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Original poster

Omlet Cube owners....please come this way...I have few questions for you

29 replies

ladytophamhatt · 31/05/2008 06:49

Firstly, How long did it taken you r chickens to work out how to drink from the glug water things.
You know the nipple things underneath? we got ours yesterday and they haven't had a single drink yet.

Secondly, How long before they worked out how to use teh ladder to get in/out of teh cube? I lifted them in last night and this morning they're all still inside even though the door has been open for 40+ minutes.

Thirdly, isn't beinga chicken keeper great fun??

OP posts:
Original poster
ladytophamhatt · 31/05/2008 07:40

ignore question 2.

they're out..well most of them anyway

OP posts:
mel2005 · 31/05/2008 08:23

i have a cube and did put an extra bowl of water in for a few days. i did go in and show them how to do it (you can do it from outside as well) as soon as they see water they rush over. it only took two days for them all to use the nipple drinker. i do have two drinkers though so they can all get in. i did find that they started sitting on it and messing in it so i made a wooden shelf that goes over it and they sit up there happily without messing in the water.
i leave the door open at night now its warmer, i did it last summer without a problem. i also have a big log sitting near the ladder as some of my girlies like to fly into the cube at night from the log.
i dont use the grubs (i had three and sold them on e-bay) they would make a mess and were always getting wet. i bought a normal enammeled metal feeder with a rainguard off e-bay, its great as it can hold 20l of food and i dont have to keep filling it up.
good luck with your cube and dont forgett to put paper in the trays as its so easy to clean out then.

Doodle2U · 01/06/2008 21:00

My three girls sorted the ladder out within 2 days. I had to crawl in through the little door at the front of the run and place them on the bottom rung, for two nights, and then they got it. In the mornings, they kind of fell out but now they walk up and down the rungs beautifully.

Mine got the glug water thing as soon as they arrived but I got my chickens directly from Omlet, so I wondered if they'd used the glug from being a few weeks old?

It's not as easy as I hoped to move the Cube around. We've decided to permanently site it on bark chippings as soon as we can.

I got my first egg last Wednesday! I was on holiday but my lovely mother-in-law found it and phoned me in a great lather of excitement. Had 5 eggs so far, but I think it's just one hen laying at the moment.

mel2005 · 02/06/2008 08:16

oh doodle2u, dont use bark as they mulch and rot and smell really bad after a while. i started with bark in my run now i use hemcore its much better and composts really well afterwards. it has citronella in so smells lovely, stops the flies and dissolves the poop. the chooks dont eat it but love dustbathing in it and scratching around. its best to fit some sort of skirting around the run to stop it getting out and going all around the lawn.

tortoiseSHELL · 02/06/2008 08:37

I agree about bark - there are 3 good very similar options - hemcore, auboise, easibed. They all go a long way towards keeping it nice and clean for the chickens!

tortoiseSHELL · 02/06/2008 08:37

(aubiose, not auboise!)

alibubbles · 02/06/2008 09:24

Thank you for the tip about bark, I was going to use it to do that for my expected chickens. I am having a rectangle edged with log roll, and was going to put the eglu in it.

alibubbles · 02/06/2008 09:26

Another question, can you just put it down straight on top of grass, or do you need to remove the turf and put it on earth? Thank you

tortoiseSHELL · 02/06/2008 09:28

Doesn't matter really. I put it on paving slabs which are easy to clean, and keeps their nails short, if it's on soil they will enjoy digging in it, if it's on grass then it will soon be on soil!

Doodle2U · 02/06/2008 14:10

Blimey, I was just going to pop out & buy the bark and log roll and for some reason, decided to pop on here for 10 minutes! Thank Gawd I did!

Right, so....hemcore, auboise, easibed. Where do you buy it? I'm assuming the pet shop? How often do you scrape it out and replace? I'm putting it straight on to the lawn.

Phew....

tortoiseSHELL · 02/06/2008 15:05

I get mine from an agricultural supplier - it's an equine bedding, so anywhere that supplies stables will do.

Hemcore distributors

Contact info for aubiose

Easibed stockists

I change it about every 3 weeks or so. You can then compost it.

mel2005 · 02/06/2008 16:01

i have mine on slabs and rubber matting as well. you can have it on soil but if its fairly soft they will dig holes and mix it all up, then its harder to clean out.
i clean mine out every 4ish weeks, it depends on how many chooks and the size of run and how much they go out free ranging. you can see when it needs doing.
i get mine from a local pet shop that sells stuff for horses and livestock as well. there is another type called BLISS which is like hemcore. i always go for ones with citronella as it stops the flies and dissolves poop (and smells great) some people add it to their bedding.

alibubbles · 02/06/2008 17:49

Can any of you post some photos of your chicken coops and runs please, to get an idea of what they look like?

Mel Is the rubber matting you use, the recycled tyre stuff that is black and holey? Is is laid on the slabs, or have you laid that on grass?

Thank you!

tortoiseSHELL · 02/06/2008 21:03

[http://[www.hensandeggs.blogspot.com Blog here]]

The only pics are right back at the start, and they do have bark, not the easibed I use now.

tortoiseSHELL · 02/06/2008 21:04

Try again

mel2005 · 02/06/2008 21:25

its play matting that grass can grow through, so the chooks can peck at but cant dig, my ground is soft and they can easily turn it into a luna landscape given chance. it was recycled from a school playground. my run is made from 100% recycled material that was going to go to the tip.
its like this
cgi.ebay.co.uk/Grass-Matting-PLAYGROUND-mats-GATEWAY-mat-GOLF-TEE-TEES_W0QQitemZ130225936369QQihZ003 QQcategoryZ1048QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

i cant do a link to my photos as i dont use one of the online things but there are loads of photos on the omlet forum
club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12663

Doodle2U · 02/06/2008 22:35

Hmmmm - well, showed this thread and attached links to DH and he has a question.....

Do the easibed/hemp etc blow away when it's windy?

Honest to God, that's his question

His logic - these products are designed for use INSIDE a stable, whereas we're talking about them being used as an all over covering within a mesh run.

tortoiseSHELL · 02/06/2008 22:43

No. But the chickens do kick it around a bit - so good to have a 'skirt' round the bottom of the run to stop them kicking it all out!

alibubbles · 03/06/2008 08:22

Thank you for all the useful information.

Would I put just the easibed or hemcore in the eglu run bit,a or the whole of the area that I am going to edge with logroll?

I haven't got a large run to put over the eglu, I was just going to have it on it;'s own for the time being, until the winter, then get a large pen top enclose everything.

Lots of advice needed please!

Doodle2U · 03/06/2008 09:53

ali - that's how I/we are going to do it. I was thinking an area that's about a foot wider than the cube skirt, all the way around. Log roll around the edge and then easibed or which ever one we choose, spread in the whole area.

I'm not sure, however, how you rake it out every few weeks without lifting the whole cube and run off the rectangle. I guess you would just stick the rake in through the door at the front of the run and get the worst of it out before re-applying fresh cover.

How about inside the run with the covering and gravel around the outside and up to the log roll. Good drainage and keeps it all neat?

tortoiseSHELL · 03/06/2008 09:54

So will the chickens be in the eglu run? I think I would just put the easibed in the bit where the chickens are. That's the bit they will really trash! But in any case, they will kick it out the run a bit, so it will end up in the log roll bit.

If you want to see some other setups, have a look here for lots of pics of funs (most using eglus).

Doodle2U · 03/06/2008 10:02

Hi TS

That's a link mel2005 has added further down the thread and one I've visited many times via Omlet. Some of them look fab. I like Eglutine's shaped run the best!

I've just been trawlling the Omlet gallery for a Cube set up similar to the one Ali and myself seem to be thinking of but haven't found just the right picture yet!

tortoiseSHELL · 03/06/2008 10:22

oh, hadn't noticed that!

mel2005 · 03/06/2008 14:06

when i had my eglu runs i used hemcore in the run and had it in a flower bed that had bark around the run. i used to remove the end of the run or one of the side pannels in the ones that had extensions and scrape it out the hemcore, you can do it through the door as well. it is ok to get wet but i used to have a shower curtain held down with bungees/winter cover for when it was really raining to stop the chooks getting wet.
for a skirt around the run, i use planks of wood with those bent nails (u shaped nails???)
oh and the hemcore doesnt blow away in my run, its just the chooks scrabbling around in it, kicking it about. it is chopped up hemp stalks and isnt dusty. loads of chicken keepers use it in their runs and there is even one called poultrybed or something like that which is the easybed version. my homemade run does have a plastic roof to stop the girlies getting wet but the hemcore still gets wet on the sides. it is honestly ok to get wet unlike shavings or the paper and cardboard bedding which are for inside only.

mel2005 · 03/06/2008 14:29

this is a great idea to get into the cube run

club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25851

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