Poorly chicken

[tezzer]

As much as we love our Eglus and our chooks getting up at first light and beong around at dusk is a real pain.

 

"Conventional runs have auto openers / closers so who is gonf to put their minds to this one ?

[sandyhas3chucks]

not Omlet.. I asked them,said they had no plans to.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Hi Tezzer, welcome to the forum .

 

I think lots of folk just leave the door open all year round. As long as you don't have girls that are likely to be noisy in the early morning, it seems to work!

[Redwing]

I leave the Eglu door open nearly all the time now, if its very cold I shut it nearly all the way and the girls barge it open in the morning - you can't get much more automatic than that!

[freerange]

I'd be interested in a automatic opener too. We lost our 3 hens to a fox just before Christmas when I was later getting back than planned & rest of family were distracted by doing Christmassy things & so the girls weren't shut in at dusk. If I can't find a way of shutting the door at dusk I'll need to look for a different hen house, which seems such a shame as we're very happy with our eglus in every other respect.

[tezzer]

Can't say I'm keen on leaving the door open, especially not in this weather !

 

As for them barging it open, I'm sure my ex batts would sit in there all day making a racket if I didn't actually go and open the door for them every morning.

 

I DO like the little sound they make as I shut the door in the evening though !

[Cooks]

I leave mine 3/4 open the girls come and go as they please quite happily.

[Jenstuds]

Only just got our chickens - 3 ex-batts. We've been shutting our door in the cold weather, but with a view to leaving it open when the weather heats up. However despite this the chickens have been pushing the door open everyone morning as by the time I get there to check their water etc they are up and out in the run. They do have a bad habit of clogging up the door mechanism with bark chippings though, so I think this might give them the advantage on opening it in the morning.

[Louisdog]

I wish Omlet made an auto opener too, I have one on my wooden house and it's fab. Can't have an Eglu or cube and leave the door open as the fox managed to break into the Eglu run a few months back. It's a shame, I really wanted a cube but the lack of possibility of auto opener was a deal breaker for me.

 

Cheers

Alex

[sandyhas3chucks]

I wouldn't want a door closer incase one got left out. But just to set it to open would be lovely. read a lovely thread a while back from someone that had one & she sets her alarm eery morning to get uyp to watch & check it has worked

[Louisdog]

I know what you mean, we have had the same chook left out on two occasions, she was new and not properly settled in. I always check they are all away but in over 2 years they almost always have been. Handy when I am back late, anyway. Yes the morning thing is fab for lie-ins!

[DorianGray]

Our gang also seem to delight in clogging up the "locking slot" of their door with bark - and you do need to be able to dislocate your shoulders in order to clear it.

 

That said I actually like putting them to bed, with a stroke, each evening, and I enjoy the clucks I get each morning as they hear me walk up the path to let them out for breakfast. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age...

[sandyhas3chucks]

I just love saying goodnight to it is soooo adorable!

[Redwing]

Our gang also seem to delight in clogging up the "locking slot" of their door with bark - and you do need to be able to dislocate your shoulders in order to clear it.

 

 

Mine do this and I use a thin bamboo cane through the run mesh from above to flick it out