Omlet Eglu Pro Review: Worth $2,600 for a Coop?

The most expensive backyard coop most keepers will ever consider, and the three facts that decide whether it makes sense.

The verdict: The Eglu Pro is a twin-wall plastic hen house that solves the two problems wood never does, mites hiding in grain and ammonia soaking into the boards, and it does so at a price that buys a small used car's worth of lumber. Buy it if you plan to keep chickens for a decade or more, hate cleaning, and can absorb the fact that the run is a separate purchase. Skip it if you want the most square feet per dollar, in which case a wooden coop gives you far more room for the money.

Specifications

Specifications above come from Omlet's published product information. Treat pricing as approximate, since Amazon pricing moves.

What it does well

• Non-porous plastic gives red mite almost nowhere to hide, which is the single biggest practical advantage over a wooden coop.
• The slide out nest box tray and smooth interior make a full clean a hose-and-wipe job rather than a scraping job.
• Twin wall insulation and adjustable vents mean you can shut the coop down in a cold snap without sealing off airflow, which is what causes frostbite.
• A 10 year warranty and replaceable parts, which is unusual in a category where most coops are treated as disposable.
• Omlet's own automatic pop door is designed to fit it, so the door and coop are engineered together rather than bolted together.

Where it falls short

• The listing price is for the coop only. The run, wheels and handles are separate purchases, so the number you actually spend to get a usable setup is meaningfully higher than the sticker.
• The stated capacity of 10 large hens is roosting and laying space, not living space. If your birds get shut in for days of bad weather, the usual planning figure of 4 square feet of indoor floor per standard bird applies, and at 10 birds that is far more floor than any Eglu provides.
• It is plastic, and it looks like plastic. In a garden where you want the coop to disappear into the planting, a wooden coop reads better.
• Assembly is a real project. Omlet ships Eglu coops flat in multiple boxes and recommends more than one person, so budget an afternoon rather than an hour.
• At this price the cost per bird only makes sense if you keep a full flock and keep them for years. For three hens it is very hard to justify.

What owners report

Owner reports on the Eglu range are unusually consistent, and they split cleanly into two camps. The people who love these coops nearly always mention the same thing first: cleaning takes minutes and mites never take hold, because there is no untreated grain for them to live in. Long-term owners frequently report coops still in service after many years with only replaced parts, which matches Omlet's own warranty position. The second recurring theme is winter performance, where owners in cold regions report the insulated shell holds warmth better than a single-skin wooden coop of the same size.

The complaints are just as consistent, and they are about money and logistics rather than the product failing. The most common is discovering that the run is a separate purchase after budgeting for the coop. The second is assembly, which owners describe as clear but long. The third is aesthetics, which is purely a matter of taste and worth deciding before you spend this much.

Sizing it honestly for your flock

Omlet's 10-hen figure describes birds that sleep and lay in the coop and spend their days somewhere else. That is a reasonable assumption for most keepers, but it is not the number to plan around if you get long spells of weather that keep birds shut in. Our standing guidance, and the figure used throughout our coop size requirements chart, is at least 4 square feet of indoor floor and 8 to 10 square feet of run per standard bird. Run your real flock number through the chicken flock and egg calculator before you commit, and price the run separately so the total is not a surprise. If you want to see how the running costs stack up over a few years, our cost of raising backyard chickens breakdown puts the coop in context against feed and bedding.

Eglu Pro versus a wooden coop

The honest trade is space against maintenance. For $2,599 you can buy a very large wooden coop and run and still have money left. What you will also buy is annual sealing, boards that absorb ammonia, and seams that harbour mite. The plastic coop costs you square feet and buys you back time and parasite control. We lay the whole argument out in wooden versus plastic coops, and if predators are your main worry, read hardware cloth versus chicken wire first, because no coop is predator proof if the run around it is stapled chicken wire.

Who it suits

• Keepers who expect to have chickens in ten years and want to buy once.
• Anyone who has fought red mite in a wooden coop and does not want to do it again.
• People in cold climates who want insulation and controllable ventilation in the same shell.
• Owners who want a coop that can be hosed out rather than scraped.

Who should skip it

• Anyone whose budget has to cover the coop and the run, since the run is extra here.
• Keepers of three or four hens, where the smaller Eglu Cube or a wooden coop is far better value per bird.
• People who want the maximum enclosed square footage per dollar, which wood wins easily.
• Anyone who wants the coop to look like part of the garden rather than a piece of equipment.

Alternatives worth considering

Keep reading

• Wooden vs plastic chicken coops compared
• Hardware cloth vs chicken wire
• Chicken flock and egg calculator
• Coop size requirements chart
• Best chicken coops
• Omlet Eglu Cube review
• Omlet Smart Automatic Coop Door review

This review draws on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested this product ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.