4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[shelley8179]

I am going to get my first Eglu soon and had a few question before I buy one, How do you keep the food dry if it stays outside all the time? which shades would you recomend? Does the Eglu come with the plastic roosting bars? if not are they worth buying? Are there any other gadgets you have found that I should get to help look after the Eglu?

 

Thanks for your time .

[Redwing]

The grub container is kind of hooded and the opening for the chicken to eat from is more on the front than the top so it keeps the worst of the weather out.

 

Lots of people use clear shower curtains as a cover on the run, mine has a clear tarpaulin held on with bungee cords. The winter shade that you can buy is good but I find it doesn't cover enough of the run for the weather round here!

 

in the summer I guess I will use the normal summer shade

 

The plastic roosting bars come as standard on a new Eglu, if you are buying second hand the plastic bars will only fit the Mk2 Eglu and yes they are excellent!

 

Tent pegs or black garden fleece pegs (from garden centre) are good for pinning the run down if your lawn is uneven

 

A converter on the run adds useful space if you aren't able to let your ladies free range

 

A short handled hoe is useful for s"Ooops, word censored!"ing the roosting bars and tray clean and helps to push run bedding out of the way of the door.

 

If you are going to use bedding in your run something around the edges to hold it in is required, I use short planks of wood held in with tent pegs but lots of people the green plastic lawn edging which seems very effective

[chelsea]

shower curtains are good aswell as the omlet shades (i used them both at the same time when I had my eglu run) as the omlet shades are not very waterproof.

 

clear Perspex sheets are very good over the run....(ANH where is your picture please? )...we have one over the top of our new girls eglu run at the moment - these are quite good in winter as they allow in light/sunlight and protect from wet.

 

There are lots of things you can add as you go along, start off with the basics and then after a while you will find you'll be adding loads. Tubtrugs are handy for clean out days, a cheap dustpan and brush and a small spade for "poo picking/flicking" are good little cheap extras.

 

I would always recommend a wormer is an essential "must have"....I use Flubenvet, a tub of poultry spice (supplement available from omlet) and red mite powder (for sprinkling in the eglu after cleaning) are good starting items.

 

The eglu now comes with plastic bars I believe.

[shelley8179]

Thanks for the advice, thats just what I wanted .