chicken shed Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Hi Everyone. Just joined last night. Love this little site with so much information. We are moving house in December to one with a big garden. I am going to buy two chickens. I was wondering if i should buy an eglu or a traditional house. I have spotted one with a thatched roof. The eglu looks much easier to clean, but i cant decide. I am chicken mad. I collect anything chicken related. I am reading everything i can at the moment as i want to learn as much as possible before i get the chickens. What chickens would you reccomend to be good egg layers and friendly? I am so EGGCITED and i am on a countdown. Looking forward to hearing from you all Love chicken shed.xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoice Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Firstly, welcome to the forum Secondly, I'd get three girls in stead of two. If one (Heaven forbid) fades away or gets taken by Monsieur Reynard then you are not left with one sad and lonely chicken. Plus they are a flock animal and will knit together nicely. (And it means you have more chook breeds to choose from eh?) An eglu is a funky and practical solution for your housing problems. Once the chicken bug sets in though you may find that you'll need/want a walk in run as picking up poop /cleaning out and keeping your girls dry in bad weather is so much easier. (Lack of pennies and a small garden meant I had to convert part of my shed for a hen house. It works fine, and as long as you Diatom about the place you shouldn't have too much trouble with the dreaded red mite. A thatch roof may be a bad idea though, think of all those hidey holes for red mite to lurk.) An eglu or cube is all plastic so washes really easily too. if you want eggs all year round I'd go for a hybrid. (Warrens, bluebelles, amber links are all lovely) Bantams are really cute but they will give you small eggs obviously, or you could get a beautiful pure breed (Although they slow down/stop laying when the days get shorter). You could also maybe rescue some exbatts, full of character and it's very rewarding. It all depends what you'd like them for. Everyone will have their favourites on this site too. There are no wrong answers really. Oooh I'm so excited for you. Don't worry, dreaming of chickens is perfectly normal too! Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..lay a little egg for me Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I would agree with Egluntine re the thatch roof...it sounds a nightmare for keeping red mite at bay. If you do want to go with the wooden coop idea, I would stick to a design that uses onduline (or similar) roofing...no thatch or roofing felt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutrix Farmers Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Eglu with 3 hens or a cube if you think you might have space for more! A thatched house might look pretty but I personally wouldn't put any bird or animal in a thatched house - too difficult to keep clean and too many nooks and crannies for bugs to lurk!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Hi chicken shed you are now an offical Omleteer!!! I agree 3 is better than 2! I think that the eglus are definatley easier to clean, and i think have less of a problem with red mite. I started off wanting an eglu and 3 chooks, but by the time they arrived it was a cube and 6 From what I see on here this chicken keeping malarky is a major bug, so if pennies and space allow i'd go for a cube as it's harder to introduce new chicks later...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynseymander Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 hiya, After months of debating my hubby and i decided to go for a wooden coop. We were going to get an eglu but was getting four hens so knew there wouldn't be any room in case we got addicted and the cube was slightly out of our price range. In the end we got a wooden coop that will fit 8-10 full size hens for about 100 pounds on ebay (and also built our own run) it has a pull out drawer with metal on the bottom to make it easier for cleaning. We decided if we did get a bad red mite infestation that we could not handle we would just buy another as they are still 1/3 price of the eglu. All that said.... if we could afford a cube i would still definitely go for one of those. Hope you find it easier to decide than we did. Lynsey xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleredhen Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 We have both a wooden coop and an eglu, they both have their good and bad points. The eglu is dead easy to clean and I like the look of it but the wooden one is more roomy and blends in with the garden better. Given the choice all of my chickens would prefer to lay their eggs in the eglu I think the nest box must be comfier in there! If you get an eglu you are limiting yourself to just having 2 or 3 chickens whereas we all know how addictive they are and you will soon want more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I would agree with Egluntine re the thatch roof...it sounds a nightmare for keeping red mite at bay. If you do want to go with the wooden coop idea, I would stick to a design that uses onduline (or similar) roofing...no thatch or roofing felt. I agree with Egluntine too, for once. The thatch would be a haven for mites. With this being the Omlet forum, the recommendation is likely to be an Eglu or cube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoice Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I agree with Egluntine too, for once. Great minds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckmum Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 These replies are really helpful but a bit late for me! I previously kept 4 chickens who all died natural deaths (by fox). I didn't want to start again because the fox had got really cheeky and now some years later there only 2 of us - so we didn't want 4 eggs a day! - so I went for 2 chickens - only to have Doris die within 2 months of getting her (Saturday). I have been trying to get companion(s) for Mabel and understand that two would be better than one but I have come up against a lot of bad comment from breeders re the eglus. Has anyone else come across this and does anyone know WHY??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I wonder if it's because they are a little different and "Ooops, word censored!"ody likes change.... or it could be because most breeders sell woodend coops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandychick Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 I have come up against a lot of bad comment from breeders re the eglus. Has anyone else come across this and does anyone know WHY??? Yes, I have come across this! I think Eglu's are a bit like Marmite - you love them or hate them! Having said that, I have never found or heard of anyone who has tried the Eglu and didn't like it (someone might now tell me otherwise ). The Eglu is quite a radical design when they have always been made out of wood. But they were only made out of wood historically because there was no plastic! In my view I am surprised that it took so long for someone to decide that wood isn't necesserily the best material for chicken housing. It really is a case of people not being open to new ideas and thinking the original is always best, instead of taking advantage of new technologies. The main thing is that the chickens like them, and it is their house so I'll let them decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new chick Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 When looking around for coops I looked at or , but went for Wooden Coop. I thought the to small, as I wanted 3 birds (1 Buff Orpington, that "counts" as 2 birds) , and the to big. What about a medium size range ??? NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostin Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Hi Everyone.Just joined last night. Love this little site with so much information. We are moving house in December to one with a big garden. I am going to buy two chickens. I was wondering if i should buy an eglu or a traditional house. I have spotted one with a thatched roof. The eglu looks much easier to clean, but i cant decide. I am chicken mad. I collect anything chicken related. I am reading everything i can at the moment as i want to learn as much as possible before i get the chickens. What chickens would you reccomend to be good egg layers and friendly? I am so EGGCITED and i am on a countdown. Looking forward to hearing from you all Love chicken shed.xxx Welcome to the forum chicken shed, I have only been on here and had chickens a couple of months but this place is great!. No question is too sill too ask, and most have been asked before if you do a search. I would say an eglu is best for a begginer as they are easier to keep clean, and did you know you can keep 4 hens in an eglu! if you have the room to free range them or get the converter and extension for your run. I have 4 living quite happily in mine and when I look in when they are asleep they still only take half of it up. Just keep reading all the posts on this forum every night, especially in the chicken, eggs and chicken clinic areas and you will soon pick up loads of information and feel much more confident about getting your chickens. All the best and keep us updated about how it all goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicken shed Posted October 6, 2008 Author Share Posted October 6, 2008 Eglu with 3 hens or a cube if you think you might have space for more! A thatched house might look pretty but I personally wouldn't put any bird or animal in a thatched house - too difficult to keep clean and too many nooks and crannies for bugs to lurk!! Thanks so much, didnt think about those nasty crawlies in the thatch. I dont really do crawly things. I will probably end up buying an eglu as they seem so much easier to keep clean. I wil keep you posted. love chicken shed.xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I love my eglu, and the restriction on the number of hens is more to do with the size of the run, and the one nest box, I believe. I have to say that I have had mine since July, and I am beginning to find crawling on the damp ground to clean the run (as far as I can reach with a rake) or unscrewing the run to do a 'big' clean every few weeks tiresome. I think the next move might be to install my eglu in a walk-in run, and then I could have more chooks too! I wonder if the prejudice against the eglu might also be to do with chicken-keeping being very trendy with the chattering classes at the moment????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
