beach chick Posted May 27, 2008 Share Posted May 27, 2008 hi all - not been here in ages, life and all that.... hope you fellow omleteers who might remember me are all well. anyway, RIP Tara (visiting dog, the weekend before last) and Mercedes (fox, last weekend) - poor poor girls, but they had lovely lives and at least their ends were quick. Chardonnay is resolutely broody, but only in the eglu - moved her into a broody coop where she sulked like mad while I cleaned out the eglu, and has gone straight back into the eglu now. meanwhile, Paris is wandering about wondering where the others are... SO, I have today acquired 3 8 week old silkies and 1 8 week old Sussex (Crumpet - white, Muffin - black, and Apricot - er, apricot. the silkies and Crunchie the mostly white Sussex - dont ask, kids chose the names). they are now ensconced in the Wendy house, with wire stapled over the doorway - put them in the broody coop first of all, but found the dog digging under the edges within 5 mins! obviously next thing to do was buy another eglu (purple one on the way I hope) - checked out all the various prices on line and found the eglu was best vfm all round. am now getting hysterical, thinking will the silkies manage getting into the eglu??? are they big enough to roost/reach the grub and glug etc? the plan is when they are big enough they will all freerange with Paris and Char, but if I decide against it could the 3 silkies live happily in an eglu with one extension? I could then put the new Sussex with the other 2, but I would really prefer them all to freerange because they love it so much and the older 2 are used to it... so it would feel mean to deprive them now. silkies are bantams I think? the guy we bought them from was lovely, will have them back if they are cockerels (but went to immense trouble to see if they were girls), keeps all his cockerels coz cant bear to do away with them etc.. do I need to do anything different with banties than my Sussex and Bluebell big girls?? I currently have them on a mix of corn and growers pellets (which is what they are used to). advice about when to move them on to growers from the farm and my feed shop was pretty vague - about 4 weeks they seemed to say. thanks so much for any advice, they seem perfectly happy in the Wendy House now (eating, drinking, pooing etc) but I cant wait to get them properly housed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAB Posted May 27, 2008 Share Posted May 27, 2008 My silkie is only a couple of weeks older than that and is managing in a Cube. I made sure I hung glug and grub low enough and that poses no problem to her. She also admirably flys out of the coop in the morning. She cannot manage the ladder to go to bed at night, but if I prop a plank of wood against it she hops up that in no time. I would think a Eglu will be easier for them. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAB Posted May 27, 2008 Share Posted May 27, 2008 Meant to say - my Silkie is a bantam too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted May 27, 2008 Author Share Posted May 27, 2008 just realised length of post - should have said, "give yourself a shiney" if you got to the end!! thanks SAB, if yours can manage a cube, I reckon mine should cope with an eglu ok... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
