БАНК-НЕВА - кредиты, подарки и личные отношения

[GabiChicken]

Hi,

 

I've been lurking for a bit, but at the weekend we went out and bought a second hand eglu classic! It's a mark 2 with wooden bars, without a shade and clips and with rusty bolts, so I think we need to buy some bits and pieces, but I have a few questions...

 

Where we put the run is likely to be in full sun (obviously dependent on the weather) most of the day, so we will need a shade. What is best to get? I was thinking a half length of the heavy duty cover - it's £13 rather than the £9 for the summer one but looks better quality. Would it be worth getting a full length clear cover for the winter? (We plan to put the eglu and run on wood chippings as we don't have much grass, although we have lots of shrubs/planted areas for free ranging.)

 

I'm thinking that plastic bars are essential, but oddly a "refresher kit" seems to cost more than its constituent parts...

 

Are the clips any good? The person we bought it off said she found cable ties much better, but the clips would look neater.

 

Do we need the screw pegs to keep it in place?

 

We'll get new bolts and washers as the current ones are pretty wrecked - rusty and the heads were going when we were struggling to unscrew it for transport.

 

Sorry to have such a long first post!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Congratulations and welcome to the forum .

 

I had the triangular Omlet shade for the summer but to be honest never really had much use for it - never had much sun . I've not seen the heavy duty cover but it sounds it would be more versatile if you have the option to fold it back as a sun shade.

 

I used 2 lengths of corrugated plastic (from B&Q, roughly £7 each) held on with bungees for keeping the rain off. They worked really well.

 

I would definitely get plastic bars - they are so much easier to clean and you don't have to wait for them to dry like the wooden ones. The wooden ones are worth keeping though, just for spares (when you introduce new chickens in the future, for example ).

 

I never found the Omlet clips a problem (I don't value my nails particularly though!) and you're right, they would look neater than cable ties. I think they've been improved too since I got my eglu.

 

You will want to weigh down the run skirt with something, screw pegs (or tent pegs if you have some already) or planks/bricks/anything heavy you have in your garden!

 

Make sure you don't overtighten your new bolts/screws - that's what makes them seize up, that and not loosening then tightening them periodically.

 

Good luck with your planning - the next step will be choosing your chickens .

[GabiChicken]

Thanks for the advice. We do have lots of bricks in a pile at the bottom of the garden and must have tent pegs from when we used to go camping pre-baby. They'd definitely be cheaper then the Omlet screw pegs!

[Lewis]

I would definitely get plastic roosting bars - as ANH says, there are much easier to keep clean.

 

As for clips/cable ties, for by brooder run which I move every few weeks in the Summer, I use the clips, but if its staying put I use cable ties, cut the long end off and you can hardly see them Much easier to cut them rather than undo the clips too.

 

The Clear shades are great for the winter but can get a bit like a greenhouse in the Summer so make sure there is some dark(?) shade to cool them down.

 

Tent pegs would do rather than the screw in ones but I use potted plants instead