What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[Spuddy]

How long are the shades intended to last?

Mine (a year and a bit old) is disintegrating.

It came away on one side so I went to reattach it and noticed a small tear in it. Now I only have to touch it and pieces come away.

Is this normal?

[ubereglu]

Oh dear. Mine hasn't done that and it's over a year old-I think. Am not quite sure as I bought my eglu 2nd hand of here.

 

But it wouldn't surprise me that it's doing this due to wear and tear. I don't expect you'll be able to get a free replacement as it is over a year old though.

[Spuddy]

I don't think wear and tear is an issue as it has hardly been touched by man nor beast since it was first fitted. It's clearly just exposure to the elements that has caused it.

I don't expect to get a free replacement, it's just that I don't relish the thought of buying a new one every year if this is a normal thing that happens. If that is the case then I would need to look for a harder wearing alternative.

[chocchick]

Mine faded (possibly from cleaning) and got a tear from a fox attack which over the weekend is now getting a lot bigger. It's not disingegrating and is over a year old.

[ubereglu]

You could always use Tarpaulin. We do that for the rest of the run as we don't have a winter shade.

[The Dogmother]

I use an IKEA transparent shower curtain in the winter - works a treat

[Louise]

I have an ikea shower curtain too it is exactly the right length and nice and waterproof

[The Dogmother]

And so cheap too

[Aunty e]

My shade is completely destroyed, although my chooks like to rampage on it. I also have the shower curtains (hundreds of the things to cover the whole run) and tend to keep a stock in, as a fox destroyed one of my covers once, and the chooks got a cold from being rained on. They're only 99p from Ikea, so I keep two or three spare ones. If you don't have an ikea, you can pick them up for a little more off ebay.

[Jools]

And the added benefit (for winter anyway) is that you can get transparant shower curtains which let light through to the run - a pretty important comodity at this time of year for egg production

[PurpleHen]

How long are the shades intended to last?

Mine (a year and a bit old) is disintegrating.

It came away on one side so I went to reattach it and noticed a small tear in it. Now I only have to touch it and pieces come away.

Is this normal?

 

Hi Spuddy,

 

Is this the small cover or a winter cover?

I have had the small one that came originally since Sept 05 and have no problems at all....

Maybe the sun is stronger in your part of the world (patch of ozone layer missing ) so the UV rays disintegrate it quicker...

[ubereglu]

Mine get accesss to a large run, so they get to see the light, but that doens't seem to matter to Henrietta as she's now very pretty, but not laying!

[The Dogmother]

Probably acid rain

[cabbagepatch]

hmm, i've only had my shade since october and already it has faded. that doesn't matter but if surely if something is £20, i should be able to expect it to last for more than one year?????????

 

[Spuddy]

It is the summer one i.e. the one that came with the eglu.

I like the Ikea shower curtain idea. I may try that. If they're only 99p then I'd be silly not to try that first, thanks.

[Egluntyne]

I didn't get on at all well with the shower curtain idea.

 

I spent more time retrieving it from trees and shed roofs than enough.

 

I spent a fortune on bungee clips to hold them down and still no good.

 

In the end I got the Omlet shades and they are much better....far more robust.

[Louise]

I strengthened the edges with Duck Tape then poked holes all round with a skewer and tied it to the run with some string

 

Roof got taken off the shed in the wind last week but the shower curtain is still on and no holes yet

[The Dogmother]

I did the same Louise and mine is still going strong through its second winter

[Egluntyne]

Ooh...I wish I'd known about that method before.

 

Drat and double drat!!

[The Dogmother]

I think that the key is to have it fairly tight so that it doesn't flap and catch the wind. You can see mine in my album (sig) - I had webbing tape on the edges and each corner to reinforce it.

[Tina C]

I use a shower curtain which I take on and off as needed. I work at home so I get lots of chances to visit the chickens every day!

 

My method is to use clothes pegs to peg it onto the bottom bars of the run- old woooden ones rather than cheap plastic ones which seem prone to springing apart.

 

As long as its taut it seems to stay on - even in some of the crazy winds we have been having lately.

[Trish]

My original shade lasted just over 18months. I went to move it and it disintigrated. Not too worried though as I was in the process of replacing it with a clear tarpaulin anyway.

[Chicken Licken]

I totally recommend the ikea shower curtain with a couple of bungees to hold it in place. Happy chickens!

[Richard and Jo]

My winter shade has disintegrated around the eyelets - the fox has also ripped it. It is not very strong material and has faded a lot as well.

[ubereglu]

I think they need to look at a better material for them, as it's not very strong. And fades lots and lots!