[arty]

I am a newbie to chicken keeping approx 5 weeks now ...we bought an Eglu Classic yesterday off ebay as  I wanted a plastic coop to be able to keep it clean and free from red mite. My chooks spent their first night in it. they had previously been in a shed overnight. What are people's opinions on the eglu classic? I was worried it might be a bit small for my 4 chickens and should I take out the small roosting bars so that they have a choice where they roost in there they just seemed to be scrabbling round in there when I shut the door. Plus there were no eggs in there this morning whereas normally there would be three or four eggs in the shed. is it because it's new to them ?
thanks Arty

[JaK]

The eglu classic is perfect for 4 chickens (as long as they have plenty of space during the day). I had two of them  in use last year and thought they were great, the chickens take up to a week to get used to the plastic roosting bars, but they do settle down, leave the roosting bars in there . I found the eglu's very easy to clean and cheap to use too as I lined the tray with old news paper.

[arty]

thanks for that ...that is really helpful. mine has the wooden roosting bars which I have just emailed Omlet to see if the plastic ones will fit. They have the 2metre eglu run attached and attached to that is another run another 2 metres so 4 metres which I hope is enough.
thanks for your reply..arty

[ANHBUC]

Four square meters is probably a minimum for the amount of birds you have.  If they are young they will grow bigger and can get bored easily which will lead to squabbles.  If you can let them out for part of the day that would help.   

[arty]

altogether the whole two runs together are in total about 12 square metres I think I didn't explain it clearly in my first post.
I will be letting them out more when all fences in the garden are secure ....they seem to find the weak links in my garden fence when I let them out so I have to keep a close eye on them when they are free ranging ....thanks Arty

[ANHBUC]

If it is the classic run and 4 metres long it will only be around 4 metres square as the run is around 1 metre wide.   

[grinling]

train them by shaking a plastic enclosed pot (ice cream tub) with mxed corn in, so they return to the noise. Try while still in run.

[arty]

yes it is the classic run 4 square metres but we have attached another big rectangular run which is approx 2.5 metres by 3 metres to the open door end of the classic run so altogether they have quite a large area. so nearly 12 square metres if my maths serves me right. (although it has never been my strong point) .....

and thanks for the tip of the corn ......Arty

[compostqueen]

The classic is brilliant and yes you can get plastic roosting bars for it.   They only sleep in the Eglu ANHBUC and it is big enough for four birds. I had three in mine mind you but there was plenty of room in it.  I put a bit of Aubiose or straw in the nesting box and Aubiose or similar under the roosting bars to catch the poops. It does absorb urine and smells and I think has citronella in it to deter flies.    The Classic is good quality and easy to clean. There are loads of pictures of them on here, and the Omlet site has thousands 

[arty]

Thanks compostqueen I wasn't sure at first as it looked small to me but last night I checked in through the side and there was plenty of room inside so I'm pleased to hear everyone's positive comments ....Arty

[ANHBUC]

yes it is the classic run 4 square metres but we have attached another big rectangular run which is approx 2.5 metres by 3 metres to the open door end of the classic run so altogether they have quite a large area. so nearly 12 square metres if my maths serves me right. (although it has never been my strong point) .....

and thanks for the tip of the corn ......Arty

Your maths is fine Arty.  I have a thing about spelling but usually when I check I already have it right.   

They should be really happy in your set up with the extra room.  I don't like that they sell the classic for 4 hens because of the size of the run that comes with it.  The coop is big enough but they would not be happy in the normal 2 metre run.  I think that is why you see so many on eBay that are only a few months old, people soon realise they need more space. 

I have 3 thanks to eBay - 2 rabbit classics which I use for broody or quarantine/hospital coops and 1 chicken classic that I have my cockerels in.  It does dull down the crowing on a morning so the insulation is obviously good.    I have 2 of them on motor mechanic creepers which makes them easy to move when cleaning the runs.   

[arty]

that's good pleased that you think our set up is good for them ....they will be free ranging too when we have plugged all chicken sized gaps in our fencing ....they seem to be happy these are the four chickens that we found on the road .....their feathers are growing back nicely and they are really friendly ......

[ANHBUC]

Don't forget we love to see photos of chickens, ducks, dogs, cats .....  well anything really!   

[compostqueen]

I bought the huge netting corale from Omlet and used to link that to the Eglu so they could have plenty of room but could get back into the coop if there was trouble

In the end we got a visit from a fox so we had to build a huge run but we put the Classic in that and still had the large netting corale.  The girls will like as much room as possible to do chickeny things 

[arty]

Don't forget we love to see photos of chickens, ducks, dogs, cats .....  well anything really!   

how do you insert a picture ?
thanks Compost queen yes I had thought of the moveable netting ...we will be building a bigger enclosure and fixing our fences for free ranging ...Love watching them rosey about