2009 Omlet cube and run for sale

[alet_chicken]

Chris and Vic from Bay Animal Housing came to put up our new run yesterday and I am very pleased with it. I have been looking forward to it for some time now, and can hardly believe it's here!

 

Here are some pictures. First, the "before", just after I've taken off the big green tarpaulin on the left. The whole run used to be covered with it, and it had a matching front that could be put on with velcro to keep morning noise down.

 

The plan was to put a WIR under the apple tree, on slabs, which went down around a month ago. Here is a picture with the Cube in place.

 

Some bemused chickens. I upgraded from a small-door to a large-door run end panel some time ago, and the old one came in handy yesterday.

 

And then the longest wait... they came after lunchtime, and put the run up in around two hours. Most of the time was spent making the panel adjoining the Cube to the run. So, voila, here it is:

I'm well pleased with it. The sliding door is now attached to an automatic pop hole opener, so no more traipsing out in the cold early morning. Also, the girls will have access to the space under the Cube, but the door gives the option of using it as a sickbay/isolation pen.

 

No further photo's, I'm afraid, because as soon as I put the bedding and feeders down, chaos broke out. I thought I would be able to lure them into the new run with some treats and corn, and they would happily trot in and have a nosy, but apparently not. It turns out my girls did not recognise the Cube as "home" unless it's attached to the end of the old run (and has a green ladder), and some of them had no intention of ever going within 10 miles of the scary new run, thank you very much, so I had to wait for the troublesome ones to roost on the perches in the old run and physically put them to bed.

 

Things are a bit better this morning. The ex-batts seem happy running around digging trenches in the Bedmax, but the higher-strung souls (especially the leghorns, who are moulting to boot) have taken up permanent residence under the Cube. I'm off now to sort something out to hang the feeders and drinkers a bit higher; methinks two bales of Bedmax is a bit much. A charm offensive may be in order, and I guess to keep them in a couple of days. I hope I'll be able to win them over soon though.

[Bramble]

Wow, that looks fantastic, your chooks are very lucky!!

[beach chick]

very nice, cant wait to see more pics!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Congratulations, it looks fabulous . Love the clever sick bay option .

[Donna C]

That looks amazing Got to ask , where did u get it from and how much, got a space at bottom of my garden perfct for that size run

[chick wiggle]

Looks brilliant! Well done, Im sure the chooks will soon come round and be very grateful for the extra space

Looks a bit snug behind the cube though, can you get the poo trays out ok?

I love the intro/sick bay area too - very clever

[Egluntyne]

It looks super. Congratulations.

[Ailie]

It looks fantastic! They did a fab job.

 

Hope that you and the chooks enjoy it!

[Plum]

Beautiful run it looks very good. Silly girls they don't know when they are being spoilt.

[bigmommasally]

Wow lovely looking run, I love the isolation pen idea under the cube.

[janeears]

That's a great set-up. Congrtaulations.

[Lewis]

Looks

 

Hope they enjoy it!

[alet_chicken]

Thank you everybody for the lovely comments.

 

The deal between me and my OH was that the new run would be the same size as the Cube train (and it is... not counting the space under the Cube ). I'm going to recycle the link-a-bord from the old Cube run to make a kickboard for the under-Cube space, and the part where the Cube run attaches to the WIR still needs a bit of work to make it fully rodent-proof. The built-in sick bay will hopefully help with the problem of re-integrating girls who have been separated for reasons of illness (not too uncommon with my ex-batts I'm afraid).

 

Chick Wiggle: Before we put the slabs down, I spent a lot of time measuring carefully between the tree and the bush, and whether there was enough clearance under the tree, etc. and only realised after the slabs were down that poo tray clearance may be a problem! Fortunately we managed to solve the issue by putting the run off centre on the slabs, and although it's far from obvious from the photo, there is about 4 foot between the back of the Cube and the fence so I can take the trays out comfortably.

 

Donna C: It's 6 foot by 10 foot, from Bay Animal Housing. They are very reasonably priced, and the run is really well made, so I would definitely recommend them. They are also very accommodating with custom-made runs.

 

I had planned to suspend my drinkers and feeders from the rafters, but didn't like the creaking sounds from the run when hanging the first feeder. So after some improvisations, this is what it looked like yesterday afternoon:

It all feels a bit temporary at the moment, but now that everybody can reach the drinkers and feeders (and I don't have to scoop Bedmax out of the drinkers every hour), I am really looking forward to setting things up nicely for them, including some mezzanine levels and perches (in addition to the sick bay door, which they discovered fairly quickly ). I'm hoping the clothes rack works out for the drinkers, then I will set up something similar for the feeders.

 

Another shot of the automatic door and the under-Cube area:

 

Fortunately it seems that the residents are coming round to the idea of living in the WIR. Here is a rare sighting of lady Annie (the white leghorn in the back with no feathers on her bottom), who took to her bed for two nights and a day (just noticed she is actually in the Cube in the picture above). There are also rumours (unconfirmed) that she participated in a sunbathing and preening session earlier this afternoon.

 

I just want to say thank you to all the other Omleteers who have been happy to share their ideas about their WIRs on the forum over the years. I lurked on these threads for many a month before finalising my WIR, and it would not have been the same without your ideas on things like the kickboard, inward opening door, etc.

[Plum]

Looks even better now.

 

Please tell me how they reach the green drinker and feeder

 

That little gated area is going to be so useful. I thought of doing that but my bulk wouldn't cope with cleaning it out

[Chicken shack]

Looks great How do you clean the cube as the roof can't slide

[alet_chicken]

Hi, they stand on some upside-down fat ball tubs. (The marans can reach even if they stand on the ground.) These tubs are hidden behind the doorframe in some of the pictures.

 

EDIT: Just noticed, I did take these pictures before slightly lowering the drinker on the right hand side. They are now at pretty much the same level.

 

As for the sliding roof, I've removed the runners, so now the roof simply lifts off (or it hinges on the sliding locks at the back if it's only a quick job). I think the roof is heavy enough for wind not to be a problem. There is room for reversing the Cube away from the run if needed.

[scarlettohara]

And they are using your WIR for their photo on ebay

[alet_chicken]

Really? I can't find it, could you maybe help with a link or their ebay username?

[Chicken shack]

If you put in a search on ebay for omlet you WIR will come up.

[Lewis]

Really? I can't find it, could you maybe help with a link or their ebay username?

*clicky*

[alet_chicken]

Ooh, yes, that's my run! He must have got the picture with the chickens in it from this forum. I don't mind , and Maureen and Gladys (who appear in the picture) quickly forgot about their demands for commission when I put the treat pot down .

 

The price is a bit less than what I paid though (but then the advertised size is smaller too). I thought my run was reasonably priced, this deal is even better.