Poo help please!

[Benaberry]

Hoping someone with a Cube can help

 

Think I've pretty much got husband convinced on getting a Cube (without run) relatively soon for our ladies to go in the WIR he's been building. In short, the WIR was originally supposed to be a first line of defence against the local fox and surrounding our existing house/run combination. However, having now built half the WIR and turned the house around into its new position, it's clear that it's far too big. We're going to have to take the integral run off it anyway (luckily 2 parts so we can do this), but even so, the house is massive - was designed for 10-12 chooks, bought it purely because it gave the biggest run space - with a big sticking out nest box, and very high (about 5 feet tall).

 

So, helped by him coming home tonight to hear me squawking about red mites (battled another infestation this evening), the Cube would hopefully be the way forward.

 

However, I'm a bit concerned about the space we actually need to fit it in. We've had to squeeze our walk in run into an awkward bit of our garden, in between the shed and the veg, bordered on the other 2 sides by a path we can't move and the boundary fence. In short, we've taken all the space we can, and because of the layout of our long, narrow town garden, can't gain any more. The veg bed is bordered on 3 sides by fence/high trellis as it's part of the 'dog free' end of the garden the other side of a central gate, access to it is now blocked by the WIR on the 4th side, hence the double doors hubby has built into that end of the WIR.

 

(it's gone in to the left of this pic, stretching across to where the end of the current house is shown. Current house has now been turned around to have its back against the fence)

 

To cut a very long story short, the Cube would have to go inside the WIR, as simply no space for it outside. This is where I've got the concerns. I know the physical dimensions of the Cube itself, but I'm worried about how much room is needed to one side to get the door open using the pull-out handle, and to the other side to get at the egg port (not sure if that's easy to open by reaching over from the front if that makes sense, or if proper side access is needed). Also, would having it backed right up against the WIR side mean it's a real pain to move out to get at the poo trays, or is it quite easy to move with the wheels? I'm thinking logical place for it, where there's the most surrounding space is the back corner by the shed, but not sure if I'm actually going to have enough room for it at all at the moment

 

Or am I just really, really overthinking the whole thing?!

 

Think I'm just worried about hubby killing me for making a really expensive miscalculation

 

Aargh!

[chick wiggle]

Is it on concrete or soil? if its on soil its going to be pretty hard to move to get to the back for cleaning as really, i think, you need to be behind it to move it. Even if its on concrete, with bedding in, its still going to be awkward to move.

could you put it in the centre of the run? where you have access to all sides? The chooks can still go underneath it so your not losing any room for them. It looks like your getting a lovely big run, so one way or another, im sure you could fit it in somewhere

[Benaberry]

It's soil at the moment, but we're happy to put some slabs down for it to stand on to make it easier to move (was thinking we would probably have to do this anyway)

 

There might be enough room to pull it forwards into the middle - admittedly I'm not the skinniest person going, but I might still be somewhat overestimating the space I need to move around!