Locking Bar Eglu Classic

[AndyRoo]

Hello all,

 

I've been doing lots of research - and although I've read various different things, I wanted to get some questions answered based on personal experiences.

 

I hope you guys don't mind helping me out - and apologies if you have answered these all a million times before!!

 

01. What do you think is the best food for hens that are laying?

02. When providing grit for them, do you leave it in a food tray or do you scatter it around the run? Or both?

03. How often do you clean the Eglu (or whatever coop you have)?

04. If you use sawdust etc. to line the run, how often do you change it all?

05. How often do you give them additional calcium, and what do you give them?

06. At roughly what point in the year do the hens stop laying? Do they ever produce any eggs over winter at all?

07. How do you keep them warm in winter?

08. What do you use for their dust bath? Normal sand?

09. How often do you treat them for red mite / worms etc.?

10. Do you have any recommendations for 'beginner' hen breeds?

 

I'm sure I'll have a tonne more soon!

 

Thanks,

Andy

[emmalou]

Rule 1 whatever you do the next person will do it a little different so there is no hard and fast rule.

1) I use a good quality layer pellet in their feeder and then just some cereal mix (with not too much maize) for the summer later in the day, with some greens or grapes etc at some point. I do have some blé (wheat) atm but not sure whether this is a good summer feed too? Maybe someone could clarify this?

2) Some leave grit or ouster shell in a dish ( as I do) but some prefer to mix it to ensure they are getting some in their feed. I see ours eating it feom their dish so not a problem here.

3) I don't have an egglu but I clean out the poop every morning and then once a week clean the woodchip out if necessary. Deep clean twice a year.

4) I use woodchip as sawdust can known to be be dodgy for their respiratory system

5) I am still learning to will read this question with interest. Although good feeds do have calcium in I believe.

6) They do produce all year round but subject to a lot of things really. Feed, heat/weather etc etc.

7) They will be fine in the winter as they have a better duvet than we do. It is the heat that is worse for them.

Ours use dry dirt for baths and love it. I do use DE to help with nasties and scatter this everywhere but only a little.

9) I worm ours every with VermX every month for 3 consecutive days and atm have not needed to use a mite product although I did use Saniterpen for disinfecting before the chooks when in and a total mite spray afterwards to ensure there weren't any nasties in their beforehand.

10) I settled for a rouge and noir (standard hens), a medicis which is a french breed, a sussex and a marans coucou. The sussex doesn't appear as friendly as the others atm. The most friendly are the rouge and noir (your standard chickens) and the maran. a am in france so breeds maybe slightly different.

 

One thing I found was that I was getting a little bogged down with reading so many variables on forums. Go with your instinct and give yourself a good couple of weeks to see how you get on and how your birds are.

 

Good luck

Edited July 10, 2016 by Guest

[Cat tails]

1) I feed mine just some brandless layerpellet from a local store, who sells it by the kilogram. Ideal with only a few bantams running around

 

2) I have grit in a little bird tray normally used for smaller caged birds, but works fine.

 

3/4)On general cleaning and Eglu housekeeping, I once made this. But most here have their own routine and ways to do this.

 

5) when feeding layer pellets, extra calcium is technically not necessary.

 

7)Chickens don't really need to be kept warm as they are covered in .... feathers!

[AndyRoo]

Thank you.

 

If anyone else had any more to add, let me know!

[Cat tails]

On 6) it really depends if you have hybrids or pure breeds. Pure breeds will stop laying during winter. Hybrids can lay through winter, but will often lay for a shorter period of their life.

On 4 and 8 )

Mine are on bare earth, so they have a build in dustbath. I did dig in some paving slabs.

 

I've only had bantams and no experience with hybrids, so someone else will have more information on nice starting breeds.

[ISCA]

My two penneth:

 

01. What do you think is the best food for hens that are laying?

 

Layers pellets. I use Dodson & Horrell. I also feed greens, parsley, grapes, tomatoes, porridge in winter and corn or mealworms in the afternoons.

 

02. When providing grit for them, do you leave it in a food tray or do you scatter it around the run? Or both?

 

In a seperate tray mixed withoyster shell.

 

03. How often do you clean the Eglu (or whatever coop you have)?

 

I have a wooden coop. I clean the coop weekly, the run is cleaned out completely every 4-6 weeks.

 

04. If you use sawdust etc. to line the run, how often do you change it all?

 

As above. I use chicken bedding (smells nice and absorps well).

 

05. How often do you give them additional calcium, and what do you give them?

 

Oyster shell, free access.

 

06. At roughly what point in the year do the hens stop laying? Do they ever produce any eggs over winter at all?

 

Mine lay all year but slow down in winter. They stopwhen moulting and if broody. I had two hybris White Stars that layed almost every day, allyear but died from exhaustion. It put me off hybrids.

 

07. How do you keep them warm in winter?

 

They keep themselves warm. They do like some porridge when it's sub-zero though.

 

08. What do you use for their dust bath? Normal sand?

 

Mine dust bath in ordinary dry soil in the garden.

 

09. How often do you treat them for red mite / worms etc.?

 

I use Fubenvet Layers pellets twice yearly to worm. As for red mite I am on constant vigilence. I use diatomaceous earth in the coop. I also use Ardap spray and clena with Poultry Shield.

 

10. Do you have any recommendations for 'beginner' hen breeds?

 

For pure breeds I am a fan of Orpingtons and Marans. Dependswhat you want from your hens. They are not the most prolific layers but produce more than we can eat. I started off with 5 different breeds in my original flock: Dorking, Orpingtons, Marans, Cream legbar and Light Sussex. They were all great.

[mullethunter]

I have 4 pure breed bantams in an Eglu Cube with WIR who FR in the garden when I'm home, my mum has hybrids in wooden house who FR all the time.

 

1. FEED. Layers pellets. I use Marriages because mine are fussy, my mum uses feed merchants own brand. Both seem fine.

 

2. GRIT. I chuck some in the dust bath, my mum doesn't give any but hers free range all day every day.

 

3. CLEAN. I take the poo out every day, pressure wash poo trays and roosting bars once a fortnight(ish). My mum probably cleans the house out once every 3 weeks.

 

4. RUN FLOOR. My run is covered, on slabs, filled with hard wood chip, poo pick every day. Will be replacing wood chip next month for the first time when it will have been down for about 10 months.

 

5. CALCIUM. Never given Ca.

 

6. EGGS. Mine stop in November (slow down from now) and start again in late Jan / Feb. My mums lay all year.

 

7. KEEP WARM. Don't need to, although do shut the Cube door on sub-zero nights.

 

8. DUST BATH. Mix of sand, dry soil, old dry compost, ash, and mite powder. My mums just in the ground.

 

9. MEDICATE. Worm roughly every 3 months. Have never treated for mites other than by putting powder in dust bath. My mum - never!

 

10. TYPE. Hybrids are easy and will give you lots of eggs. Pure breeds generally live longer. My Wyandottes have been very hardy.

 

I've put what I do and what my mum does do show that there are very different ways of doing things - I think sometimes hers could do with a bit more, but she thinks mine are spoilt (she's definitely right ). If anything hers tend to ill health less than mine.

[Lewis]

1. Layers pellets should be 99% of their diet. We use Smallholder Range

2. Grit is always available in a coop cup

3. The poo trays in the Cube are emptied every couple weeks and it gets a proper jet wash every few months

4. As long as it is dry the run is cleaned maybe once every 3 months. More so in the winter when it gets muddy or wet

5. Layers pellets have all the calcium they need, Oystershell can be used to supplement

6. Hybrids should lay all the way through their first winter. Our pure breeds take a break October-February

7. Their body temperature is higher than ours and have a built in duvet

8. Sand, Diatom, dirt...

9. Dust the coop with Diatom weekly. Have Fecal Worm Egg Count done to see if they need worming

10. Hybrids are great as they are cheap, readily available, friendly and lay lots of eggs.

Pure breeds I would recommend Wyandottes, Welsummer, Pekins and Sussex

 

You may benefit from attending a poultry keeping course to get some hands on experience with hens and peace of mind. Check the Omlet Courses or Charlotte's Poultry near Bristol run courses.

[AndyRoo]

Thanks again all.

 

Any more tips just keep them coming!

 

It's looking like we're going to be moving in to our new home around late August. Is that too late in the year to start getting chickens? Would it be better to wait until spring?

[Olly]

Lewis, your cleaning routine pretty much mirrors mine, I'm always relieved when someone with your experience has a similar approach!

 

Andy, there's never a bad time to get chickens. If you get them in August they should lay through the winter.

[AndyRoo]

Okey dokey.

 

Initially we were going to get 3, and then maybe add another 3 next year, but I think I've been able to negotiate my way up to 4 as a starting number.

 

Maybe I'll get a couple of hybrids and a couple of pure breeds.