Re: Eglu pros and cons

On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:02:23 +0100, Jill wrote
(in article <13g071cbdj438b8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>):

Sally Thompson wrote:
Hi, first posting here but I have been reading this group for some
time doing my homework<g>.

Hi and welcome to the group and your new addiction <grin>

It shows does it?<g>. Jill, thanks so very much for your very comprehensive
reply - and thanks also to Tina and ALP who made some valuable points. You
have all been very helpful and - best of all - given me reasons for your
answers. I had some misgivings about the Eglu but couldn't quite put a
finger on them (apart from the price!). I think (answering ALP) I can
actually get a timber hen house cheaper than the Eglu, and having slowly
converted not-so-willing husband over to the idea of having the hens in an
Eglu, he is now coming over to the timber hen house with a run. We have a
large wire mesh cage for the ground-feeding birds (keeps out magpies and
squirrels) made by a local company, and I think we can get the (very sturdy)
mesh from them to make a run, using ideas from the Eglu web site<g>.

We have just over an acre of fairly wild
ground and I would really really like two or three hens to play with
and to give me eggs.
<snip>
However, although I would eventually
like the hens to run freely over our whole piece of land, at present
it is not all fenced as necessary, and there are foxes and badgers in
this rural area.

We all have foxes and other predators.
IF you are rural then you are less likely to have daytime ones so you will
be like all the rest of us who can happily let our birds out free ranging
during the day time without any need for pens but MUST religiously shut the
birds into the house at night.

Yes, I am well aware of that. I should have been more specific I suppose, in
that any run or fencing is not just to keep the foxes at bay, but to keep the
hens within our own land. We are mostly fenced with either solid timber
fence or stock fence, but not entirely. Also, our bottom boundary is a
stream with steps down to it and bridges across. I'm not sure how far hens
wander and if they would venture over there. Obviously, if they get across
then they can happily venture up or down stream.
<snip>

Weldmesh runs are secure and larger.

I'll look into Weldmesh - I think it's probably like the mesh referred to
above.

An electric fenced paddock would be far more suitable, if you REALLY think
you have a daytime predator threat.

It's a lot of electric fence! Also we have cats who do of course wander off
into the adjoining fields, and I wouldn't like to prevent them from doing so.

You have lots of space, chickens do not care where their humans are.
If you have daytime predators, it will make no difference to them whether
you are at home or not. They will strike.

I know other people round here have lost hens during the daytime.

So to give your birds a good quality of life and to make use of the space
you have I would strongly recommend electric fencing.

<snip>

I like the houses for chickens to use to have a really good area of bedding,
it is an essential in the British climate, especially when birds are roaming
around paddocks.

<snip very valuable advice>

I know Mary thinks the world of her Eglu and I would recommend one in her
circumstances which is a few bantams living in a city garden.
For the same [and less] money you can get a lot more henhouse and more
appropriate features for the circumstances you are offering your birds: lots
of wild area.


Jill, the quality of life of the birds is most important to me. I can't bear
things in cages and the run would be a temporary measure and possibly, as I
said, somewhere where I could leave them safely if I were out for the day.
Thanks once again for your response, which I have printed off for reference.


I have no doubt I will be back here with more questions in the future<g>.

--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk


.

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