Unsecure chicken perches

[captaincollins]

Hi everyone

 

Just thought I would say hello! my cube arrived yesterday....with the go instructions but omlet posted new ones out today. Going to put it together tomorrow, and going to look at some hens on Saturday...Lady sounded lovely on the phone and was passionate about chickens and full of knowledge so I recommed her....I am in scotland btw.

 

Also down to rescue 3 ex battery hens in March, so thinking of getting 4 hens from the ladys farm.

 

I have the with 4 meters of run in total....I think I went a bit over the top when ordering.........and got everything and more

 

I am very excited about my chickens!

 

Just wish the snow would go!

 

I look forward to getting to know you all over the coming months!

 

Just a quick question......how often do you find you need to move your if its on grass? as I will be using the tent peg things and its so long its gonna be hard to move, so thinking about putting wood chip over the grassed area, what are peoples experience?

 

Thanks

Sharon x

[Falkor]

Hi and Welcome!!!

 

If you fancy building the cube today here are the instructions: http://www.omlet.co.uk/files/public/eglu_cube_instruction_manual.pdf

 

It is great fun ordering all the bits isn`t it! I am sure there is more that you will discover that although not essential you will just HAVE to buy!

 

What chooks are you thinking of getting?

 

My cube and run is in a fixed position so I am afraid I can`t help with the how often question...someone will be along shortly I am sure!

 

Em

[captaincollins]

Hi Em,

 

I would like mine to be fixed, what do you keep your girls on? if you dont mind.

 

this is where I am going saturday, the lady was so passionate about her girls!

http://www.feufield.com/index.asp?pageid=172509

 

I was going for Sussex or Road Rocks, but she also said about the Calder Rangers

and Smoky Blue girls to, she said come and have a wonder round her barns/farm and ask anything you like.

 

Very much looking forward to it!

 

Thanks

Sharon

 

I dont have a printer so just gonna wait until my instructions arrive tomorrow, so far omlets customer service has been great

[Falkor]

I use Aubiose horse bedding in both my runs. If you are going to use Aubiose of similar the run will need to be kept covered. I use corrugated plastic held on with bungees.

[Plum]

Congratulations, look forward to hearing about which ones you choose and enjoy the build.

 

I have mine on slabs with easibed on top. I have Ikea shower curtains to keep it dry and a wind barrier for the girls over top and down one side held on with bungees and bulldog clips.

 

Sorry never had it on grass but guess if you have enough land you would move it at least weekly but with 4m of run you'll have fun. No snow here.

[Cooks]

congratulations and welcome to the forum.

 

I am sure you;ve probably thought about this but please bear in mind that when you get you ex-batts they will need seperate accomodation from the girls you are about to buy.

There are some great articles in the faq section about introductions, however before you do this your ex batt girls will need to be kept seperate longer as they will need the time to revoer and recoup.

 

Once again welcome to the forum.

[dixiechick]

hi all , another newbie here too,

have been reading over the last week after finally deciding to order a cube !!!! (going to order it tomorrow ,should take a week !)

im going for purple and am going to add an extention shortly after ive got all set up and into the swing of it .

managed to scare self silly after reading the fox threads and am now going to put cube on grass with slabs under ! THEN read about the rats!!! OMG, (CAN HERE OH NOW , "I TOLD U SO " ) so i think in my head !lol i know what the plan is for next week end and will be able to collect chooks weekend after ! cant wait ..

leaving a week in between was because ive read about bits being missing and have nowhere for chooks to go if cube and run is not safe .

so already you have all been invaluble with help and advise and i have no chickens yet !!! thank you all xxx

[Plum]

Hello welcome. So which chickens are you getting? I would tell you I haven't had trouble with foxes or rats but I'm too superstitious

[chick wiggle]

Hi and welcome, how exciting for you . When I first got my cube we moved it around every week but that was only with one extension, it was certainly do-able but not the easiest thing in the world. Plus the grass very quickly got wrecked. If you possibly can, I would site it in a permanant position on top of slabs.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing what chooks you choose

[dixiechick]

lol .. i have no idea which chooks to choose , oh is still muttering about my new great idea ! so no help there ha ha....

i first wanted chickens mainly for the eggs and thought would be more interesting for the children we look after instead of the usual rabbits etc.

but now realise they can be so tame and friendly with their own caracters im so looking forward to them wandering round us while we play in the garden.

at the mo have only found one breeder and was a little overwhelmed by 1000 pairs of eyes looking at me !!! i just saw white,brown or ginger chooks !

i realy like the idea of a couple of small fluffy legged girls ! and four others , mainly they need to be very friendly and good layers ... any advice ?

[Lewis]

Welcome to the forum dixiechick

 

I'd maybe say get a mixture of hybrids for the eggs and pure breeds or bantams for their personalities and 'pretty' chickens

It will also depend on what you can get locally as its best to get them all from the same place, or if they're from 2 different placed, on the same day so they're all new to the cube and so will hopefully have less bullying.

 

You might get more of a reply if you post a new topic in the Chickens section, a lot more people will see it there and so be able to help

[captaincollins]

Well its done, I am wet and soggy and very dirty LOL but its worth it,

 

I decided to go on the slabs, I left out 1 extension but its still 4metres in total so should be good.

 

all I could get with chips but maybe going to look at adoise when I change it.

 

Just need to pop in a broom handle for some activity, sand bath, and the food/water in the morning.

 

Then its off to get my girls

 

[chick wiggle]

Oh Fantastic

Have you decided on any breed yet?

Can I make a suggestion for the beautiful white sussex? Its only because this afternoon I was sat cuddling one of my speckledys when Lola my WS jumped onto my knee too, practically knocking poor Martha (speckledy) off, then Lolas sister Fifi jumped up too. They are so jealous of any other girl having a cuddle They sat there for a good 20 mins until I had to put them down!

Good Luck, its a hard choice to make Plus it doesnt matter what you get you'll always want another one too

[Cooks]

one thing that is always nice it to have slightly or totally different coloured eggs to tell them apart, so maybe that could help you decide.. ie blue or greed egg layer, white egg layer, brown, chocolatey brown etc etc.

[captaincollins]

Hi all,

 

well I am off to a farm, (well its not really a farm as its all free range) if you know what I mean, I rung the lady and she was very excited and pasisonate about her girls and said come over saturday you can have a talk through all our farm and look at the girls and I will awnser any questions.

 

I was thinking Sussexs and Rocks but she also has calder rangers, smokey blues and speckeldys.

 

from what she said on the phone the rangers sound nice, so going along with an open mind and will no doubt want to take them all home

 

will let you know and add some photos too

[chick wiggle]

Go and have a great time and enjoy your choosing. You KNOW we will be here waiting to find out what you got

[Lewis]

Have fun!

You'll go expecting to buy one thing and fall in love with another chicken!

 

... oh and farms can still be free-range - but I know what you mean

[captaincollins]

well I have now got 5 happy girls in my cube they are s"Ooops, word censored!"ping about the run at the moment,

 

I got one of each, not quite ready for eggs yet as the sussex and rocks wherent old enough so I got all younger ones so they got on better, should be ready in 6-8 weeks.

 

I got 1 sussex, 1 calder ranger, 1 speckeldy, 1 smokey blue, black rock.

 

[Plum]

They are lovely and tons of room for them. They look really at home already

[Falkor]

Great pics They look at home already

[Lewis]

 

Looks really good!

 

They do look settled in already - good choices

[captaincollins]

I just added some more photos, cant wait to let them out in the morning

[Seagazer]

You have a really great selection of girls there, congratulations.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Congratulations on your new girsl - they're lovely .

[Chickvic]

Lovely pic