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

[Trunkey]

There is a wealth of information out there and I feel somewhat overwhelmed by it all!

 

Having decided to keep a few chickens my first obstacle is which is the best house to keep them in?

Is the eglu really a good choice? is it best as newbie to go for the whoile Omlet experience?

How about picking up a second hand eglu even a rabitt one and buying the converter kit?

The prices I have seen for secong hand set up's are often hitting £260-£280 without birds.

 

I have had a mooch about this forum and it seems some folk have bad luck in terms of soft eggs and some chickens not producing any egg's. Is now a bad time to start out would I do better to wait for the spring?

 

Comments gratefully recieved.

[Janty]

Hello and welcome.

 

 

I started in October 2007 with a cube and seven girls. I never had any problems with soft eggs until I got my ex-batts and my girls got older. Even then it was sorted quite quickly with the addition of some limestone flour in with their food.

 

The eglu and cube are brilliant houses to start with...but I love them and as you can see I have expanded hugely as the chicken bug took hold.

 

Whatever housing you decide on, you can be sure that someone on here will have one and will be able to advise you about it.

 

Good luck with the choosing.

[Space Chick]

Welcome to the Forum

 

I think that the Eglus and Cube are ideal as a first timer. I was reassured by the ease of cleaning and the fox resistance.

 

I have had a few softies, one from a girl who didn't develop properly and sadly didn't make it (unusual and just bad luck) and from an ex batt, but as Janty said it is easy to sort with limestone flour.

 

It is a learning curve, but you have everyone here for help and advice. Certainly it has been the best move I made, but it is very addictive!! I started with 4 and now have 12

 

Good luck with your decision

[Joolz1965]

We have been Eglu owners only for about 6 weeks or so. I bought my Eglu Mark 1 second hand for around £200. We did loads of research prior to getting the Eglu - looking at the wooden coops etc but to be honest for the size of garden we have the eglu was the ideal choice. We bought three pullets from a local supplier - one of which has been laying for about 2 weeks now, one is about to lay and the third is not far behind - we have two hybrids and a pure breed - cost £30.00 for the three of them. We have since extended the run to 3 metres giving our chooks extra space - we let them free range for about an hour or two a day semi supervised due to Mr Renard but so far we have not had any problems with him - could be because we have a dog or just been very lucky! They are great fun for the kids, very entertaining to keep and I am hooked. I would definately recommend the Eglu because of its ease of use, great looks and suitability for the smallish urban garden. Go for it - you won't regret it.

[Dawno]

Hi welcome to the forum, I have a cube, got my first chickens on Setember 21st, I have 6 chickens. 4 are now lay everyday,however did have a few softies, cured that by stopping the corn treat in the afternoon, exhanged that for a couple of scoops of layer pellets and grit scattered on the ground in the afternoon which occupies them until bedtime!

2 chickens not yet laying are younger than the others by about 4 weeks so fingers crossed any day now, I would say not a bad time of year to start,love watching them and collecting eggs each day....best pets ever.

[chick wiggle]

As you can tell from the replys we are very, very eager chicken keepers on here It is very addictive and i dont think you would regret getting chickens. If i had known years ago how totally adorable and easy to keep chickens are i wouldnt have bothered with hamsters, guinee pigs, rabbits etc

i have a cube, an eglu and a wooden house and although the cube and eglu are easier to clean and less likely to get red mite the wooden house is a very viable option and so it really is a personal choice. But, whatever you do decide you can rest assured that any questions or problems you have, there will always be someone here on hand to help!

Good luck and let us know what you decide

[House MD 221B]

Hey and welcome

 

you've come to the right place, everybody here is really friendly and helpful and supportive, we've needed help and guidance and we've never been found wanting for advice and help on here.

 

My OH Sally, actually bought a standard Eglu and run, with 2 chickens in April this year, about a month before we got together.

 

I'd NEVER EVER thought of chickens as Pets, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind, but since I've been here (May this year) they are the most adorable, lovable, easy to look after pets I think I've ever known.... sure hamsters etc. are easy, but personally I don't find you get as much love back from them... hamsters don't come running up to the door when they hear your keys turn, and they certainly don't do the wonderfully funny things like chasing flies around open mouthed at full tilt around the garden, or savage a sweetcorn like a piranha! lol

 

What you want depends on what you already have... what size garden you have, what kind of garden you have. etc. Sally put off buying chickens for ages because she thought she needed grass, but you don't, it's nice sure, but bark chippings make a good substitute, and our chickens LOVE scrabbling through the bark chippings, and dust bathing in the side borders, and scratching through the gravel.

 

I suppose it all comes down to, how confident do you feel? Sally chose to start off with 2. They were point of lay hens and is a miss pepperpot named Poach, and a Gingernut Ranger named Scramble who sadly passed away last week.

 

Ultimately with pets its the luck of the draw, we do our best to give them a happy and healthy and loved life for as long as we can. Sadly scramble only made it to 8 or 9 months, but we did everything we could, and the time she had was a happy time, and when it was time for her to go, it was a kindness.

 

Now we have 4, Poach, Miss Pennyapple (Merrydale Sussex), Angua (Partridge Pekin Bantam), and Pecan (Merrydale Crested)... this is our first introduction and sure enough people on here have been more than happy to help.

 

We had a few soft eggs, but as others have said it's easily remedied, we even had a bloody egg, which was of GREAT shock to us as we had to learn and adapt, and educate ourselves very quickly, but sure enough people here were ready to help.

 

All I can say is, don't look at the chicken clinic, it will scare the life out of you all the things that COULD go wrong with a chicken, but the IMPORTANT thing to remember is that on the whole these things are mostly rare, or aren't always as serious as some sound. And there will be a great support network for you should anything happen.

 

 

 

But from my OHs experience, your best best is to work out how many you want to start off with, be it 2, 4, or 10, or create your own chicken city, but she chose to get an omlet package comprised: Run, Eglu, Grub, Glug, 2 x chickens, feed, grit, citricidal etc. and I believe it totalled somewhere in the region of £300. (edit) which may seem expensive, but once you have the Eglu and the run, you aren't going to have to buy another one for some time to come, unless you decide you want more than a standard eglu can hold. After that chickens are relatively cheap, the 3 we bought today ranged between £15-£25

 

It's incredibly fun, they truly bring life to the garden and the family, it's incredibly rewarding, and whatever you decide to do, we wish you all the best. I hope this is in some way useful to you and not just a very long chickencentric ramble

[Chook n Boo Mum]

House, excellent chickencentric ramble!!

 

Trunkey, welcome to the mad & happy world of chooks, as you can see from my signature I too am badly bitten by the chook-bug and Omlet houses. Most of mine are previously loved from ebay and have all been fairly reasonably priced, the two which weren't ebayed were recon from Omlet so discounted & looked perfect, and which came with my rescued Orpies. Just keep watching, you may have to travel a fair distance, but if you factor in your fuel & time (and a visit or two to friends on the way as we did for ) you can bag a real bargain. As has been mentioned, they can hold their value very well, which is great should you re-sell them for whatever reason...usually upgrading to the cube in the case of the eglu, not so good if you are buying one to start with To be honest there is very little to go wrong with an eglu or cube, it tends to be scuffs on the run skirt from errant lawnmowers and scratches from chook claws or sun fading which marks an older house from a new one in my experience.

 

As I only have preloved houses my hens mainly came from local suppliers/breeders which gave me a better choice of breeds....which makes recognition sooooo much easier in the beginning ...........the batties came from BHWT.......the Orpies I rescued/adopted........Lavender & Oak arrived via a "chicken train" on the collection weekend thanks to Redwing ...........and the Bufflings were hatched by one of the Orpies during the summer. You can find very reasonably priced beautiful birds, but some breeders can charge HUGE prices........if you find a local supplier, pop on here & ask for recommendations..........and if you have a gut feeling of "no", go with it, I'm so glad I did on my first visit to a breeder. You can always make a "you don't have a bluebelle (for example or anything they blatantly don't have) & my daughter has set her heart on one" kind of excuse & leave....been there, done that

If you buy a rablu one, take into account that the bases rarely come up on ebay and cost £60ish in the shop, it could take you nearer to a new price than is sensible & you'd be better going for a new one in the first place.

 

As far as getting chooks now is concerned, it depends how patient you are, the selection is not so good in the winter.............I've always managed to acquire a house for a reasonable price before I've "needed" it, or been very lucky & nabbed a bargain at an opportune moment , and got my chooks accordingly, no matter what the time of year...the batties & Orpies arrived 2 days before the snow in Jan/Feb this year............as long as they are fed, watered & housed appropriately and you are aware of any potential problems which may occur (no feathers & snow is not a good combo, but I managed it & still have 3 of my 4 batties who are now happy & healthy ) you should be fine............

 

Another small point which so many newbies don't seem to grasp at first is that the chooks are adorable additions to the garden, but are destructive little minxes & will strip plants to bare sticks, kick paths into the lawn, render the said lawn a mudbath/dustbowl and murder beautiful specimen plants in pots in the search for another favourite dustbath........ they also poo their own body weight it seems wherever they are & do not have any wish to keep your pristine patio/back door step clean (regular poo-picking is the answer here!).........you have been warned

 

For the record I do also have a wooden house which a friend's hubby made me as an emergency sinbin/hospital wing...it looks lovely but isn't anywhere near as easy to clean as the eglu & cube due to it's design, but it was made with love, is extremely robust and was very cheap, so I can't complain

 

Good luck, and well done if you got to the end of my ramblings, hope they are useful

 

Sha x

[Fur 'n' Feathers]

Welcome to the forum Trunkey.

 

We have an eglu & a cube and we can tell you that, if we hadn't found the eglu, the time taken with keeping a wooden coop would have prevented us from starting until retirement due to the work commitments we have.

 

Both are easy to maintain - 30 minutes for a quick clenout & about 90-120 for the full cleanout, including scrubbing down the slabs when changing the aubiose. In addition, all parts can be dried off quickly with a cloth - a real bonus in the winter!

 

As far as hen performance is concerned, you will always experience individual differences, strengths and weaknesses, just like with humans, but they're all lovable

[Olly]

Trunkey, welcome to the forum. Some good advice above, and you are quite right to be cautious because taking on hens is a big commitment, although most of us find them to be low-maintenance and very rewarding.

 

Just a couple of observations: firstly, don't forget that people tend to post on here when they need advice or help, especially in 'Chicken Clinic'. In other words, people whose hens are happily pottering around the garden and laying every day don't tend to post as often, so you could get the impression that soft eggs, illnesses etc are more common than they really are.

 

Eglus are very popular and it's hard to find a real bargain on eBay these days, it's worth ringing the Omlet shop to see if they have any reconditioned ones. Omlet make it easy by producing the whole 'kit', but you can easily buy the bits you need, and find a local supplier for hens. Any good poultry seller will talk you through how to hold them, and clip their wings for you if you ask.

 

If you do buy an Eglu and then decide that hen-keeping is not for you, they have a good resale value, something you won't have with a wooden coop. However for some people a wooden coop looks more appropriate in a garden setting. Whatever you get, you are welcome to come on to the forum for advice. You could always go and visit an Eglu or Cube near you, or go to a Hen Party to get a feel for things.

 

I don't think now is a bad time to start, although they may lay less regularly in winter you should still get eggs. Bear in mind however that chickens get up and go to bed with the sun, so in winter you will see less of them, especially if you're at work during daylight hours.

 

Do ask any questions you have, we're always keen to draw others into the Chicken Experience! Let us know what you decide.

[Janty]

Whereabouts are you?

If you are anywhere near Suffolk, there are lots of us around with cubes and eglus that you could visit.

 

[Chook n Boo Mum]

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1163&view=unread#unread is a list of eglus & cubes you can visit, most of us who post regularly are on there & are very welcoming and happy to show off our "toys"

 

Sha x

[whoopsie]

I got my eglu and chooks on the 10th september and i'm SO happy I did it. Despite a couple of setbacks (like losing my exbatts to a fox the day after I got them) I have thoroughly enjoyed keeping chickens and wish i'd got them years ago. I definately like the Eglu and Cube for cleanliness so i'd recommend it.

 

I went for the full 'package' from Omlet having not had hens before and I found that it suited me - the things I saw on ebay didn't work out much cheaper.

[chickenNutter]

I became a first time chicken keeper in July, and bought a second hand eglu Mk2 off E-Bay. Got 3 pure bred chooks from a chicken breeding friend of my OH.

 

I choose the eglu as we have a very tiny garden, and aesthetically it is very low impact. I would love a walk in run, but it would dominate the garden. Also for a beginner the eglu is so easy to clean and means that the girls are very low maintenance pets.

 

I would definitely recommend the eglu. We love it.

 

Our girls are still not laying, and I am not really expecting anything now til spring, but I would still get your chooks now, rather than wait til spring - it will give you time to bond and also think of all those lovely chicken extras and pressies you can ask for for Xmas from the Omlet shop!