Eglu cube holes in the side panels

[tjsnapper1953]

My wife and I have just bought and assembled an Eglu Cube.
Nice piece of kit , it will suit our purposers very well for keeping chickens in our medium sized back garden.
The query that we have is that on the insides of the side panels there are holes with fibre poking out that would harbour mites and insects.
Omlet the supplier say that this is normal for moulded panels and was necessary for the tooling for manufacture and when it comes to pressure washing the panels down keep the jet wash away from the holes to prevent water ingress, also poke the fibrous material back into the hole.
Considering a lot of money has been spent on the Eglu Cube + a 1 metre extension + we also bought the 21 metre fencing kit so our birds could have plenty of room "keep the water away from the holes" seems a bit bodgey.
Have any other members encountered the problem of holes in the Cube side panels and if so how have they got over the problem.

Thankyou in anticipation

 

[chrismahon]

You could ask on the Omlet forum Tjsnapper. My first thought was to poke the fibres in and cap the areas off with Silicone sealant. Why Omlet haven't done that I don't know? Perhaps the cavity needs to be left ventilated to allow for changes in air pressure?

 

[tjsnapper1953]

Hi Chris

Had a good look on the Omlet site but there was no mention about it. Maybe my wife and I are just worrying unnecessarily, but it seems if you pay quite a lot of money a solution should be available from 4 talented designers who designed the concept in the first place.

TJ

 

[chrismahon]

No, it's not the Omlet web site Tjsnapper, there is a forum group attached to it as well. You may have to join and ask the question of the members, if it's not a question that has been asked before?

 

[tjsnapper1953]

Gotcha

Many thanks for that

TJ

 

[Marigold]

Hi tjsnapper and welcome to the Forum.
I had an Eglu Classic, different model but same double-walled construction, and I also sometimes look after my friends chickens in his Cube, and neither of these have any such problems with the holes that you mention. The ventilation holes are smoothly rounded and there are no rough edges at all they are covered in with the plastic surface. I think you need to make a big fuss about this with Omlet, their coops are very pricey compared with several of the newer types of plastic coops such as Green Frog, and it does sound to me as if you got one where something went wrong in the production line. I wouldn't do anything to the coop, but send them photos to accompany your complaint and see what they can do about it. When I got my little Eglu the porthole to the nestbox was very stiff, so I told them about it and they sent another one immediately with no fuss at all.
Do let us know how you get on.

 

[tjsnapper1953]

We are going back down there tomorrow . Will keep you posted.
Thanks

 

[tjsnapper1953]

Visit to Omlet HQ.
Took a faulty roof back today. No problem in exchanging for a new one after asking us to inspect the new one. Well done Omlet.
The 8mm dia holes in the side panels are due to the manufacturing process.
We did inspect a new batch just arrived as we were there and they were all identical. Full marks for transparency.
In all my wife and I left confident in the product and the Omlet staff.
I will be looking for a type of bung to use ln the holes thag will not be harmful to our 6 new girls.
Thanks to Chris and Marigold for their
suggestions.
Happy chooks to everyone