melcotton Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 Ours were waking up before 4am until the nights have started getting slightly longer again! No way I was getting up at that time so I tried the door training thing! Excellent! I do check before I go to bed that they are all in the eglu though rather than the run Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 I'm afraid that, until the clocks go back and the nights get cold, my lot have to suffer with the door OPEN. Once it starts to cool at night, they snuggle up together to keep warm, and I have the eglu and run in a fairly sheltered position to make sure they don;t have a raging wind blowing in - the girlies seemed quite happy with this set-up last winter. As soon as it gets cold though the door is shut at dusk, a blanket is put over the Eglu, and the nest and poo tray are lined with insulating straw! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken on a mission Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 My eglu is on concrete so I am confident nothing can tunnel in so I leave the door open all the time and make sure that the girls are shut back in the run well before dusk unless we are all out in the garden with them. When the mornings get darker and the nights colder then I will go back to shutting the door but not locking it so they can let themselves out. I think they quality of life the girls get from spending more time outside is worth the risk of them being close to the mesh should a fox come and also the mornings are a lot quieter as they don't need to shout for me to let them out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snaps Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 Ours sleep with the door open because they decide on a nightly basis whether they're going to camp out or go into the eglu. If they do go in and I'm still up I shut the door but leave it ajar - I heard about this on this site last year - these pages have been so helpful in all sorts of ways - so they can let themslves out in the morning. I never leave the door of the run open because of foxes or rats. I don't agree with the free range all the time principle because I think once a fox comes once successfully it will return and scupper your chances of keeping chickens safely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Managing Director Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 Oops I just posted somethign to the wrong link it's back in the right place now (I think) whilst I'm here though will just add we always leave the eglu door open at night and haven't had any problems although one of our neighbours has seen a fox on the eglu roof, mind you we do have a large german shepherd who frequently charges down the garden a full tilt and since he arrived the fox has not been seen!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
