Installing Indoor Cat Tree

[MaggieMcHen]

I have been reading recently about lighting and egg production and was wondering about the eficacy of the Eglu/Cube in this respect. I know there are no windows so how do the hens get the extra hours of daylight in the summer unless I i get up at 4 in the morning to let them out?? I know they will get longer in the evenings, but is this as good as being in a wooden henhouse with windows. Does the plastic let in light?

 

Many thanks in advance. I am awaiting an EgCube but wonder if I should get a Rothwell which is a wooden version fo the self contained house and run with windows etc.

 

Maggie

[Christian]

Hi Maggie!

 

I would say the advantage of an eglu cube is that the run is fox proof, so you could leave the door open at night, allowing the chickens to get up when it is light. I am away from home 2-3 nights per week and rarely shut the eglu door at night.

 

With regard to the eglu letting in light, there are airvents in both the eglu and eglu cube, but not sure how much light they let in!

 

If you are getting hybrid hens, then I don't think the daylight is as important as with pure breeds. Someone will be along shortly with more advice i'm sure

[Guest]

While I don;t have a cube ( ) I DO have an Eglu, and have had it for nearly 2 years - I always shut the door at night, summer and winter, and the girls don;t get out until about 7:30 no matter what time of year it is, and I have never had a problem with chickens not laying.

[bronze]

My girls only go in the house at dusk and come out at dawn so I dont see how having windows in the house would help them. the cube is no different to most hen houses in that respect even most of the Rothwell ones. DId you think the run was enclosed?

 

the house on a par or not) with the cube

[Gallina]

I always locked my hens away in the Eglu at night, and I do the same with the Cube.

 

The hens get out at 7am in the summer, and they don't complain about it. If they are noisy hens (and the more you have, the more noise each one seems to make) I think it is inconsiderate to your neighbours to let them out any earlier than that. And where I live it just isn't safe if they are able to let themselve out between 4am and 7am when no one is around but the foxes.

 

A certain amount of light does get into the Cube: but it is better for the hens if they rest more and don't produce the maximum number of eggs possible: that sort of target is best left to battery farmers, who kill their hens off when they are two years old because they have worn themselves out with laying.

 

By the way, the skirt of the cube is exactly the same as the skirt of the Eglu: it is a bit better, as it goes all the way round, but it is fox-resistant, not fox-proof.

[chocchick]

It's winter when the light has an effect when the daylight hours are so short, at this time of the year the 14 hours light (7.30-21.30) they get while they are out and about is ideal.

[MaggieMcHen]

I am up at 6 every morning as i am doing OU courses and that is when I study so there will be no problem giving them the max of daylight out side the henhouse.

 

Thanks for all your comments - can't wait to get my Cube (there is a 8 - 9 week waiting list at the moment.) so having to wait until 25th July!!

 

Am getting five (or 6) hens of various colours but all hybrids so they will be friendly.

 

Maggies

[Richard]

I leave my Eglu door ajar so that they can push their way out. I suspect that I will leave the cube door open as I sometimes oversleep and they do get up early.

 

I don't use an Omlet run as they have a home built run in the garden