Chicken bald back

[chestnutmare]

(If you haven't noticed my other thread, I'm considering getting an Eglu).

 

It was when I did a bit of Googling and reading other forums I realised that the Eglu's run is advertised as fox 'resistant' rather than 'proof'... some say chickens/rabbits in an Eglu have been killed by the fox and another says rats have nibbled through the Eglu.

 

Now I know there'll be those who love and hate the products but what are your experiences?

 

As far as I'm concerned, if I'm paying the £ for an Eglu I want it to be safe from foxes, rats etc without having to spend further money/make an additional run.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Tweety]

The eglu is fox resistant rather than fox proof, as advertised. As you say, there have been instances of chickens being killed whilst in the run but these are few and far between, and I'm sure the same has happened to chickens kept in other types of run. I am a huge eglu fan, despite the fact that an unknown predator - probably mink or rats - nibbled through the plastic nest box area and killed one of my bantams, and I don't think you will find a hen house that claims to be totally predator proof. The design of the eglu and run, in my opinion, provides as safe an option as you are likely to find bearing in mind that predators are very cunning and it is almost impossible to legislate for every eventuality.

[alet_chicken]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

 

In my view anything that is not bricked up completely or bolted down to a concrete surface is not 100% guaranteed to withstand a persistent predator (and even then one has to account for human error), so Omlet would be dishonest if it claimed that the Eglu or the Cube are completely foxproof.

 

That said, I think the Eglu runs are as fox-resistant as any other well-designed run out there. The weldmesh of the run is very very strong, and the skirt does deter digging from the outside (and the inside, as our rabit Sheridan discovered to his disappointment!). What tips the scales for me is the well-insulated double-hulled plastic design, which makes it so easy to keep it clean and free of red mite, and it keeps chickens warm in winter and cool in summer. (We had temperatures as low as -17 here this week, but the inside of my Cube never went lower than -5.)

 

There has been some reports of foxes getting into Eglu runs by digging underneath the Eglu itself. This is not so much a design flaw with the Eglu itself, it could happen with any house that is simply placed on soft ground. Others on the forum have suggested various ways of preventing this (bricks or weldmesh around the base of the house, etc.) but the only way to prevent this completely would be to place the Eglu on a hard base. Note the Cube does not have this problem because it is off the ground and the run has skirting all the way round underneath the Cube.

 

The reports about rats nibbling the Eglu is worrying, but again rats would have no trouble chewing through a wooden house either. My way of preventing this is to be on the lookout for rats, and deal with any problems as I become aware of them (fortunately nothing yet).

 

Hope this helps. Good luck with deciding what kind of run and house to get!

[chestnutmare]

Thanks for the replies.

 

So, is the Cube more secure than the Classic? I've been looking at the pictures on the website and I can't see any major security benefits to the Cube (compared to the Classic). Can anyone help with this?

 

I only want two or three chickens and I'd like a neat, compact home for them, which is why I was thinking of a Go/Classic originally. But the Classic looks to be better (to me anyway).

 

Thanks for the help. All advice appreciated as I'm new to the Eglu world.

 

Oh, and I don't really want to be buying/building any additional runs for now. I want to start small and if I become addicted then I will build and expand.

[Tweety]

As far as security is concerned, the only difference between the Cube and the Eglu is that the Cube is off the ground, so rats etc can't tunnel underneath and in. Many Eglu owners keep their houses and runs on concrete slabs for reasons of security and, in a walk in run, the Eglu can be put on a table or something similar.

[Olly]

The Eglu or Cube with the door closed is fox-proof, so generally speaking if your hens are in the Eglu or Cube with the door shut, they are safe. The Eglun run is fox-resistant. It's designed so that a fox can't bite through the wire or open the door if it's properly secured, but there have been occasions when a fox has tunnelled underneath if it was on very soft/sandy soil, or where a fox has managed to 'get' a hen through the Eglu wire - rare but it's happened - or where the clips have been damaged and a fox has managed to force a way between the panels. If you close the door at night, then that reduces the risk but of course foxes are around during daylight hours as well.

 

Generally if it's on firm soil and the skirt is weighted down or pegged down, and if the clips are firmly closed and the door is shut with the pin, it should be safe. If you keep hens then they are always at risk from a fox, and it only needs a tiny gap in the defences for a fox to find its way in.

 

I don't think there is much difference in terms of safety between the Eglu and the Cube - if you only want two or three hens, then the Classic or the Go is your best bet. I'll just warn you ... we all started out saying 'only two'!

[chestnutmare]

LOL - yep, only two I am hoping it doesn't turn into a full blown addiction! My family and I had 23 hens and 4 ducks in the past but I don't intend on having anywhere near this amount!

Thanks everyone for the advice, all information is good. Can I ask another question (or two... or three)?

 

-I was considering putting the Eglu classic in one area in the garden, on wood chip. Does this mean that the ground would be too soft and therefore mean the fox could easily tunnel underneath to the hens?

 

-We always kept our chickens completely free-range on a small-holding (apart from night). But we lost most of them, one by on,e to foxes. Now we want them secure. How often should two hens be 'let loose' from the run and for how long?

 

-Would you feel happy leaving a couple of hens in an Eglu Classic, in the run, home-alone, while you did a bit of shopping or went to work?

[Tweety]

Answers as follows:

Not necessarily. The Eglu run has an anti - dig skirt round it, and you can always put some bricks/slabs/rocks on top of the skirt, or buy some pegs from the omlet shop to hold it down.

 

I would never let my girls out unsupervised, so my advice would be to keep them safe in the run unless you are around to keep an eye on them.

 

Yes, I would happily leave a couple of hens in the run and go out. If you want more than 2 or 3, you will need to extend the run if they are to be in it for any length of time on a regular basis.

 

Hope this helps!

[chestnutmare]

Thanks for that, very helpful.

Now I've been thinking about putting the Eglu onto concrete but how would the run attach to the concrete? I'm assuming the run would still need to be attached to the ground on concrete.

Thanks...

Sorry, these questions are popping up in my head!

[Egluntyne]

My Eglus are on paving slabs and the runs are weighed down with heavy boulders.

[chestnutmare]

My Eglus are on paving slabs and the runs are weighed down with heavy boulders.

Thanks... I want an Eglu! *stamps feet*

[Rosy]

On 12/5/2010 at 4:35 PM, Olly said:

The Eglu or Cube with the door closed is fox-proof, so generally speaking if your hens are in the Eglu or Cube with the door shut, they are safe. The Eglun run is fox-resistant. It's designed so that a fox can't bite through the wire or open the door if it's properly secured, but there have been occasions when a fox has tunnelled underneath if it was on very soft/sandy soil, or where a fox has managed to 'get' a hen through the Eglu wire - rare but it's happened - or where the clips have been damaged and a fox has managed to force a way between the panels. If you close the door at night, then that reduces the risk but of course foxes are around during daylight hours as well.

 

Generally if it's on firm soil and the skirt is weighted down or pegged down, and if the clips are firmly closed and the door is shut with the pin, it should be safe. If you keep hens then they are always at risk from a fox, and it only needs a tiny gap in the defences for a fox to find its way in.

 

I don't think there is much difference in terms of safety between the Eglu and the Cube - if you only want two or three hens, then the Classic or the Go is your best bet. I'll just warn you ... we all started out saying 'only two'!

The eglu classic is not fox proof. My hen was killed by a fox at night when in a locked eglu. It grabbed her feathers from the small gap at the rear between the poop tray and the eglu base, she s asleep on the roosting bars, it caught her foot, bit it off and  she died inside the eglu. It is a design fault, in future I would recommend placing bricks along that gap so that this doesn't happen to another poor hen. 

[BethanyRose]

On 12/5/2010 at 10:24 PM, chestnutmare said:

Thanks for that, very helpful.

Now I've been thinking about putting the Eglu onto concrete but how would the run attach to the concrete? I'm assuming the run would still need to be attached to the ground on concrete.

Thanks...

Sorry, these questions are popping up in my head!

I have the same question! 

On 8/25/2021 at 5:31 PM, Rosy said:

The eglu classic is not fox proof. My hen was killed by a fox at night when in a locked eglu. It grabbed her feathers from the small gap at the rear between the poop tray and the eglu base, she s asleep on the roosting bars, it caught her foot, bit it off and  she died inside the eglu. It is a design fault, in future I would recommend placing bricks along that gap so that this doesn't happen to another poor hen. 

That's very sad. Does the Go have that same gap?

 

[Cat tails]

On 8/25/2021 at 8:45 PM, BethanyRose said:

I have the same question! 

That's very sad. Does the Go have that same gap?

 

You can weigh down the skirting by placing some big logs on it. (Might even help with the rain😉) paving slabs, stones etc would do the job too.

Not sure what gap the poster is talking about. My Go Up doesn’t have a particular gap on the back.