[Nicki85]

Hi all,
I cleaned the Doodle House out and scrubbed it all down so thought i'd take some pics as some of you may find them interesting!!

Dismantled house.  I was only doing the main body so left the nestboxes untouched.


And again-


Parts of the house-


And lastly, all bedded down just needing the front panel on and the roof!


I find it really easy to clean.  But I have two issues with the design... the first is that the girls poo all over the door and it's tricky to clean off.  I'm guessing my girls are quite big so it may be down to that.  Secondly, I've noticed that the perching bars are starting to bend so will need replacing at somepoint.  Apart from that, no complaints!

[joyfull]

I would have a word with the manufacturers about the bending perches. Are you able to turn the over to see if that straightens them out?

[Nicki85]

No, unable to turn them over due to the design as they slot into the main body.  There are three "sticks" to a perch so I can change the position that they are arranged in which may help.  I've done that today...  But I think it would be a good idea to have a word with the company.  The chooks are fairly large and all sleep on the same perch.. but the house is designed for up to six and I'v only got the four!  In the last photo you can see a large gap where one has been bent (perch nearest to us, last "stick")

[daisy1990]

I agree Nicki, the perches aren't thick enough individually to support the weight of hens.  We have had our doodle house (plain white so not so impressive!) for a few weeks now and like it very much.  It is very easy to assemble and dismantle and the bedding brushes off very easily. I have a couple os small niggles with it which are- it is not easy to move over a large distance as there is nothing to get hold of and it would benefit form a small lip in front of the door so the hens cant kick out the bedding (we added a wooden lip to our wooden coop, but obviously cant do this with the doodle house design.  I found the company very helpful when I contacted them when the door was broken on delivery, so think you would get a good response from them

[celesta]

Hi all!

I'm Celesta from Doodlehouse and it's great to see positive comments on the coops in action ... I don't often look at forums but thought I'd do a Doodlehouse search and see if there were any points I may have missed with the coop.  It is constantly evolving with customer feedback!
My girls don't use the perches so this is a new issue.  If you would like some sturdier birch ply perches then just contact me and I can send some to you.  They won't bend with larger girls.  Regarding the bedding, I use astro-turf in mine which doesn't then migrate around the garden - and it's SO easy to clean with just a hose down.  I have two lots of it and when one's drying, the other goes in the house.  The pooey door ... hmmm maybe it is because your birds are larger as I've not heard of this before!  

If anyone needs to know anything else then please contact me.

[daisy1990]

Hi Celesta

How nice of you to reply thank you!  The idea re astro turf is a great one, I will certainly be trying it
Daisy

[Lindeggs]

...
If anyone needs to know anything else then please contact me.

Yes.  When will Doodlehouses be available in New Zealand?! 

[celesta]

Lol - I don't think Doodlehouse is ready to take over the world just yet ... maybe one day