Anyone have an Egloo cube - advice pls.

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Lucylou

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I recently bought a second hand Egloo cube having previously had a wooden coup (converted tool store) for my chooks. Although old, my wooden coup was great but couldn't move it when we moved house so this Egloo seemed an excellent solution.

Can anyone who has one answer a couple of questions for me.
Why are so many flies in & around it? I never had this problem before. I give it a thorough clean once a week & clear the poop trays a couple of times a week. Does anyone know what I can do about them. They drive me mad so heavens knows how the poor chooks cope!

Also just to check, the 'perch' bars are very different to the usual roosting perch in a conventional coup, I'm not supposed to do anything to them am I? It looks like they're sitting on them but I assume they're actually gripping round one of the bars.

I have 4 chooks by the way.
Thanks xx
 
Hi Lucylou, I don't have a Cube but I often look after my friend's hens in one when he's away. I haven't noticed flies around his, although both he and I do clean out the droppings trays daily, I would imagine they might get quite smelly if left for 3-4 days. He lines the trays with newspaper and then we just roll up the top couple of layers into a parcel and put them in his compost bin. If there are a lot of flies in your area its most likely they're originating somewhere else and then just finding their way to your coop. Have you got any pig farms, stables or anything similar locally? And what do you do with the hens poo once you've picked it up?
Yes I don't much like the perches in the cube either. I used to have an Eglu Classic which has the same sort of toast rack grid for them to perch on, and I found it got much dirtier than an ordinary perch because on a conventional bar perch the droppings fall off to the floor instead of getting stuck on the grid. Now I've got a Green Frog coop the perches really don't seem to get dirty at all. I suppose the hens have more room to organise themselves according to where they want to sleep in a Cube, though.
 
Thanks Marigold, I'll clean the trays daily & see if that makes a difference, Yes, actually there are stables not far up the road, maybe 50 yards or so, never thought of that. We're getting them in the house too, driving us mad! Tried every kind of spray & room thingy without any success, hoping they'll all die off soon!
 
It really sounds as if there are lots of them breeding somewhere else, if they're all in the house as well as the coop. Have your neighbours been complaining? Maybe a visit to the stables is the next step?
 
Hi LucyLou.
We have issues with flies when the farmers start muck spreading. We find hops very helpful & hang hop bines in the house as a useful fly deterrent. Of course, you could try fly papers too, but the hops look & smell nice. At this time of year you shouldn't have any trouble buying them on line.
 
I can probably get you some hops for the price of postage: a friend of mine has her neighbours plant overgrowing into her garden and hates the stuff so is more than happy to have me take the shears to it.
 
Ooh, didn't know about hops, think there's some overgrowing from the neighbours garden! Not sure if they are hops but will have closer inspection later. If they're not I'll be back to take you up on your offer Kittykat.
 
I have an Eglu cube and a wooden coop. The wooden house stays dryer inside - as the wood breathes - and poop sort of dries up. I do poop scoop, but find it dries up anyway and isn't offensive and doesn't attract flies. I am forever scrubbing it out in the warmer months though, to keep red mite at bay. The eglu needs less scrubbing, as fewer places for red mite to hide. However, I put newspaper in the litter trays, and clean out once a week. It is always very wet, and the poo stays damp, and attracts flies. I sprinkle with stalosan when I clean, which helps a bit, but would like to find a really absorbant litter to put in dropping trays - maybe auboise? Anyway, I think the Eglu cube is an excellent design, but if could replace the plastic dropping trays with wooden ones I would - to help everything 'breath' a bit.
 
I have a cube. I find the weather can get in if it faces the wind. I use shavings in mine. Seems quick and easy to clean out.
 
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