many chickens you can have in it (in my opinion) - I'm down to 2 at the moment (medium sized ones), and I wouldn't want more than 4 in it, and only if they weren't restricted to one of the omlett runs (mine much prefer to free-range, but I have a large dog-run jerry-rigged to it rather than the little omlette one for when I'm not home)

I really, really like the plastic coops though - so easy to clean, no issues with mites or smell, the automatic door works like a charm, and when I did move it around, it was relatively easy to do so.

Unfortunately I’ve had mites in both the Nestera and cubes. The Omlet actually had more places for them to hide than the Nesteras and were harder to strip apart to completely hose down. I ended up resorting to Exzolt as well as thorough house strip downs. Generally I love both though, the Omlet is the perfect height for quick easy daily poo picking 😂

Oh no! Hopefully I've not tempted fate too much then!

@cleftchin Places I found them hiding mainly was behind the sliding nestbox door (I opened up the nestbox hatch and slide closed the door that separates the nestbox from the main coop - I was horrified 😬 as it’s normally just kept open so I haven’t noticed). Also within the metal and plastic mechanisms that turn to open and close the back and also the nestbox door. I took the doors off and open and closed the the mechanisms and they all sort of appeared with the movement. You wouldn’t see it normally are those bits are normally inside the cube.

Well we went ahead and ordered a Nestara Penthouse ( the name makes me laugh). We have 4 hens, one huge Orpington, a Devon Blue, a Golden Speckled and a Devon Bronze ( last three are all Legbar hybrids I think?). All quite large, so sounds like we made the right decision. It’ll arrive in about a week so we’ll see. Hope it’s OK as it was a huge amount of money! It’s going into a large fenced off area of our garden in which they have plenty of room to roam.

Oh brilliant, definitely sounds like you made the right choice 😊. Did you get the pull out dropping trays too? If not they are definitely worth the investment. Sounds like your hens have a lovely setup.

@LaBelleSauvage123 - one very useful thing to do when setting up your large free-ranging area is to make it easy to net off over the top.

When the next lot of bird flu hits (as it will) having an outside area you can quickly cover to stay compliant, reduce risk of bird flu spread and still allow your girls loads of room to roam is a godsend!

We’ve got supports arching over the area high enough for us to walk under unimpeded along the length of the area. Depending on risk, a fine netting or a full cover (made from adapted old poly tunnels) can be put up with little work.

I’m mentioning it because I really wish we’d done it before the huge henhouse came, rather than working around it in situ!

I have omlet cubes as they are the most fox/badger proof we have found. They are a constant menace and rip a wooden cube apart no problem, they also did a friends Nestera and she lost all her hens. We power wash the cube every 6 months and dust all the edges with DE to prevent Mites.

Luckily we already have this in place, put up after the first bird flu restrictions and kept in place to stop them flying out into the garden and destroying my veg!

We haven't had any problems with foxes or badgers yet - the fact we live in a house which is surrounded by other buildings may help - there are other far more predator-attractive properties nearby! We have recently had a rat issue though, which is partly why we bought the raised up model (though I know rats can climb!). What do you all have on the ground of your runs? The grass has long gone and we just had earth for a while but it got so wet and muddy in the winter that we were worried about the hens' foot health. We went for bark chippings, which they love to rootle around in, but because of the incredibly wet winter /spring we've just had, we had to add more on top, so it's now really deep. DH thinks this is helping the rats to burrow and wants to remove it all, but I think we should remove some of it but still leave a thinner layer.

Yes we did and the timed door. I had to restrain DH from the Wifi camera and the wheels!

Oh I’d love the WiFi camera! 😂

with regards to your rat issue I’m assuming you’ve tried removing the food and water at night from the run? We also have Grandpa feeders for the food which seems to help our mice problem. Another option might be to dig wire mesh sides down into the ground or even lay wire mesh on the ground as well. There is a certain strength of mesh they aren’t meant to be able to chew through. It might also be worth trying rat traps around areas you know where they nest etc. Remember rats hate the unexpected, they are very much creatures of habit. Moving things around will help a little bit too.

We're very rural and near a large woodland so it goes with the territory. We have Omlet walk in runs and use 12inch ground pegs to deter digging under by predators :)

So many lovely posts yet not 1 blooming photo!!
<huffs and stamps foot >...
I had 12 a decade ago and none since. They make the best addition to any household!!

Yes we take the food and water in at night. Digging wire mesh around the sides will be tricky as the ground is solid. We’ve put down traps and caught 5 but I’m under no illusion that’s all of them!

Not the best photo, but here you go. The Buff Orpington is a diva and won’t go on anyones lap but the other three are very friendly.

They are gorgeous!! My mh was never better than when I had some Ladies!!
Heard ds chatting upstairs and he had taken his favourite chicken Keith (don't ask) to show her around his bedroom!!

@Inthedeep hi sorry I know this and old post but I need a new coop for my 2 warrens. I have more chickens but I did some chicken maths an adopted 2 from a neighbour. Sadly my others point blank refused to accept the warrens (6 months later they still hate them 😢) so I temporarily converted a dog house.

im looking at nestera or omlet would you say the nestera is fox proof? I’ve never seen one in real life but the just look a bit flimsy. They free range so not in a run.

thanks

@Beachs yes I think they seem fox proof, their big claim is that they’ve never had a single report of a fox getting into one of their houses. The plastic is supposed to be chew proof too. They definitely look more flimsy than they actually are. All our hens free range too. The Nestera’s are more hardy and durable than Omet’s, the plastic in the Omlet’s goes brittle with age and cracks, the recycled plastic on the Nestera’s doesn’t. I have a Green Frog Design (now Nestera) duck house which is 10 years old now and it literally looks as good and as new as my 1 year old Nestera houses. If you can look on your local Facebook marketplace, you can often pick up second hand Nestera’s and Omlet’s. One thing I’d recommend is if you go for the Nestera, order the pull out dropping trays too, they make the best whole cleaning out saga so much easier.

This thread just appeared in my actives list - I don't have chickens but clicked on it thinking it was a baby name thread 🤣

Both Omlet and Nestera would make wonderful baby names 😂…. Go on share which one you were going to vote for as your favourite 🤣

Definitely Omlet 🤣

😂