Omlet Smart Autodoor - New in box

[Eggie232]

On the 10th of July one of my hen's had a terrible accident which resulted in her breaking her leg!!! At first the vet thought it was soft tissue and nerve damage but on our second visit to the vets two days later, he confirmed that it was actually quite badly broken. I believe this accident was caused due to a design fault on the Cube's run. To stop any more of our hens injuring themselves in a similar way, I have stuck strips of Duct tape all the way across the mesh thresholds (beneath the run doors) on both my Cube and Classic. Since doing so, my hens are able to see the threshold more clearly and can step over it without getting their toes or legs trapped in the mesh. I would urge everyone who reads this to do the same, as I would hate the same thing to happen to any other poor hens!

 

As you can imagine, I was absolutely distraught by what happened, and my husband felt it necessary to contact Omlet to make them aware of what had happened so that they may be able to prevent further similar accidents happening to other hens in the future. My husband contacted Omlet on the 12th of July and as yet we have had absolutely no repsonse! I have copied my husband's letter below for you all to read as I feel I should make as many fellow Cube owners aware of our terrible experience as possible!

 

My husband's letter to Omlet:

 

We have recently purchased an Eglu Cube and have had our first chickens (ex-batts) for three weeks. Since the chickens have been with us, they have continually stumbled over the green mesh lip at the bottom of the run doorway; which has a height of around two inches.

 

Last night, whilst running back into the run, our head hen accidentally put her entire foot through the mesh lip, trapping it, whilst her body carried forward. She lay on the floor motionless until I extracted her trapped leg out of the mesh lip. At that point it was clear that she had sustained a serious injury. She could put no weight on the leg and after standing and moving around on only one leg for a few minutes she sat down and went to sleep. Extremely worried and upset, we called the vets emergency out-of-hours service and got her seen to within minutes.

 

Thankfully, the vet thinks that she has not broken her leg (as we first feared) but has not ruled out dislocation and is fairly sure that significant soft-tissue and/or nerve damage has been sustained. The vet is reasonably hopeful she will once again be able to use the injured leg in the future.

 

To further compound matters, the accident happened as the chickens were going back into their run so my wife and I could attend the wedding of my wife’s best friend from school and an old school friend of mine. We were at the vets with an in-pain chicken when we should have been celebrating with the newly weds; we never made the wedding at all in the end. This multiplied the distress and upset caused to my wife and I.

 

Furthermore, the smallest chicken had a poorly leg when she was rescued; we now only have one healthy-legged hen!

 

We have concluded that all of our chickens find the lip hard to spot as it is mostly fresh air and the wire is the same colour as the grass it is situated on.

 

Therefore, to ensure this accident is not repeated, I have covered both sides of the mesh lip with duct tape and will put striped hazard tape over it as soon as I can get some. This will make the lip easier to spot to help prevent them tripping over it and will also make it impossible for a foot or leg to go through the mesh.

 

I request that this very sorry tale makes it through to the design office so that the designers can engineer out this hazard: It wouldn’t take much; an upside down ‘U’ shaped (in section) plastic strip to fit over the lip would do the job. This could then be sold as part of the kit for new Eglus and as an accessory tor Eglus already purchased. Alternatively, removing the lip would remove the hazard completely.

Edited August 29, 2010 by Guest

[Plum]

How awful, I've not heard of an accident caused by the mesh lip before. I do hope she is recovering.

[Falkor]

So sorry to hear this

[ubereglu]

I've never heard of that happening. I suspect that your ex-bats have brittle bones though, (very common), as they take extra calcium they need from their bones in order to produce more eggs than they would if they were free range and not given artificial lighting. I think that the advice for ex-bats is to make sure they don't have to clamber or climb over things for the first few weeks in order for them to build up strength. Hence why it's a good idea to remove perches to start with.

 

I've never had a problem with this aspect of the design though. I'm sorry to hear about the accident though and hope she recovers.

[scarlettohara]

I'm really sorry for your poor hen and as said already ex-batts do have weaker bones due to osteoporosis. I am adopting some shortly and the coordinator told me this can be a problem - she advised arnica cream for bruising when I first get them. This may help your girl on her injured leg

[sandyhas3chucks]

have you replaced the ladder with a ramp too?

[Eggie232]

Thanks for your concern everyone.

I'm aware that ex-batts can have brittle bones and my husband and I made lots of extra little modifications, including a ramp to replace the ladder (which they still use). However I feel that my point is being missed. All of my hens (not just my ex-batts) have bumped into the wire threshold at some point or another. The issue isn't really the brittleness of their bones, it's the fact that it's possible for a hen to trap her leg in the mesh, causing serious injury. Since I put tape across the threshold, you can actually see the hens notice it's presence and consciously step up onto or over it to avoid it. Before, they just couldn't see it clearly and so it acted as a trip hazard. I wouldn't be surprised if the same accident hasn't happened to other hens. I hope it never does! Still no response from Omlet!

[Mercedes55]

I am sorry to read about your poor hen, what an awful thing to happen. I have to say it never crossed my mind about the threshold they have to get over, but you are right, it isn't easy for them to see it. My ex batts were fine with ours, they are now in a WIR so have a higher wooden threshold to get over, but of course they can clearly see that.

[Leicester_H]

Hows the hen ?

[Miss Millies Chicken]

I read this post when it first appeared and didn't give it much thought until today when Zillah had a similar accident As she came running out of the run to get some treats, it appears she put part of her foot thru the mesh lip of the door way and fell forward. She stood up and then fell over again but managed to hobble over for some sweetcorn. There was no visible signs of damage to her leg/foot which was very sore. The soreness has eased over the day and before bed time was roosting ok on her favourite perch in the cube run. So fingers crossed no lasting damage has been done.

To prevent this happening again, I have attached a small strip of wood to the threshold using cable ties. So making the lip more visible and also acting as a barrier.

[Patricia W]

I have to say, that with 2 cubes and 2 eglu's my mixed bunch of ex-bats, Polands, and Aracuanas have not had any problem with the thresholds. Now, I'm continually falling over the Omlet netting!! Thereby hangs another tale - and my wellie boot quite frequently!

 

Tricia

[Guest]

So sorry to read of your hens mishaps - must have been really stressful for you all.

 

I keep tiny rare breed bantams - some smaller than a pigeon, and across the front of the door panel inside the run, I have always propped up either a piece of wood - like raised bed edging, which was there too keep the aubiose from going through the mesh and making a mess. This summer I have used a row of (reclaimed bricks in the garden) which if turned on their side (so that the rough sides are uppermost for grip) are the absolute perfect height as a 'door step'. My tiny little hens always jump up on the bricks to get out and in - and they have the added benefit of not wobbling, being easy to remove individually, and being a solid edge to keep all the bedding you happen to use, inside the run and not kicked out through the mesh making a mess.

 

I just thought I would post these options as a way of preventing any more mishaps with hens.

 

Definitely the bricks are the best solution - they must have made them that size just to fit our Omlet runs And they are so cheap - or free if you look around.