What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[Margaret 1972]

Hi there, I'm Jules

I am a newbie, from Manchester. Bought my Eglu Cube at the weekend (second hand) with additional run and I have 3 chickens, Lola Dot and Daisy (the Marc Jacobs perfumes!!) I have a Bluebell, Speckled and Warren. I have never owned chickens in my life, but so far so good, it's only been 3 days and my lovely girlies have laid eggs for me every day.

 

I am looking for a bit of advice please. They are in the Eglu all day whilst Im at work from around 7am until 4pm (3 chickens x 3 metres). Is it cruel to keep them in their run all the time rather than letting them into the garden when Im back from work to free range. The reason I am asking is, they are totally destroying my garden. I've just moved to a new build house and had a lawn put in about 6 weeks ago. The Eglu Cube is also on grass so they have plenty to scratch at and peck at, but as soon as I let them free range, they are pulling up the grass all over the rest of my small garden, and eating all the plants. I have put chicken wire around all my plant pots now, so hopefully they've been rescued, it's just the lawn I am concerned about and didnt know whether it is cruel to leave them always in the 3 metre run.

 

Another quick question too.......

Should I lock the coop at night, the girls seem to happily head off to sleep around 6pm and make their way up the ladder so I am locking the coop then, but wondered when it's warmer I can leave the coop open, so they can make their own way into the run in the mornings rather than me opening it up each day at 6am!! (yawn!) lol

 

No issues with foxes so far and of course the Eglu Cube is fox proof, and I have four cats, who are not bothered in the slightest with the chickens.

 

Any advice you can give me will be really appreciated. As I said earlier, day three and so far so good.

Many thanks

Jules

[Margaret 1972]

Hey there Leeweedon, thanks for the quick reply.

 

Will happily add a photo, just not sure how to do it on here. So some more advice please on how to do that too.

Thanks for the info about my grass, looks like the lawn may have to just grin and bear it then with my three new chickens, but I'll probably just let them free range for say an hour a day if you say it's ok to leave 3 in a 3 metre run all the time.

 

As it's the cube I've bought, will the chickens get cold at night if I dont shut the door, i'm just conscious that it seats up to 10 chickens and if there's only 3 in there, it could be a bit drafty as I've noticed there are two gaps in the perch area where the wind can blow in. Is that right there are gaps, just above the removable perches, or perhaps I've not constructed my omlete correctly.

 

Look forward to hearing from you.

thanks

Jules

[Margaret 1972]

Fab - thanks for this Lee.

 

3 is the maximum I will have (well I say that now!! ha ha ha), thanks again for your advice.

 

I'd better tell my other half all the money we spent getting our new garden lanscaped was a waste of money!! lol

 

I'll google now and see about getting some bark for their run.

 

Thanks again.

 

Jules (Lola, Dot and Daisy).

 

[LunaKiw1]

We had those three types of chooks - each very different but all lovely! Whilst 3 will be OK in the run all day it is so nice to see them free-ranging (when you're home from work) for an hour or two or at weekends. BUT you'll have no chance of your lawn surviving even if you stand guard over them! I know it is more expense but have you thought about getting some of the Omlet green netting? We bought the maximum length of it and put it round the edge of the lawn so that the girls came out of their Eglu run and could meander through the flowerbed/shrubbery between the lawn and the exterior fence panels. They did a great job of keeping all the weeds down and the soil turned over for dust baths and worm hunts (although admittedly they also killed off anything growing that didn't have a sturdy woody stem!) but the lawn gradually recovered. And strange though it seems, when you look out of the window into the garden, visually the netting and stakes disappear and you hardly notice it so it isn't at all intrusive. If OH has just had the garden landscaped it could be well worth him agreeing to get some!

PS Omlet do both electrifiable and plain versions of this green netting - we just got the 'ordinary' version but if you're worried about urban foxes then it might be worth considering the more expensive kind. Our Warren can stick her head through the holes at the bottom and nibble the grass edges but the Bluebell and Speckledy's combs stop them from doing that. We've never had anyone get out through, over or under either.