Solitary chicken - need advice

[tmitchell]

i would really like to start with four chickens but i have been told the standard run of the eglu is not big enough. I am struggling to justify spending the money for the eglu to be honest and it looks like it will cost another 150 to extend it

 

do i need both converter and extention to convert to make run big enough for four chickens (I am looking at hybrids) does anyone know a cheaper way to extend to make suitable size.

 

please help i really dont want to go for a wooden coop to fit four birds but may have to, to reduce cost

[Redwing]

I had four hybrids in an Eglu with just the converter and to be honest it was a bit of a squeeze, they did get by ok but it wasnt ideal

 

I now have four table birds in the same set up and they are fine as they don't do anything

 

If you can guarantee your girls some free ranging time you may be ok

 

Unfortunately once you add an extension the whole thing becomes like a train and is a devil to rake over which starts another list of problems

 

Someone did extend their Eglu run using the same type of wire that they shaped themself which was very clever

 

Your other option would be to get an Eglu and build your own run putting the Eglu inside it or fixing it to the outside. The cost of an Eglu on its own is about £235 so gives you about £100 to play with plus what you might have spent on extensions

 

Or you could add a home-built low rectangular run to the end of the Eglu one

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Have you been keeping an eye on Eglus/cubes for sale? I appreciate you may not want to wait till something suitable comes up but you might be lucky .

 

I had 3 hybrids in a run plus converter and they were fine. One more might be a squeeze unless you can offer them a lot of freeranging .

 

Here is the homemade extension Redwing mentions. Might be a good solution, if you're at all handy .

[tmitchell]

thanks for the quick replies, it has certainly given me something to think about