On 23rd April the long awaited delivery from Omlet.co.uk arrived – 5 HUGE boxes. Like Christmas but with poor quality cardboard wrapping paper. (NB Christmas better if its teeny tiny boxes with quality gift wrapping ;0)
So when two of my 4 sons were home and at an apparent loose end we set about constructing the thing. The booklet recommends setting aside two hours and involving a friend with a cordless screw driver. Not sure I have those kinds of friends, but I naively thought that it would take much less than two hours.
Still it was dry and bright, which for BT9 in April is not a given, we optimistically got our star screw drivers and set to work. Funny how if you consult the manual after it all goes wrong, it seems so easy. I always thought it was Mr Gillybird who charged ahead and ignored the manual but it appears after 22 years of wedded bliss I’m almost as bad.
After 2 hours 25 minutes, putting on the run door upside down, and faffing around with the removable roof, it was mission accomplished. It does look rather cosy, a bit of a retro mini caravan. It has a nifty skirt running all the way round to deter urban foxes- which we do have- and other predators, and also I hope, a rather nosey Tibetan Terrier.
Omlet, the website does offer a range of amazing colours – red, purple, yellow, pink (obviously aiming at the female market) but most out of character I went for a calming green, which should not stick out too much in the garden. Also my reasoning was that a brightly coloured plastic item could be misconstrued by small children as something to climb and play on, not really the best for my feathered friends.
The youngest son wanted to get his sleeping bag and sleep in it overnight. We had to lure him from the chicken run with a biscuit before he would leave. Number 2 son is very interested in the project and was great at the construction (he’s a manual reader) but could put off the AS level revision no longer.
There’s only one thing missing now. Chickens.
I did take photos of our construction project, but have still to learn how to upload them to the blog. Its all new y’see.
gillybirds 
Wow I’m loving this chicken coop and can’t wait to see the arrival of chickens, something I dream about all the time!
Good job on your blog too. I know getting started is very mysterious, but your efforts look great!