Solitary chicken - need advice

[Adams Egg]

My Mk1 eglu has developed a bit of a leak on the eggport in two places

 

The seals are perishing and Omlet say they no longer carry any spares for Mk1's

 

The other and more annoying leak is from the eggport door handle.

 

Water has begun to ingress where the metal handle enters the plastic and drips into the nestbox. I guess it needs a washer but the mechanism does not appear to come apart.

 

Anyone got any ideas for either problem or a spare door!?

 

Many thanks

 

"the soggy hens"

[Bohochic]

Could you use some bathroom sealant or similar around the handle? Maybe on the outside rather than inside, keep it away from the chooks?

 

As for the seals....I'm now sure what the Mark 1 seals are like, but could you use some like the rubber inner seals you get for cars (they usually can be purchased by the metre?)

 

Just some suggestions, but I don't have a mark 1, so not sure exactly? Do have any pics?

[Louise]

This is annoying because the M1 is only 5ish years old and the whole point of the eglu is they are designed to last for years and years

 

I noticed the plastic roosting bars were not available for M1's which is also annoying

[TAJ]

Time to put it on e-bay and upgrade!

 

Tracy

[Louise]

Why when I don't want to

 

I am afraid the throwaway society we live in now drives me crazy

 

I am not materialistic and am not always yearning for the latest greatest and bought the eglu which is/was expensive because I wanted it to be durable and last

 

There are a group of people who bought these units and still have them and through word of mouth for the produt helped (unpaid) to advertise the eglu who are now being abandoned which I am afraid I think is unfair

 

I am not trying to be controversial or offend but this is the second product I have only had for a few years that spares are now hard to find

 

Potentially this year I was expected to fork out another £100 for a new strimmer because the local shop no longer carries the spares and now another £450 for an eglu M2 I wonder how long spares for this will be carried if the cube starts to seel more

 

Not good customer service I am afraid

[TAJ]

Sorry - I just thought, looking as how mk1s seem to go for £250+ on Ebay and a new one, incl delivery is £360 that this might be a cheap option compared to parts, even if they were available.

 

I do not agree with this 'throw away society' either, but if they old is still being used surely that is different?

 

Tracy

[Louise]

No offence taken Tracey it just drives me mad I am happy with it don't want to go to the bother of buying another item then cleaning up and selling my existing one and I live in quite a difficult place to find for collecting all because a company decides they won't stock spares for something that probably has another 20 year of use in it

[Egluntyne]

Have you contacted the mothership Louise?

 

I wonder how many other disgruntled Mark 1 owners there might be out there?

 

I've got a yellow Mark1 (out on loan at the mo) but fortunately the seal is OK on mine. Up to now.

 

There will come a day though.

[Lesley]

I have contacted James about this - I will let you know if I hear anything.

 

We have 3 Mark 1s and I was thinking about replacing the seals before winter.

 

As ease of maintenance and long lifespan of the Eglu are main selling points, it will be a shame if the lifespan is shortened to 4 years purely because of lack of spares

[Adams Egg]

Thanks for the views,

I spoke to omlet and the design team say that they hold no spares any longer.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a suitable material to use as a replacement, probably some type of spongey rubber that is self adhesive?

[Cooks]

makes me wonder if it's worthwhile me buying a spare set of seals etc for the mark II just incase they stop selling those aswell!

[Sheilaz]

As the owner of 2 mark ones I share the disappointment about no spares and no plastic bars . (I'd love some, but do understand that the tooling up for a limited production run probably isn't feasible).

 

However, my solution is to keep a piece of old carpet over the eglus. I started this to prevent the handles freezing the door & port shut in winter (thanks Kate!) but it's effective year round against rain too.

 

Agreed it's not a good position to be in, but it solves the problem.

[Steve.]

I've found a hot-glue gun can generally fix most thing

 

Kids toys are a speciality ...

[Cooks]

is that an offrer to re seal everyones mark 1s??

 

I burnt my finger with a glue gun once I wont touch them since...

[Christian]

makes me wonder if it's worthwhile me buying a spare set of seals etc for the mark II just incase they stop selling those aswell!

 

Does the mark II have seals??

[Cooks]

I dont know, I dont look that closely, I just assumed they all did in some way shape or form to keep the wet out??

 

thinking about it I would have seen them when I take it apart to clean it, having a blonde moment I guess, but that makes me wonder now how its so good at keeping the rain out if it doesn't have seals of some sort.. (and not the arf arf ones)

[ubereglu]

The Mark 2 eglus don't have seals. The Mark 1s do though around the eggport hatch.

[Cooks]

ahhh I see, thanks for that... you learn something every day on here.

[foreveryoung]

£450 for an eglu M2 <---- if they are that amount wouldnt you be better off (if you had the room to get a cube.

 

 

just incase you were thinking of getting another

[Lapinou]

but that makes me wonder now how its so good at keeping the rain out if it doesn't have seals of some sort.. (and not the arf arf ones)

 

We've not had a leak in the three weeks we've had our mark 2 eglu and we've had some pretty heavy rain and wind just to add to the testing process but no leaks at all!

[Cooks]

mines under cover or the walk in run's roof, so no leaks here

[ubereglu]

but that makes me wonder now how its so good at keeping the rain out if it doesn't have seals of some sort.. (and not the arf arf ones)

 

We've not had a leak in the three weeks we've had our mark 2 eglu and we've had some pretty heavy rain and wind just to add to the testing process but no leaks at all!

 

That's because of the change in the way the egg port on Mark 2 eglus fastens. As there is a lip for the edges of the eggport door to slot into each other. With the mark 1 the design is different and is why the seals are needed.

[Cooks]

I didn't know, thanks for that , I haven't seen a mark 1 model so I wasn't aware of the difference in the door.