Eglu/Cube vs Wooden Coop and lots of other chicken questions ...

[Millie1]

We're pretty much decided on getting a few chickens. From reading threads on here, it sounds like 3 is the right number to start off with. We have a large garden with orchard being established at one end so plenty of space although I'll start them off in field until the grass gets a bit thicker in orchard, and even then I'm thinking an area fenced off with electric chicken fencing to save not only my beds but also the chooks from foxes which may or may not be passing by.

I had my heart set on a cube (even if I would be the talk of the country with a plastic hen house at the bottom of the garden ... that was until a lovely Mumsnetter linked to the Flytesoffancy website and I saw and loved this www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Long_Legged_Maggie_s_Hen_Houses.html and read this www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/FAQ-chicken-houses.html - look at the bottom piece on which is best, timber houses or plastic.

I've read and reread all the blurb on the Omlet site re the advantages of plastic housing but reading this piece has really made me reconsider. Can the wise chicken-keepers on Mumsnet please give me their opinions?

Also, how high should our fencing be? We are surrounded by chest high sheep wire with some hawthorn hedging between us and the road (as well as the sheep wire). I'm thinking of chicken wire on the bottom of any gates. Is the electric fencing high enough to keep them in - do they really fly and do we need to clip wings?

Breed-wise, I'm leaning towards a Rhode Island Red, a Bluebell and maybe a Plymouth Barred Rock - on the basis that all seem to rate well for friendliness, non-broodiness and egg production.

What else do I need to know? I've been reading the threads on here for months and there is loads of useful information but I'd love to hear some pros and cons of difference types of housing. Thanks!

I really like the Eglu range but just have too many chickens! I have wooden housing but spray regularly and use dusting poweders and (touch wood) have not had a problem with redmite. I have some of these these for my main flock and some of these for breeding pens and chicks. Forsham quality is very good and they're easy to put together. Also easy to clean (removable perches and nest boxes). I also love thisbut would need to sell a kidney..

My silkies don't fly (actually mine don't like heights at all)so the electric fence I have keeps them in, if I want them kept in.

We have wood, no problems at all, and as they are homemade they were a LOT cheaper!

riven - we've got 6 - 2 lots of 3. We intended to have 3, initially, bought 3, (one for each child), then dd's one instantly got sick and died . So we didn't want to replace it immediately in case the others were going to come down sick. Then we thought best to add 2 chickens to 2, rather than 1 to an established pair, so ended up with 4 (and the coop was a little bit small for this). So the 4 of them lived happily for about a year, then the smallest one started getting picked on, by the others, and they cut her foot, so we had to hoik her out (into a rabbit hutch), and then once her foot was healed they wouldn't have anything to do with her. So we built her another coop, and got her a couple of friends - they took about 2 months to integrate but are now best of friends.

We have 2 Goldlines, a speckeldy, a Black Rock, a Silverlink (which is like a bigger version of the Amber Star I think) and a Bluebelle.

That anti-plastic article mentions plastic houses blowing over - I honestly can't imagine an Eglu blowing over, not sure about a Cube - and being badly insulated - but that's why Eglus are double-walled.

I have a Maggies Dozen, and Yes I did have some redmite issues - both times when someone else has been looking after them when I'm on hols, obviously not liberal enough with the poultry sheild!

I have mine in a large poultry protection pen from the same supplier but also the have access, or rather did, to a 50m diameter electric fence pen. Sadly the not so fantastic mr fox jumped it the other day and had 2.

You are right riven about the addiction, I stated with 4, then up to 9, then 11 - sadly down to 9 again now.

Wow ... thanks for all the replies! I love the 'sell a kidney' henhouse Porride ... but yes, it is rather ££££! That looks like another lovely website although I would worry a bit about the self-assembly. Do you have a run to attach to your Lenham henhouse? Maybe it's just my fuddled brain this morning but the run options seem a bit complicated and they don't seem very long - I think the other website I linked to lets you choose runs up to 9' long. I need to go & study some more.

Riven ... you've had bad luck with wooden houses and redmite ... the cleaning of the cube/eglu is what's very attractive. Although, the site Porridge linked to has coops which open right up for cleaning - I don't think the Maggie's houses do that. Maybe the Eglu's have been improved since that article was written - I'm assuming it was about Eglus!

Lucky ... how do you find your Maggie's house for cleaning? Is it a case of a good scrub with a deck brush & water and a spray of poultry shield - does it take forever and how often do you clean it out. What about the tray for poo - does it weigh a tonne or is it a good thing?

What do you all do with your chicken poo? I've read it's great for veggies - can you just chuck it straight on or does it need to compost down a bit first?

Don't want rats ... they're my other worry - and DH's main objection tbh. Still, I'm gradually getting his arm twisted!!

I had just about decided to get an Eglu Cube when I saw this thread, and clicked on the link to the FAQs in the first post. Then I thought I would like to read Katie Thear's original article. But according to the Country Smallholding index here it doesn't exist... And googling doesn't turn it up either. So whether Flytesofancy are merely being careless or actively, um, disingenuous, this undermines their case against plastic henhouses quite badly IMO.

I have the bigger one, the nest box comes off, there is a good sized door at the back, there is a sliding panel on the other side and removable perches - I do not use the poo tray.

I wish I had coated the inside in something before I put the chooks in, some sort of clear sealant, as it can be hard to scrub the walls off.

I mostly use jeyes fluid now, I stand the ends of my perches in it neat and this sorted out the red mite as they were living under the perch ends.

I can get right inside it crouching, to scrub or spray into the roof etc.

I clean it once a week (until last week I had 11 birds in it) but it can go longer, When ds was in hospital in Dec it went 3 weeks - yes it was a bit mucky but nothing too serious.

I put my poo and easybed on my compost heap,

That's really strange Zoya ... I'm almost tempted to call Flytesofancy and ask them! Maybe they have got the wrong date or something. Strange!

Good tip re coating the inside of the coop Lucky ... it sounds like a lot of cleaning. Is it as bad labour-intensive as it sounds?

I've just spent ages looking at the Omlet site again and am not convinced. Lots of reviews say that their Cubes came with scratches, parts missing, reconditioned wheels in one case and a few comments that they don't assemble properly if the ground is uneven ... and our ground is uneven!

I'm wavering again ... mites, wood, plastic.

One eglu fan on here once commented that you still get mites but it is easier to get rid of them.

You would have to be very careful with the inner coating, so as not to provide anything for the critters to hide behind - which, incidentaly, is why I don't use the base tray.

LBC - any sight of old foxy again?

No, luckily not.

Have been up there a lot with the mad rabbit catching hound - she would put off anything...animal, vegetable, mineral...due to her excessively, ahem, determined and spirited personality - she must be an indigo dog.

TBH, its more about aesthetics. I have a wooden coop, and am in the process of getting a large wooden walk in run with integral coop (excited! ). I looked into the Eglu, mainly because Omlet are so user friendly (bringing the whole set up to you, including the hens). I don't think plastic hen houses are bad, but I do think that they're very expensive. Plus, DH was adament he didn't want a '90's iMac parked on the lawn . Red mite will live in either type of coop, but it is easier to pressure wash an Eglu/Cube than it is to scrub a wooden coop with disinfectant. That said, it still doesn't take long. I take my coop apart every week and scrub it. Takes no more than twenty minutes. Whichever you go for, make sure you use red mite powder regularly and you shouldn't have too much of a problem. I've been keeping hens for two years, and have never had a redmite problem.

Millie1 - I inherited 4 chickens and a cockerel from my landlord and TBH rats are my biggest problem. In fact it is so bad I am considering asking my landlord to take them away.

The chickens live in a very nice purpose built run and wooden hen house but rats tunnel under the fencing and dine at will on the hen food.

Here are my top tips. Bury the fencing at least 30 cm into the ground and at least 2m high. Preferably put a wire roof on the run as well to stop the rats (and cats and foxes) climbing up and over the fence. Place the hen coop on a concrete pad and seal off any gaps underneath so the rats do not live under it or burrow under it. Store spare food in sealed steel dustbins with a lid. The food that is put out for chickens and the place the hens roost must be lockable at night with a hatch and completely enclosed with floor, walls and roof that rats cannot penetrate. Do not compost you manure. Rats like to live in and eat piles of hen manure. I spread mine on the garden and dig in immediatley. If the rats cannot get to the food or hen manure/bedding they wil go elsewhere.

Sorry to be so alarmist but since July last year I have poisoned, trapped or shot about 20 rats in our garden and the children are frightened to go out. We cannot leave any doors or windows open and we are not enjoying our chickens at all because of the rats. Sadly, there is only so much modification of the chicken run/house that I can do because it is the landlord's property.

I totally agree with this advice on rats and chickens.

We haven't had any rat problems, and the way we have combatted them is to have a heavy wooden coop that sits on paving slabs. This means that neither foxes nor rats can burrow in. There are no gaps to get in through the wood etc, so they simply cannot get inside the hen coop.

We use equine bedding as a 'base' on top of the paving slabs and the hens love it, and it is super easy to clean - just shovel it all up and compost. They can also dust bathe in it.

Same here LilyBolero. My current coop stands on slabs, and the new one will also be slabbed. We also use equine bedding. The chooks freerange daily, but I know that when we travel/I'm at work, they are predator proof.

CHSM .... I feel a bit that way about the Omlet cubes too tbh ... they're pretty cool but I worry they'll look out of place in this rural idyll . Good to know that it only takes such a short time to scrub it out ... I had visions of Saturday's being spent in waterproofs armed with rubber gloves, scrubbing brushes and hot water .. finally staggering in at 8pm when the children are in bed - hmmm sounds okay that!

ABetaDad ... yikes! Now you're putting me off! Your experiences are quite frightening. We're not planning a heavy duty run ... coop with run, the fox skirting around it and crossed fingers. However, I would get a coop with legs and will lift food every night. Food will be stored a looong way from the run, in sealed bins like you suggest in the garage. Does that sound okay? I'm going to read that article now.

Lily and CHSM ... do they not burrow under the slabs? If not, then I'd consider doing that but I know DH won't even consider burying the fencing underground - it's too permanent IYKWIM.

Okay - going to read that article. Thanks for the replies guys!

Nope, nothing can dig through concrete! However, it depends on whether your hens would have access to free ranging as to whether its suitable IMO. If you will let them roam outside of their run sometimes, slabs are perfect. They make the run easy to clean out and avoid the smelly mudbath of a permanent run on soil (notice I don't say grass. There will be no grass after about a week! )

... so they don't make their lovely, cosy little homes underneath just to be close to those lovely, cuddly chooks?

They will be mostly free-ranging ... well, after a fashion. I'd thought of getting 50m of electric fencing netting and coralling off areas outside their run in which they may roam. This might mean a fence between orchard and garden or areas including some beds which they might like to help weed. It is grass obviously but quite a big area ... will it still be mud after a week?

The concrete slab run with equine bedding sounds great. The rats will not dig through slabs but they might still dig under them and live under there and then pop out to eat food if they can get it. Our rats did that with a pile of bricks near our run. Burying the wire/weldmesh into the soil 30 cm or so stops that burrowing under though. I wish our landlord had done that.

What ChickensHave said is right about an earth floored run. We have one, which is part of the problem. It has no grass, the poo just accumlates and flies breed and it stinks in summer. Letting the chickens range widely around teh orchard solves that problem but leaves them vulnerable to foxes.

I let the chickens out to scratch the lawn in summer with a large wire cage round them just to give them a change and bit of natural behaviour but in safety. I cannot let them free range the garden - they would eat everything or they would be eaten by a fox.

A hut on legs sounds good if it is rat proof. Stopping the rats getting in and eating the eggs is another problem we have as teh bob hole is always open. Even if you had a good rat proof coop you would still be wise to clear up spilled food every night. A steel bin properly sealed will be just fine to store spae food even stood outside near the hen run. It is the smell of the food that actually attracts the rats even if they cannot get to it so I would not put it in your garage. You do not want to attract them to your house.

Sorry to go on about this but taking precautions before hand to stop rats will allow you to really enjoy your chickens.

Thanks ABD ... I really appreciate all your advice - you've learned the hard way, I don't envy you!