Single hen

[Avalon Fantasy]

Ok so now your thinking..this womans mad...

 

But bare with me.. it occured to when I`d made my lovely duvet coat for the eglu when it snowed in Feb this year that what would be nice is a custom designed "Eglu House Coat".

 

I`m thinking that lovely silver material lined with duvet style stuffing and... this is the part of the request that I really am after..is black out material underneath it...and of course it must be sealed and waterproof.

 

The reason for me saying it is simply because I have a cockeral, which whilst its not a problem its better not hear him crowing at 5am. especially as its coming to lighter days..

 

 

I`ve also noted on the other forums that there are a growing number of Omleteers that have probs with *unworthy* neighbours, and perhaps if the "House-Coat" were available to them their neighbours wouldnt hear them early in the morning?

 

Not entirely sure, but the darkness certainly has mine sleepy for longer...

 

Of course..I`m wondering if I could run something up..... ?

[ursula]

That sounds like a fantastic idea. We've just connected two cubes together at each end of a run and are finding it hard to get adequate shade/cover. If you decide to make any let me know if you're accepting orders!

[Olly]

I think the light-excluding thing is a great idea. Not sure about the duvet bit though, because the Eglu is insulated with the double-wall construction, unless you live in a very chilly part of the world it shouldn't need anything extra. The inside of the Cube is certainly very toasty when they're all snuggled up together!

 

You'd have to be careful not to block ventilation, which is another thing that could be difficult with the duvet part of it.

[Avalon Fantasy]

Yep it certainly has a few things to iron out..but I was wondering if it was more like a rounded coat thing.. not to cover the whole thing..so where the fencing is thats the part that wouldnt be covered it would just be around the back and over the top..the door has holes for ventilation..

And yes unfortunatly where I am its very lovely but my goodness its a chill wind that will carry you off here thats for sure.. it wouldnt have to be thick of course..

 

Or..you know its occured to...

What IF the eglus were painted with black out paint that was not toxic?

hmm.. I wonder...

Oh as for making one..if I make one up (and I might do..the more I think about it..as if I dont have enough to do..LOL) I`l take pics..

I`m not a seemstress ok so its not going to be a coco chanel number..

 

Ohh but.. then just think..you could add pockets... and put in your spares of whatever you may need...

OMG..I`ve stumbled upon something!!!

LMAO...

[Olly]

Oh I like that idea! Can you put a pocket on please to hold the eggs while I'm fiddling around with something else?

[chelsea]

Due to our noisy chooks we have been darkening the cube for over a year now and it definitely works as we have a camera inside the cube and when I check on them in the morning they are still asleep

 

We use one of those picnic blankets with the black plastic backing and put it black side down.

[The Dogmother]

The eglu and cube are warm enough on their own, and adding a cover or coat could block essential ventilation, making it damp inside and a health risk to the hens.

 

Chickens naturally have a higher temperature than ours and feather duvets to protect them - they are fine in everything that British weather can throw at them.

[Avalon Fantasy]

Thanks for that reply Claret, however I suspect you havent read my post properly.

With regard to the "idea", its certainly not anything in concrete, hence its always nice to bounce ideas about to then come up with something or not as the case might be.

 

Now as previously mentioned by chelsea, the darkening of their cube has helped with noise.

So, with regard to a house coat you can now see that the thought process can change, certainly in my original post my main objective was for darkness.

I`m sure such inclemant weather wont be with us too often.

 

In daylight the eglus, and I assume the cubes can filter in light due to their colour.

 

Having looked inside on a bright day I`m able to say that yes they are not dark inside, so with the lengthening days the sunlight factor is likely to make our chicks wake all the earlier, I know mine certainly didnt go to bed last summer until 10.30pm and wake dead early.

 

Secondly, as my eglu has the extended cageing on it, again as previously mentioned any slip-over coat could not go over the ventilation holes that are in fact above the door.

The caging is fixed in place and undoing it would rather nullify the safety aspect of fox proofing.

I havent suggested that the coat should be a ..hmm.. tea cosy affect which would not be practical.

 

As the door has the ability to be closed I`m assuming that the holes are supposed to be enough ventilation, thus ensuring air dryness with fresh breathable air., as for the rest of the eglu as its a molded piece there isnt any other ventilation in the proper sence, the door hatch fits snuggly as does the tray beneath the houseing.

 

My other thought too in the bandying about of an idea was for some non toxic paint/ or way of having the insides darkened when being manufactured, as seen these things do evolve ..mark 1 to mark 2 eglu.. wooden bars to plastic ones.

 

So the upshot is that I think I`l go ahead and make a black out one for myself and see if the darkening helps with later wake up times..

 

Thanks once again for your comments.

[The Dogmother]

Fell free to go ahead, I was just passing Omlet's comments on the subject.

 

They don't recommend using any cover at all, but if you choose to do so, then that is your choice.

[Snowy]

What you need is a pop up tent made of black out fabric Plenty of space around for ventilation, dark enough to block out the light

[Avalon Fantasy]

Thanks for that thought snowy, I`m certain that I`m not the only one that considers a *darkening* of sorts?...a worthwhile comment as seen by quite a few people that have noise probs, and or neighbours that can be down right obtuse..

 

It will be interesting to see if ever in the future some manufacturing concept will come about especially as the urban farmer* per-say grows in popularity, and are probably equaled by those people that will complain about pre 8am noise.. even if that noise is a nice chicken, and certainly not in my view a noise..its surprising just how unkind some neighbours can be..

 

Claret, re Omlets views thats perfectly fine, I suspect that even the colours were not so varied when Omlet first started in 2003, as was the cube a latter edition.. requests and ideas are always good for a product, keeps the manufacturers focused , keeps sales up and creates an all round good product..

Some of the best ideas come from people who use products, and not always in the ways originaly intended, and its from those *seeds* of ideas something evolves.

 

I`m amazed at the varied and completely different ways people here use their eglus and cubes, its astonishing, but surprisingly works.. and perhaps one day some of the ideas may be used/adapted.

 

Once again, thanks for your input.

[Egluntyne]

Intriguing notion.

 

Why not email Omlet with the idea....or better still, find a backer and manufacturer and make them to fit all types of chicken housing, and rake in all the profits for yourself.

[Avalon Fantasy]

LOL...

Well I could, but the origins of this post were much in jest along side top of the head ideas hence the "chanel style pockets"..for eggs, bits and bobs.. oh the list is endless..L

 

However, its certainly a good idea for wooden structures, but of course thats not Omlet..

 

You know though, I was having a long think about this thread and something popped into my poor bedraggled thoughts about polymers monomers and resins for mould injection items, and certainly with the advent of newer items on the market, its probably a good idea to keep an ear to the ether as it were..

 

I think there were certainly two guys in japan last year that were looking into light diffusing resins that would adhere to mould injected plastics..its probably more agricultural..you know farmers wanting UV rays excluded, light / heat to be diffused equally across a large building.. of course its not a new thing this has been on the perfecting burner for ages, but each year theres something a little better, lighter, and not so costly..

I remember jumping for joy when they came up with that roll plastic for greenhouses saved on painting the ugly white-out stuff on.. it was just so attractive, you could cut it to shape smooth on the glass panels and no nasty UV .. this was only marketed to gardeners to start with but people soon got on the bandwagon for household use..

Mines still up, if not looking rather tatty now...

I should buy some more, if only I could remember the name...

 

(Just remembered..if theres anyone out there thats got a greenhouse and hasnt heard of this its called solarstat..I know its not the original topic..eek..appologies.)

[Patricia W]

Not sure my cockerel is activated by light. I have experimented with all sorts of darkening and noise dampening devices and the only thing that I've noticed works is if it's freezing cold! He doesn't seem to want to get up if its very very cold outside ... But I can make it as dark as humanly possible and he still crows and frankly nothing really muffles it completely.

 

I seem to remember that someone had one who was crowing at 11 at night as well.

 

I suppose there are always exceptions to every rule......

 

Tricia

[The Dogmother]

Most cockerels will crow all day, just ask Lesley

[muzzie]

I have covered my eglus this winter as the temperature inside was to cold for the hens with the cover over the eglu the wind was cut down and the temperature stayed livable. I do not have a cockerel so the light was not a factor. I plan on making a cover for the cube when it arrives too we get much colder here in the winter. Our hen houses usually have electric heaters for the winter even with much larger flocks then are housed in the Omlet products.