eglu

[hawthorns]

been to the national amateur garden show today and im now awaiting the arrival of chickens and there new home. we took the plunge and ordered the eglu. looking forward to eating fresh eggs and having new pets in the garden

[Snadger]

Phew!!!!!!!! Had a look at the price of Eglu's and they seem very
pricey..........

But............Good luck with your chooks hawthorns!

[Noodle]

Eglu's are expensive, but I would have one if I cold afford one! They are so easy to clean out and maintain! You'll loce haveing chickens, I got 3 2 weeks ago and absolutely love them! I wasn't totally convinced about having them as we live in the city, but my OH was really keen and we do have a decent sized garden so took the plunge! They are great entertainment with an added bonus of eggs! Enjoy!

[hawthorns]

they are expensive but they will last 10 years. they had an offer on at the show with �25 knocked off, so we went for it.

[seasprout]

ooOOOhhh, an Eglu. What colour are you getting..?? House & Chickens..?

[Alison]

They are expensive but appear to keep their value well too - if you look on ebay you'll find that second hand ones aren't much cheaper than a new one so if you can't keep up chicken keeping for some reason then you can pretty much get your money back.

[Kristen]

We have an Eglu. Yes agree that they are expensive, but the hassle free maintenance and cleaning suits our time-poor lifestyle.

We bought it for our 9 year old who wanted chickens for her birthday - that was back in May and they laid their first eggs yesterday, so she's cock-a-hoop today!

I would not have believed what fun they are as pets - I thought the would be as boring as ditch water, and just be a "thing that lays eggs" but when we are sitting at the table in teh garden, with friends, and the chickens appear through the hedge all conversation stops and a whole load of gooey-child-language stuff starts!

A read somewhere that someone called their three chickens Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest, and that described our lot to a T!

[hawthorns]

we have gone for the green colour. we are having a miss pepperpot and ginger ranger.

[Twinkle]

I had a green eglu too - I wanted the purple one but was dissuaded by OH...

It should last a lifetime - only bit that will wear out is the wooden bars and Omlet sell spares or you could get a spare set knocked up cheaply.

Only reason for stopping using our eglu was because keeping chickens is addictive and 3 wasn't enough !!!

[Eyren]

Another green eglu owner here - bought mine on ebay, thus saving a little bit (though not much - as has been said, they keep their value well). I'd like to get a proper walk-in run eventually as the attached run is not very big, especially if you keep your hens in during wet weather - and when has it not been wet, the past two years?! I'd still keep my eglu, though, as there's enough room in there for a whole flock of bantams!

Enjoy your girls - just make sure you keep them out of the veg patch!

[Kristen]

"especially if you keep your hens in during wet weather"

Good grief! Ours just find a dry spot under the hedge somewhere ...

Omlet also make a bigger coup called a "cube" and that has an extendible run - for those that want more hens / run-space - but you'll need deep pockets!

[Noodle]

Ooh, love the eglu cubes! That is what I'd have if money wasn't an issue! As it is I have a converted dog kennel and run! My step-dad has been inspired to make me an ark and a run extension that I can move around the garden and take to my dads when we go on holiday! I'll attach it to the old dog run too though as they love the height. I put up branches at about 4' (we'd just had our trees topped so there's a lot of branches and wood around at the moment) and they love it on there.
What can I use as a dustbath once I can find some wood chips?

[T-lady]

Hey Hawthorns, congratulations - they're just too cute to resist (the Eglus) and I'm really jealous that you can have Miss Pepperpot and Ginger Ranger - they don;t deliver where we live.

I'm waiting for our Eglu (green) to be delivered this Wednesday and then we're off to pick up the chickens on Saturday. We're having 3 Meadowsweet Rangers from a local stockist.


Does anyone know if you put any bedding material into the Eglu - the chicken man was going on about sawdust shavings but I don;t know if I need it for an Eglu?

[Noodle]

You'll need the shavings for the nest box, they like to have something comfy to lay no, but from what I can make out from the omlet site, that's the only place you put it! Very jealous of your eglu and have fun with your hens, you'll love them!

[Kristen]

Yes shavings in the nest box, nothing else. But i recommend that you put newspaper in the pull-out-poop-tray under the "duck boards" as it makes it quicker to clean.

We have some dustbins with tight fitting lids near the chi9ckens (for their feed, and grit, etc.) [the chickens are quite a hike for us, from the house], and we also have one of those 1-tonne builder's bags which we put all the used bedding etc. in - but the compost heap is quite a hike from the chickens too! (the chickens are my 9 year old's, so that helps make it a bit easier for her to do their maintenance).

And some Mite spray

I think that's about it. Ours were confined-to-quarters for some time when we first had them (apparently gets them better orientated) and apart from US being really nervous the first time we let them out, they have found their way back each night as dusk has approached.