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

[ISCA]

Hello people of the Omlet forum!

 

I am new here. I do not even have any chickens (yet) but that is all going to change. Oh yes.

 

I am in the middle of a house purchase and the house has a garden. Yes, that's right, a real garden. Yay! That is going to be a new experience for us as we have always lived in city centres and the most we have ever had for outside space has been a small back yard. So I shall be able to get my chooks at long last. Exciting days.

 

So I thought I would ask you all for some advice. I have decided that I shall probably get a cube, as I think it will be easier to clean and they do seem more fox-proof that the wooden chook houses I have seen. However, I do have some reservations about having a big plastic box in the garden (which I plan to cultivate into a cottage-type garden). Are there any wooden chook houses that are as equally fox-proof as a cube?

 

I have been reading various chicken-keeping books and have visited a rare breeds farm. I would like 6 chooks initially, and thought about getting 2 Sussex, 2 Orpingtons and 2 Marans. Would these all get on? I work shifts but the OH will be at home most days. I will keep them in the 3 metre run unless one of us are in the garden, as Monsieur Renard may be lurking around.

 

I would be grateful for your views and look forward to joining in with your discussions on here in future.

[Space Chick]

Hi ISCA

 

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on being able to get your chickens.

 

As I have a cube and a walk in run I can't advice you on wooden alternatives to the cube, although there are lots of people on the forum with wooden houses which I am sure would be able to help.

 

One word of caution though is that coop makers tend to "big up" the numbers that can be kept in the run (Omlet included). I would say that the cube and standard run would be fine for 4 girls, and not the 6 suggested. With one run extension, I would say that 6 would probably be OK. This is assuming as you said that they would get some free-range time when you are about to supervise.

 

Orpingtons are slightly larger girls too, so this needs to be considered when thinking about the run size. Is there any reason why you thought about going for 2 of each breed? There are sooo many beautiful breeds out there that a mix of 6 different breeds would add an exciting dimension to your flock.

 

Good luck with it, and this forum is excellent for getting questions answered (and for having a chat and having fun too!)

 

Debs

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Congratulations on the new house and the garden . Sounds like you've got it all worked out .

 

Here's a thread with lots of photos of eglus and cubes. You'll see that they fit into any kind of garden perfectly .

[coco]

Hello and Welcome,I'm fairly new on here myself.

 

I have 3 smallish chickens in a wooden ark with 8ft by 8ft run attached [they also get free ranging time]. It was handmade by someone locally and is very heavy and thick solid wood. I have a door on it which I close at night.

 

I was looking at Orpingtons when I was getting the girls but was advised against it because of the space I had available as they are fairly big chickens, I was also told if they don't get enough exercise that they can get fat, although I think they are lovely I decided against them. Good luck with your new house and chickens whatever you decide to go for.

[CluckyBucks]

Hello there ICSA nice to meet you

 

I hope you enjoy your chickens, garden and house, congratulations

 

Good luck with the purchasing

 

im sure if you have any questions, we can help find the answers for you

 

xx xx

[Tulip]

~Hi ICSA! *waves*

 

Pleased to meet you.

 

The beauty of the cube over the wooden arks is that they're less likely to harbour redmite. I love my cube and wouldn't swap it for the world! In fact we ordered ours just as we were buying our first houseso I know exactly how you're feeling

 

I would hiiiiiiighly recommend a walk-in-run instead of a cube run, especially for girls which'll include some hefty ones (orps and sussex). We got a cube run + 1m extension and just felt it didn't give our 4 (as it was then) girls the space they needed. We decided to build a WIR pretty much straight away! It'd fit in beautifully to your cottage garden as you can surroundit with plants and hanging baskets (oh how I dream of a cottage garden )

 

Hubby built ours - will happily send you design and precise instructions for your OH - just PM me!

 

Ooooh and the Orps are lovely - ours is a total glutton but she's not fat. I picked her up at the weekend and she's all skin and bone underneath her beautiful ginger feathers!

 

Let us know what you decide!

xx

[chick wiggle]

Hi ISCA and welcome to the forum.

Congratulations on your new house and garden

What an exciting time your having. I agree with everything thats been said before so i wont repeat it. But, I have a wooden house and a cube. I got the wooden house to put my newgirls in but now all 11 of them sleep in the cube! We do have a large WIR though. The cube is sooo much easier to clean than the wooden house too.

Dont worry about how the cube will look in your garden, they look fab! If you can manage a WIR great, otherwise I would definately go for the run extension.

Keep us updated with how things are going and dont forget, on here, there is no such thing as a silly question! We have all probably asked them at one time or another!

[troyca]

I am new too and my plans are advanced. I still vacillate about the pretty cottage wood dream vs the brash modernity of the cube. The conclusion I have made is that although wood is cheaper[usually] and prettier it is an emotional choice .The cube is much the best design/material for keeping a clean coop easily and spending less time stressing about chook wellbeing and more time enjoying them. God forbid it doesn't work out and the chicken dream isn't for you, you can almost retrieve your investment by selling the cube on. They fetch a good price on ebay for example. Second hand wood coops have little or no sell on value.

 

A WIR is a good plan. I have asked for the details!! My birds will be in all the time so would like to give them as much run as poss. I am sure eglu have done their homework about technical requirements for numbers vs hen space but the human in us all likes to be generous where we can. Isn't that why we all do this??

[JanTheDiver]

Hi ISCA

 

I have a cube with a 1m extension and my six girls are more than happy in it. They get to run around in a bigger play pen at the weekends and this keeps them exercised.

 

I have four different hens and two the same breed but different markings (mainly so I could tell them apart ) and they all get on together.

 

I look forward to seeing the piccys of your new girls.

 

Jan

[Woodcat]

hey

 

 

I'm likely to be one of the odd ones out as i do have an eglu but i also have a wooden house. Mine is a large ish walk in run with the house at the back at waste height. The majority of wooden houses are fox proof in themselves however they don't usually have the anti dig skirt that the cube and eglu have. If you have one then you will need to either build your own skirt or do what i have and have it on a slab base.

 

Wooden houses are in some cases more work than eglus however price wise they are alot cheeper. It is also perfectly possible to keep them mite free.

 

 

Beth

[cluckingmad]

halloooooo *much waving*!

 

I am ashamed to say that when we bought our new house 12 months ago there were two major issues we had to take into account - it needed a large enough front room for my fish tank (a 6ft marine reef) and a large enough garden for a cube

 

I loooove my cube, absolutely adore it - having kept ducks in a wooden coup years ago (and remembering the joys of cleaning/ treating the weed annually, etc etc) I was over hte moon when hte cube was launched Still like the wooden coops mind, but the eglu and cube are just so much easier for me to clean, especially as I don't tend to be very mobile in the colder months shall we say!

 

We also have a cottage garden thingy going on, and grow most of our own veggies/fruit - after less than 12 months we had a walk in run built for the ladies so they could have more space (and I could have more chooks, hooray!)... our WIR fits in beautifully with the garden, although I was vettoed on the choice of cube colour - wanted purple, was told I could only have green as it would blend in better

[ISCA]

Wow, thanks for all the replies everyone! It's great to get your advice, much appreciated.

 

We will move in in December I hope. I am guessing getting new chickens would be better in the Spring rather than mid-winter?

 

That will also give me time to prepare for their arrival.

 

ISCA