Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[Crooked Chicken]

I currently have two girls but shortly will be hoping to add 3 ex bats and 2 buff orpingtons. I have never see buffs in the flesh, but have heard they are big, but how big? What I want to know, is do you think they will all fit happily into 2 Eglus? If not, I need to cancel my order of either the buffs or the rescue girls. (Can't afford a cube at the moment!)

 

Many thanks for any guidance.

 

Sue.

[Gallina]

Buff Orpingtons weigh up to ten pounds, and so I would guess that they are about three times the size of Omlet hens. (Has anyone ever weighed their Omlet hen so we can be more definite?)

 

You could get two Buff Orpingtons into an Eglu, but I don't think there would not be much room for any more hens.

 

And as they stand to roost and have long legs, I would be a bit worried about the height of the Eglu too.

 

Omlet do not recommend the Eglu for large birds. On the other hand, some people do seem to have large breeds in the Eglu, and I had a Cochin in mine for some time. (But although Cochins are huge they are not as lively as Orpingtons and have shorter legs.)

 

How do you propose dividing up your seven hens, because this could be the crucial factor?

[DominicJ]

Sell your eglus and buy a cube?

 

2 eglus should more than pay for a cube should it not?

[TAJ]

I agree with Dominic - for the hens you are aiming for a cube is better than eglu's - orpingtons would struggle.

 

Why not do it in stages 2nd eglu for the exbats as they will need keeping separate for a time anyway, then when they are ready to be integrated get a cube & the orps at that stage.

 

Tracy

[Crooked Chicken]

OMG. I hadn't realised buffs would be 3 x the size of an Omlet chicken. They must be the size of a little dog!! Would a cube have enough height for buffs I wonder?

 

If I sell an eglu and get a cube??? Maybe that would work. I think it's best that I always keep one of the eglus for the future to keep new / old birds separated. But could def. sell one and get a cube.

 

Does anyone out there have buffs in a cube?

[Gallina]

A lot of the extra size is just fat at the sides: they are meat birds, so have an awful lot of flesh.

 

They aren't three times the height of Omlet chickens. They are a bit taller, but an awful lot fatter.

 

The Cube would be big enough for any hens or cockerels, as it is tall as well as very spacious.

 

My Buff Orpington is currently living temporarily in an Eglu with two other fast-growing hens, but will go into my new Cube when it arrives tomorrow, and it will be a great relief to me. (My old smaller hens, who were meant to go back in the Eglu for the moment, got very seriously distressed when they were put back in it, so I thought squashed hens were preferable to hysterical hens.)

[Gallina]

I have been trying to get a picture to show the difference in size between a large hen and a hybrid hen.

 

(My Buff Orpington is still a baby, so there is no point in using her as an example: but Cochins and Orpingtons are very similar in size.)

 

It has proved very difficult because they won't keep still. But this morning Mrs Cochin was having her usual morning lie-down in the nesting box when my Amber Star and Bluebelle went in at the same time to lay.

 

I opened the door and took this photo, which I think proves that you need twice as much room for a big old breed as you do for a modern hybrid:

Er -- I can see the Cube needs a good clean. I tend to do the floor of the nesting box and forget about the walls.

[chelsea]

I would worry about the run height on the eglu run. We had cochins (similar to orps - see my photo below to see how big they are!) living in an eglu with no problems with the eglu itself but the run was too low for them - so we built a walk in run as they are tall chickens.

 

We have the cube now, but still use the eglu when we go on holiday.

 

To sum up - you probably could manage with 1 or 2 orps only in an eglu for roosting with a walk in run. if you were planning on buying 2 eglu's though - like the others suggested you may aswell buy one cube.