Feeding advice for bantams (one broody, one moulting)

[hilda-and-evadne]

When the door (lid?) of the egg port is closed, is it meant to lie flush with the roof of the eglu? Is there a knack to closing the egg port door?

 

As the eglu is on a shelf within the run I built for the hens, the egg port door not closing securely doesn't matter - fingers crossed - but I do wonder if the rain is getting in.

 

Advice welcome.

[Jules.]

Mine lies flush, & to put it on I have to push the bottom of it in first, them the top, then turn the handle IYSWIM. If I don't then it does lie funny.

[hilda-and-evadne]

Mine lies flush, & to put it on I have to push the bottom of it in first, them the top, then turn the handle IYSWIM. If I don't then it does lie funny.

 

Thank you, perhaps I am angling it wrong. Or not pushing hard enough. Will try again tomorrow, if it ever stops raining ...

[Hen Watch]

I like to hear the reassuring "clunk" to know the eggport is closed. If you wiggle it, it will have some "give" in it.

 

Can't see why it being on a shelf should make any difference. Perhaps you could post a picture so we can see what you mean.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Mine's a nice snug fit. I also put the bottom edge in first then turn the handle. It does lie flush when it's closed.

[TrishY]

I like to hear the reassuring "clunk" to know the eggport is closed. If you wiggle it, it will have some "give" in it.

 

I hear the clunk too and mine has a lot of "give" but it won't come open and no water is getting in - well I've only had eglu for one week on Tuesday so not had bad rain yet!

[Jules.]

When my 4 yo puts it back on for me he doesn't know how to do it properly & I end up with a gap at the top, & doing the job for him.

[Olly]

Mine is a tight fit, but it isn't flush - it projects a bit from the 'face' of the Eglu especially at the top. It's always been that way, I had expected a flush fit like a car door, but it isn't. Seems fine though, no air or rain gets in.

 

I always locate the bottom first, then the top - can be hard to get in otherwise.

[Sarah B]

Mine is a tight fit, but it isn't flush - it projects a bit from the 'face' of the Eglu especially at the top. It's always been that way, I had expected a flush fit like a car door, but it isn't. Seems fine though, no air or rain gets in.

 

I always locate the bottom first, then the top - can be hard to get in otherwise.

 

Exactly the same here

[Egluntyne]

Mine lies flush, & to put it on I have to push the bottom of it in first, them the top, then turn the handle IYSWIM. If I don't then it does lie funny.

Ditto. They also makes a "reassuring clunk" when the handle is turned.

[SandM]

Hi,

 

I just got my eglu on monday, and am a bit concerned about the non-tightness of my eggport door. It has a lot of give and when I poured water over it with my watering can, water got in. Given that the weather is due to get bad this weekend and my chickens have just moved into the eglu because their old house was leaking, I was wondering if anyone had any advice or if I should just contact Omlet.

 

Thanks very much,

 

Simon

[Egluntyne]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

 

The Eggport doors are loose-ish and do have a certain amount of "give" in them.

 

I have never found that they let in water though....even in the deluge that we had in South Yorks last summer.

 

I wonder if pouring water from a watering can recreates exactly the conditions of a shower of rain?

 

Why not reassess after the next wet day.

 

I'm sure Omlet will be happy to talk it over with you....after all you are well within your 28 day money back guarantee.

[SandM]

Thanks very much - I'm sure you're probably right and I'm certainly a little paranoid as I'm new to keeping chickens and afraid of doing things wrong, especially after the previous leaky coup.

 

I'll try and stop worrying and wait for the rain.

[Jules.]

 

I'll try and stop worrying and wait for the rain.

Can we try & hold the rain off until the end of the school holidays?

[Egluntyne]

Not if it affects SandM's guarantee!

[Jules.]

ok

[Jules.]

Do these pictures help?

 

 

 

 

 

you can see how scrathed my eglu is

[SandM]

Thank you all very much - I'll let you know how it goes.

 

And I think a brief but powerful overnight downpour should be enough to make a judgement, so no need to disrupt the holidays (if only it was that easy).

[hilda-and-evadne]

Do these pictures help?

 

Hi Jules, thank you for your PM and for your trouble in taking and posting these pictures.

 

Hmmn, I can't get my eglu's eggport door to be that closed - in fact, I can't get the catch to catch (after turning the catch as far as it will go clockwise, I can still pull the door open).

 

I will make one more determined attempt to solve this and then, if necessary, take it up with Omlet. (Although the eglu is within the run, and the run has a roof, so not easy for the fox to get at them, I think I must be starting to worry about this - I actually dreamed last night that I went out in the morning and found the eggport open and the hens vanished!)

[Jules.]

Hmm. You need the egg port to close properly-after all, in a run or not, it's what it is designed to do.

[hilda-and-evadne]

Thank you for your help. Omlet are kindly sending a replacement eglu (and I will then return the first one). When I explained that the problem seemed to be only a very small misalignment - small but enough to prevent the catch working - they said (if I understood correctly) that the doors are made/bought in separately for Omlet.

 

This evening I have used some parcel tape on the eggport door, taping its edges to the body of the eglu. I don't think that a fox or badger could get into the run, unless by actually breaking through the roof or the wire mesh (and then it would probably be unable to get out by itself), but if it did it would be very easy to knock the eggport door out.

[hilda-and-evadne]

Thank you for your help. Omlet are kindly sending a replacement eglu ...

 

Replacement eglu egg port door (I misunderstood about the doors being made separately from the eglus) arrived this morning and fits perfectly.

 

This is a relief, knowing that my hens are really tucked up safe now - a vixen was making that spine-chilling noise again in next door's garden in the early hours of this morning.

[Snowy]

That's good news!

[Olly]

Phew - and top marks to Omlet for dealing with it. Glad you can feel your hens are secure now.