What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[ali-s]

Gave the babies Eglu a clean today, what messy girls they are

 

I have just spent half an hour with the help from various members of the family trying to get the golden pin into the hole on the black bar thing Either the bar is not long enough, the Eglu base is too wide or else we are doing something wrong

 

I have tried straddling the Eglu and squeezing the Eglu together with my knees Getting Natalie to put all her weight against the side of the Eglu while I search for the hole Taking the roof off the base and putting it back on (several times) but nothing is working

 

It didn't fit together properly last week when I got the newbies, but I thought they would be safe as the Eglu and run are inside the big run. Now I am finding it all very annoying

 

Can any one point me in the right direction please

[Geoid]

give the black bar a good kick, if no joy, i will make a video for you, (im rather bored)

[Martin B]

I have the same problem with the Rablu Ali. It never measures up right, I've left it with the pin out and it is still safe enough (touch wood)

[Guest]

I sometimes have to use a metal skewer to persuade the black bar to come through - as long as there is a teeny bit of the hole showing, then you can get the skewer through and pull!

[ali-s]

There is no hole poking out at all

 

I will try the kicking method if only to vent some of the unecessary anger I am feeeling

 

Never had any bother with my mark 1

[Nicola H]

Ali be careful when you kick it i bent the bar doing just that...........

[bronze]

I do mine with straddling and kicking method. There is an advantage to long legs

I have heard about people using string to pull it through

[ali-s]

Done it

 

A combination of black bar kicking, metal skewer and OH pushing the pin in.

 

Won't be taking the mark 2 apart very often then

[Martin B]

When I kicked the black bar it bent (on the old mk1)

[Aunty e]

I kick the end (without the pin) hard, then I push the eglu wall with my foot at the other side while sliding the pin into the hole. I can kick it through enough to see a bit of the hole, and then I push the eglu wall back until I can see enough of the hole to get the pin in. This is the only way I ever got mine to go in, but I didn't even think about it once I worked it out. Obviously too used to kicking things to get them to work...

[Christian]

Same as me Aunty e!

 

Mine has been fine, until next door looked after my girls for a week last month and now it is really fiddly to get the bar though!

[Egluntyne]

I always have to push the black thingummybob whatsit in and then hold it in place with a heavy rock and then dash around to the other side to put the pin in with one Eglu, the other I have no trouble with at all.

 

Odd innit?

[Ziggy]

We've had the same problem, my daughter can't manage it at all by herself, so when it needs doing I go out with her and end up pushing kicking squeezing the eglu walls together with her waiting above the hole ready to push the pin in as soon as the hole appears... it usually requires an awful lot of effort, swearing and cursing.... I hate to think what kind of vocabulary I am teaching my chickens (without mentioning my daughter!!!) while fighting with the damn thing...

 

It's a pity, cause apart from that we've been delighted with our eglu...

[The Dogmother]

It's because the size of the mark 2 means that when the top is taken off, it starts to slowly lose its curved shape and widen out slightly. If you turn the top of the eglu in its side and lean carefully against one of the long bits (where the bar goes through) and press them together slightly, then when you put it on, you should be able to get the bar to go through.

[Laura & CTB]

I gave up after the first time of trying

 

No willpower me

[ali-s]

Hmmmm A few of us with problems then.

 

Maybe the mark 2 needs a longer black bar with more holes (like belt holes) so we can choose the best fit

[The Dogmother]

Great idea Ali! Get that email off to James...

[Jules.]

I had the same problem with my 2nd hand eglu when it came. It seems to be ok now, the black handly bit was twisted slightly & once i had straightened it out I don't have half as much bother putting the top back on. What Claret wrote certainly makes sense

[Happy-Mama]

I have a bit of trouble with mine on the rablu, I think it must have been bent up a bit (the black rod on the side you push) I pushed it down to the ground a bit and it is easier to use now though I still end up having to skewer the bit of hole I can see to get the bar to come through properly (though at least I can manage it on my own now). I think it would be better if the bar was a little longer.

[Snowy]

Funny, I thought it was just my second hand eglu that did that! My new purple eglu is OK

[redfrock]

Funny, I thought it was just my second hand eglu that did that! My new purple eglu is OK

 

snap

[Ziggy]

I just found out the Eglu is alive!!!!

I did as someone suggested on here, leaning on the eglu to 're-curve' it before fitting it back on, and found it made a loud 'breathing out' noise as I did so... I then let go, and it made 'sucking in' noise... the thing actually breathes!!!

 

Anyway I then located a small hole on the top of the eglu, on the inside (the 'ceiling' as it were), and found out that by leaning on the eglu and plugging that hole with anything that doesn't let air through, the eglu then stays curved when i stopped leaning. Fitting it back on, and pushing the black bar in and the pin was dead easy.... (you can over-curve it though, and then it wouldn't fit back on).

 

I hope that helps anyone else who still struggles with this.

[sparkleeeeee]

oh mine have the hole!!!, there is usually something white sealing it. i accidently took it out of the rabbit one because it looked like a bug but then realised it was a seal and that is the one i have trouble with. so now i know!!!!

i also found that the older ones are harder to get the golden pin in, they might have adjusted the shape or length of bar or dome during production which is why the older ones are harder to put together. or they might just change shape with use/age.

[The Dogmother]

I think they just 'relax' with age Sparkleee. Both my eglu and rablu do it, but it's easily sorted. The black bar is easily stepped on and distorted, then the top won't fit on easily. So it's best to take care not to tread on it.

[Richard]

I have just spent half an hour with the help from various members of the family trying to get the golden pin into the hole on the black bar thing Either the bar is not long enough, the Eglu base is too wide or else we are doing something wrong

 

 

 

Can any one point me in the right direction please

 

 

What are you lot like!

 

I lost the pin within a few days of getting my Eglu.

 

I bent the bar (by standing on it accidentally) within a day or two after that.

 

The bar gets bent and twisted on a regular basis.

 

It makes absolutely no difference at all. so long as the top sits down; it really isn't of any consequence. If the worst comes to the worst just hacksaw the bar out - it doesn't really do anything!

 

What a load of worriers - pins and bars and stuff - it's all technological bits and fluff. I'm just now working out how I can dismantle the door mechanism on my cube and bolt a handle through the door so that I don't have fancy techy door stuff that will go wrong - I could then just slide the door manually.

 

Then I'm going to work out how to fit pedals to the car.

 

Cunning.