4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[millymollymandy]

hi I have had my brilliant chooks for a couple of weeks now and just need to pick your brains again!

 

i let the chickens out between 8 and 10 in the morning to free range before work but the last few days they have made a right din when I am going out to open the eglu door. I sounds like they are trying to fight their way out and sound quite angry.

 

I am not really keen on getting up much earlier to let them out but they sound so unhappy should I?

 

I thought about just leaving the eglu door open at night but would they get too cold? I know it is supposed to snow this weekend.

 

I'm not sure if they are trying to get out because they hear me coming or they are just desperate to escape.

 

I would be interested to know what others do before I give in to their demands and start setting my alarm clock for dawn!!

 

ps just watching them have their first dust bath in my flower bed is it strange to say I find it very cute

[jomaxsmith]

Mine start to scrabble about inside the Eglu as soon as I open the patio door! I think they're rostling for position to be the first one out. I'm pretty sure they're not doing it until they hear me coming.

 

I let mine into the run about 7am, but only because I'm up with the children then. I wouldn't let them out to freerange too early as foxes are most active at dawn and dusk.

 

Jo

[Redwing]

I let mine out at about 7am. They also scrabble inside the Eglu when they hear me come out but if its any consolation I wanted to see if its was just because they hear me so I tried opening an upstairs window to see if they were making a racket before I open the back door and they were completely silent!

[cordelia]

I let mine out about 7am too....I think they like to be out as soon as its light......and at the moment thats about 7am ish here.. although I have let them out earlier...when it was still dark, and they werent that pleased to be disturbed.

 

goodness knows what time I'll have to get up in the summer...but I'll do it...

[poachedegg]

At the moment we are actually up before them because it is so dark! We do let them out (into the run - not free ranging) at about 7.15 -7.30, to maximise the amount of time they spend in the daylight. They were in bed at 4.30 yesterday.

[tanyajb]

they always want to get up when its just got light! i let mine out 6ish in the summer but around 7 -7.30 in the winter! depending on what house you have you can get a automatic pop hople opener if you really like a lay in!!

[jill the potter]

Hi, I leave my eglu door open all night so that they can get into the run themselves when it's light. This was on the advice of the breeder where I got the girls. However I do plan to close the eglu door if the temperature drops below freezing, but apparently chickens suffer more from overheating than being cold (think about wild birds up in the trees!).

 

If they are allowed into the run as soon as its light then at least they will have had a good feed on their layers pellets before they go out and free range! It is true that they only start making a fuss when they hear you coming, mine pace up and down the run making a racket as soon as they hear the door handle, before that when watching through the window they are really calm!!!

[beach chick]

we've used the 'leave the eglu door open and run door closed' very successfully - even in the depths of winter - up until the last couple of months... when Apricockerel began making his presence felt rather too early!

 

I like the idea that they can get up and eat, drink and peck about when it's light, but Apricot put paid to that idea. at the moment, I have him and 4 girls in one eglu and the other 3 girls in the other, so the 'big girls' can get up when they like. I generally let them out anywhere between 7 and 8 am. however it will all change when my cube comes next week, when I suppose they will just have to stay inside til someone lets them out...

[atsw]

I let our girls out just after 7:00am at the moment, although it can be as late as 8:00am at weekends. As others have said, there's much shuffling and banging about as soon as I open the back door of the house and something of a mad rush as three hens all try to exit the coup the moment the Eglu door is swung open for them. At this time of year they tuck themselves up in the Eglu by 4:30pm, all that I have to do is shut the run door and Eglu door for them.

 

In the summer we leave the Eglu door open all the time, just opening the Run door to the garden once we're up, and closing it down again early evening or if no one is at home during the day.

 

Andrew

[Carol U]

Unless a really hard frost is predicted, we leave the eglu door open all year round. That way they can come and go as they please. They don't seem to mind the cold and get quite cross when we close their door. After all, in the wild they'd be perching in trees.

[sparkysmum]

Hi, We're early risers too. I open the eglu door just before/just after 7am and give them their (warm) mash at the same time. I don't let them out of their run until a bit later - times vary. They have been putting themselves to bed around 5pm although I don't shut their door until later (just in case they change their mind )

In the summer our wake up/going to bed times are much earlier & later Hope this helps. Allison

[Egluntyne]

I leave my Eglu doors open so that the can get up when they feel like it.

 

They are out before it is completely light, so I'd let them out of the Eglu itself well before eight, they will be hungry as at this time of year they won't have eaten since around 5.30pm.

[Topdollar]

I leave for work just after 6am and open the door for them just before I leave. They can here me as soon as I start my treck up the garden and this sets Jerry off crowing his heart out. By the time I get to them it sounds like a football match after a goal.

I've been thinking about leaving the cube open at night but we have lots of foxes around at the moment and prefer the extra security with it closed.

However they do settle down after about 5 minutes and put themselves back to bed. I can't wait for the longer days so I can enjoy them when I get back from work at about 5 pm but at the moment I only get to see them properly at weekends.

Roll on the spring

[piptiddlepip]

One of us gets up at 6:45, makes the mash and lets them out. There's some jostling about for "pole position" when we're about to open the pop hole, but that's all really. They don't seem to mind it still being a bit dark as long as there's hot mash going.

[toastedblue]

we leave the Eglu door open, so they can come and go as they please, but Karen opens the run door at about 7am

I've seen them sitting outside the run, at about 11pm, so it must get hot in there even in this weather

[helenmb]

i let the chickens out between 8 and 10 in the morning to free range before work but the last few days they have made a right din when I am going out to open the eglu door. I sounds like they are trying to fight their way out and sound quite angry.

 

I am not really keen on getting up much earlier to let them out but they sound so unhappy should I?

Don't forget millymollymandy that if your girls are going to bed as most of them are nowbetween 16:15 and 16:30 at the moment, if you don't let them out of the Eglu until between 8 to 10 the following morning that they will want to be out. Primarily because they have been cooped up without food and water for 16 to 18 hours . I would imagine that you wouldn't like to be kept in a small dark room for that length of time in the same conditions which is perhaps why they are eager to be outside (ie they are thirsty and hungry).

 

They will make a noise as soon as they hear you as they I am sure want to see you too, plus they will associate the noise of you approaching with being let out so they are just getting ready for 'the off'.

 

I let my girls out at dawn (7am at the mo) and then if I have the time I'll go back to bed. It's a small price to pay to keep them happy and all part of being a good 'chicken mum'. Also, in the summer they will need to be up much earlier so leaving the Eglu door open is a very good idea. I only close their door when the temp is getting on the low side so this means mainly in the Spring, Summer & Autumn you don't have to do the dawn dash!

[Sandychick]

My chickens enjoy early mornings much more than I do, so I leave the door open. I love them lots, but can't imagine being up at 7am on a Saturday morning to let them out - it just wouldn't happen after a late night out

[sparkysmum]

Hear, hear Helenmb or should that be here, here

Allisonx

[jomaxsmith]

Further to my earlier reply, I didn't mention that I leave the eglu door open most of the year and only close it when dawn is later than 7am and when they're in bed early - so this year I started doing it around the time the clocks changed.

 

This weekend, though, we're going away so on the coldest night of the winter so far, I'm going to have to leave the eglu door open. Just hope they don't get too cold, especially as they are mid moult and have naked bellies

 

Jo

[TAJ]

The big girls I shut the door only 2/3rds and they let themselves out - even now they are in the run by 6 am. The babies (6 weeks) do get shust in so the do not get cold and get let out 6-7am, but they do also have food & water in their rablu.

 

Tracy

[miffy]

One of us gets up at 7 to open eglu and let them into the run, let the dog out,(Millie, our English Springer Spaniel), put the washing on, and make a cup of tea. Then back to bed till 8 when its time to feed Millie, then the other one gets up feeds Millie and makes a second cup of tea. Depending whats on we either get up at that time or go back to bed again .

In the summer we let the girls out a roud 6.30-7. We always close the door of the eglu at night.

[smanners]

I get up at 6.30 am every morning being a bit of a lark myself and let the girls free range under supervision for an hour before we all have to go to work/school.They then stay in their run until the kids are home from school at 3.30pm when they get another quick free range before bedtime. Then I lock the run door and leave the cube door open until about 10pm when I have a quick peek to see them all blissfully asleep.

I have left the cube open sometimes when its very mild but then find I'm sleeping with my eyes open and dreaming that Mr Fox is busy digging his way in to munch on the girls

I may have to manage my anxiety better for when summer comes as I'm sure it will be too hot all night shut in the cube.

[mostin]

Tonight will be the first night since I got my girls that I have shut my eglu door. It's only because the weather forcast is so cold. Not looking forward to gotting up at 7 . I'm a bit of a sloath on a weekend .