Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[Boybeck]

Let me be honest with you, I'm not exactly good at getting up before 9am (I work 11am to 7pm). Is this going to be a problem with my chickens when I get them with my new Eglu?

 

Could I just leave the Eglu door open overnight? Our garden is completely surrounded... a six foot high brick wall on two sides and 6 ft fence panels on the other, so I wonder whether foxes will get over that?

[Yolky]

I let my girls out about half seven. I don't think that they would wait till 9am though. The omlet man did say it was ok to keep the eglu door open, I know that there are foxes in the area though so I am not really happy to do that.

[Boybeck]

I think it's probably best that I keep the door open then.

 

I wonder if they can nudge it open in the morning if I just close it slightly at night?

[Janty]

Mine practically rioted when I overslept the day after we came back from holiday and that was half past seven. You do have to be careful about leaving the door open for them. I tried this and found that they just started shouting for their food at 4ish.

[Stevie]

I leave the Eglu door open all the time-at this time of year especially they're up at 5.00am!

[bokbokbok]

I'm luckier in that mine are in a much darker shed. I am normally with them by 8am but on Sunday I managed to lie on to 9am without them making a peep! The guilt over-took me by then though.

 

Did I read somewhere about people putting blankets over the Eglu to darken down the interior?

[GEB]

I have my eglu door closed but not locked and they push it open themselves in the morning. It lets them get up when they want but they don't get up as early as when the door is left open.

[Daisy & Hattie]

I let mine out when I get up. Through the week it's around 7 at the weekend it's anytime between 8.30 and 10.

 

 

 

[sparkysmum]

Hi, we let ours out before 7am most days. I think they might tolerate being a bit later but I am always concerned that they might wake our neighbours, although they never have. Take care. Allisonx

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Ours don't seem to mind what time we let them out . It's early during the week but can be 8 or 9am at the w/e. Never heard them shouting yet!

[Egluntyne]

I don't normally bother closing the Eglu door (although I am now closing the door on my red Eglu as the inmates are very young).

 

It is worth remembering that it is only considered foxproof when the hens are locked in the Eglu. If the door is open, it is merely fox resistant.

 

I open the door at around 7am at the mo.

[Sandychick]

I always leave the door open - they wouldn't want to wait for me to get up on my day off! In the winter when it's cold, and dark later in mornings I'll be shutting them in.

[oatley]

The solution to this is to get a cockerel too - you will NEVER be able to sleep late then!!!

 

Seriously though - Mine start complaining at about 6am and get louder and louder so I find it easier to go out in my dressing gown and open their doors then go back to bed and know that I can sleep in without guilt.

[superjules]

I keep mine in their house until 8.30 now, having had a complaint via the council about their early morning egg announcements, but my henhouse is darker inside than the eglu. It's the grey plastic at the front which lets the light in, so if you cover that they may stay quiet for longer. Otherwise, plenty of people leave the eglu doors open overnight.

 

We also have 6foot fences all round and have had fox visits on at least three occasions.

[choppish]

i leave mine open all the time. in fact i have never closed the eglu door.

 

i also leave the food in the run overnight so thehy can just get on with things. they start cooing when they see me at the window to be let out in to the garden but i ignore them till the afternoon.

[alexgirl73]

I dont have an eglu, but a shed converted into a coop and a run built onto the side. I've never closed the door, but as my OH has put wire mesh underneath the run as well I dont feel I have to worry about foxes. I also have my food and water inside the coop to encourage them to utilise both spaces and I dont have a problem with them making early morning noises

[surferdog]

Most days I let mine out at 7.00am but sometimes, if OH is on early shift or if I wake up early, they come out earlier.

 

I've noticed that they're better behaved if they're let out earlier. If they have to wait until 7.00am they start tapping on the eglu door and clucking. Once out they make a huge fuss at the front of the run to get into the garden whereas if they come out early they happily potter about in the run. Because of this I've started nipping out about 5.30 to let them out and then head straight back to bed until a more sensible time

[piptiddlepip]

I let mine out between 6 and 7. so far there's been no early-morning bokking but I wouldn't care to chance it!

[dancing cloud]

So am I the only one with little insomniacs then?

 

The scoffalots start bouncing around in their Cube and singing for their brekkie at about 5.45 (was about 5.30 at the height of what passed for summer) by way of encouraging me to let them out at 6.00. Weekends is the same - they have no concept of a lie-in. I've even put a tarp over the Cube to cut down on any light, but no chance of sleeping past 6.00.

 

When I tried leaving the pop-hole open so they could come out and eat/drink whenever they like, my lovely Hope-hen decided to sing to me anyway - at 4.45! I didn't even know that time existed (and was pretty sure the neighbours didn't want to know either!). After that, they all had to go to bed properly and be shut in.

 

I'm very jealous that everyone else's sleep so late.

[Boybeck]

ok, I'm getting worried now with all this talk of the chickens making a noise at "stupid o clock" in the morning! I plan to have just two or three chickens, just how loud are they??!?! I don't want to annoy the neighbours.

[piptiddlepip]

I'm no expert, but from what I've read on here, the answer to that is "it depends on the chickens"!

 

Mine seem to bok quite quietly. At least my girlfriend says they do - I'm deaf, so I don't have to put up with it

[Gallina]

Mine get very angry if I don't let them out by 7am in summer, but in winter it is easier, as they are not interested in getting up until it is light.

 

I don't recommend leaving the Eglu door open if you have foxes in your area: the hens could be terrorized in the run for hours before you are up.

[jlo]

Mine aren't too noisy but that may be because they are away from the house so I just don't hear them? OH opens the door at about 6 during the week. At weekends, if I wake at that time, I end up getting up, practically sleepwalking down the garden to open up and then, with any luck, sleepwalking back to bed for a bit more of a snooze. If I can't get back to sleep in ten minutes I have made a promise to myself that I will go for a jog. As I hate running, the incentive to get back to sleep is pretty strong 7.30 is the latest that they have been let out so far. Didn't seem to do them any harm.

[beach chick]

I think it depends on your set up. I only ever close the eglu doors in the depth of winter, if wind is in wrong direction & snow forecast!

 

I leave their food and water in the run overnight so when they get up they can eat and drink up. they are fine til whatever time someone lets them out of the run - could be 7.30, could be 9.30, they are quite content. they then spend all day inside the leccy fence, and put themselves to bed when they want.

 

most nights I shut the run door when I'm ready, but I am already thinking that if we want to go away for a w/e I would just load up the food and water and leave them to it (inside the switched on leccy fence) for a couple of days.