Chickens all want to stay in the doorway!

[millymollymandy]

Hi I am very confused about what to do with my chickens.

 

I would like more chickens and to stop my garden getting trashed.

 

I currently have an eglu 2 chickens and a bald garden!!!

 

I convinced myself I wanted a WIR from Tony at A4U and got a quote. I was just about to send him a cheque when OH threw a spanner in the works by suggesting a cube instead

 

The theory is if I get a cube with an extension I can then sell the eglu and put the money towards the cube.

Also even with the WIR I could only get about 4 chickens as they would still have to sleep in the eglu.

 

Thought I knew what I wanted but now I don't.

 

What shall I do?????????

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Oh dear, that's a dilemma . I suppose you have to decide how many chickens you really want. I know I won't ever have more than 5 (I don't have the garden for more than that) and am sticking with 3 for the foreseeable anyway. If you really want more than will fit in an eglu, you probably won't be happy getting a WIR if it means you can't afford the cube .

 

Much as it pains me to say it (I LOVE my new WIR ) I reckon you have to go for the cube just so you have the option of more chickens. (You could always get the cube then start a WIR fund, selling the cube run to top it up .)

[jlo]

I have a similar dilemma. Once the new patio door is paid for, we were going to go for a WIR and had got a quote from A4U. However, at the Ideal Home Exhibition on Tuesday I saw a cube in the flesh for the first time and was very impressed with it.

 

The only thing I would say is that, unless you get the 3 metre run, I don't honestly think that you get that much more space in the cube run than you do in the Eglu run so that, if the hens don't get that much chance to free range, I would go for the WIR.

 

If they are out quite a lot then the Cube would probably be better. You could always keep the Eglu for a while until the introductions are made...??

[Yolky]

Personally I would go for a WIR. I have one and it is great. I do think that the actual cube looks great *but* the run isn't big. You could keep more chooks in an eglu with a WIR than you could in a cube with a standard run and the chooks would be far happier in a WIR.

[Guest]

Hi I agree with yolky i am awaiting a cube but I think the eglus look great in a WIR.

 

I think the outside space is more important and when i went to look at another 2 omleters cubes with the3 meter runs . I dont think they are that big on FLOOR space, and they still need more outside space the more chickens u have. One of them had theirs in a WIR still with the 3 meter run attached..They only had 3 hybrids in their cube. Plenty of room but a lot of extra omlet run expense???

 

I think i would do it backwards and get a WIR as big as u can, put your existing eglu in it and when u can afford to sell the eglu and upgrade to a cube put this up to the outside of it(unless u have room to put it inside the run)?

 

Especially if u already have an eglu to use. I dont have either so went for a cube straight off as when u tot it all up it seemed false economy to me as i knew at some stage a cube would be needed.

 

I do like the size of the eglu in the WIR when i see them on the forums.

 

Good luck indie

[Janty]

What about a cube and a walk in run?

 

We are having a walk in run built in May by Tony. The run is going to house the two cubes and an eglu.

[quickcluck]

I would go for a cube in a WIR too.... I've a cube with 3 extensions, but it is a pain getting in and out and have found that the chooks haven't been handled so much. So the WIR is coming! But we are building our selves to save a bit of money!

 

Plus have 4 new girls coming

[wiblick]

I think i would do it backwards and get a WIR as big as u can, put your existing eglu in it and when u can afford to sell the eglu and upgrade to a cube put this up to the outside of it(unless u have room to put it inside the run)?

 

This option gets my vote. What size WIR were you planning? You could get 2 more hybrids/bantams into an eglu with a WIR of average size (6ft X 10ft), but if you can go larger, you can still get 2 more hens now and then save & sell eglu to get the cube and maybe attach it externally when the time comes?

[Cooks]

well I am no good because I was thinking get both LOLOLOLOL

 

I have both with 4 girls in the cube and they love it. I did have to sell my eglu to help fund the cube though, which was the only downside of the whole thing.

[Guest]

Again although i am getting a cube first off i still may treat myself to an eglu for intros at some stage...in the future. But if u have to sell it to fund ur cube do that.

Deff go for WIR and dont buy a cube JUST cos of a 3metre run vv expensive.

Good luck

They are such a good product its soooo hard to decide(took me 2 years) and now am 2 weeks away to my new cube coming..better start going and continuing my WIR (self build..woman... OH not interested and is asleep on sofa )!!

[millymollymandy]

Still can't decide but everytime I look at the WIR thread I realise they are very impressive!!

 

If I have my eglu in the WIR which would be 12ft x 6ft how many chickens would be happy in there bearing in mind they would only get to free range when the OH isn't looking as the point is that we reclaim the garden?

[Yolky]

Have you seen a cube with chooks in? If not it might be worth seeing in the visiting section if there is one near you. Also might be worth going to visit someone with a WIR too.

[quickcluck]

Excellent Idea, it puts it all in perspective!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

If I have my eglu in the WIR which would be 12ft x 6ft how many chickens would be happy in there bearing in mind they would only get to free range when the OH isn't looking as the point is that we reclaim the garden?

Going by the 1m per chicken rule, you could have about 8 . Don't think you could have more than 4 in an eglu though!

 

My run is 2.5m x 2m - I know I'm overloading the forum with photos of my WIR but this might give you a chance to imagine the space you will have.

 

Do you have an area you can fence off for them to keep OH happy? This area (within the poles & netting) is all my girls are getting access too - I think it should be big enough.

[Egluntyne]

My WIR is 18' x 8' and the recommendation was that it would take up to 25 hens.

 

I have 16 in there and there is heaps of room.

[atsw]

My run is 2.5m x 2m - I know I'm overloading the forum with photos of my WIR but this might give you a chance to imagine the space you will have.

I don't think you should worry ANH. Putting pictures within a thread, even if they are also in another thread, makes it much easier for the person reading the topic in question (otherwise you end up with windows open all over the screen). And in this respect, here's mine, a 15ft x 6ft run with Blue Eglu and three hens.

 

 

I do plan more chooks, but right now I'm limited by the sleeping quarters, which with two big Orps is probably a maximum of 4 hens. I'm not about to try and introduce one new hen , so I'll stay with 3 for now.

 

Oh, eggciting news, our next door neighbours got their new chooks today; 4 lovley hens from Cotswold Chickens in Oxfordshire .

 

Andrew

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Thanks, Andrew . I was hoping that was the case!

 

Good news about your neighbours - chicken sitters right on hand .

[atsw]

Good news about your neighbours - chicken sitters right on hand .

I won't know myself. The retired chap on our right has always looked after the girls in the past, now with the family on the left also having chooks, it's hard to know who to ask .

 

Andrew

[millymollymandy]

I think I might get a cube and fence off a bit of the garden for the girls with netting.

 

Although I love the WIRs others have I think that it would dominate my very small garden.

 

With a cube and netting they would have about a quarter of the garden leaving the rest for OH.

 

On the subjuct of the omlet netting is it worth the price as I am sure I could make my own cheaper??

[wiblick]

I haven't used my Omlet netting but have certainly been pleasantly surprised by its substance, weight and apparent sturdiness. I got the separate pegs in order to make the bottom edge secure.

[atsw]

On the subjuct of the omlet netting is it worth the price as I am sure I could make my own cheaper??

I decided to construct my own using two 10m x 0.9m lengths of wire roll from Wickes and plastic coated steel poles from Homebase. The two pictures below show it in operation.

 

 

 

Andrew

[Willow]

I don't think there is one right answer tbh.

 

I kept 5 chickens in an eglu for a long time and they were very happy. I did let them free range so the run size wasn't an issue.

 

I really really want a WIR and have got as far as buying mesh but waiting on OH to build

 

After much angst and questioning I finally decided on 2 eglu's attached to a WIR as my final solution. I was worried about the leaking problem some cube owners had and I love my eglu Another part of my reasoning was 2 eglu's would let me seperate out chickens if necessary and ease introductions especially as I could fence off part of the WIR temporarily.

 

I now have 7 chickens and have just managed to buy a second hand eglu with run so for now 4 go in one eglu and 3 in another with separate runs for morning and evening and the rest of the time they get to trash the garden (ended up using omlet neeting to protect the veg as whenever I used it to confine the chickens they escaped but with penning off a small area and leavng them the rest they are happy).

 

I was lucky a local reasonably priced eglu became available and I'd pmed in time to get second refusal.

 

I like the wire roll option below. I have never electrified the omlet neeting so the wickes option would probably work better for me.

[alih]

I have the netting and it is very flexible and hardwearing but is quite big in terms of hole size so the chickens do get stuck in it and can get through it if determined enough. Also they can fly over it from the top of the eglu run so it's not as chicken proof as I would like... Andrew's looks sturdier and can prob be raise higher too...

[atsw]

Andrew's looks sturdier and can prob be raise higher too...

Mine is approx 1m high, but there has been one or two well planned (i.e. successful!) escape attempts in the past .

 

 

Andrew

[alih]

Yup mine needs to be at least a foot higher I reckon