Thinking about keeping chickens?
Read our handy guide first that has been provided by Sarah from Sussex Garden Poultry ….
What advice would you give for someone looking to keep Chickens? The most important thing is going to be the coop, choose something that will be safe for the hens, that will last, that’s easy to clean. Spend well, spend once. Buy your hens from a reputable source, it’s easy to be fobbed off with cockerels or older hens if you don’t know what to look for. Buying ‘point of lay’ means they may not be laying yet, but within a few weeks you’ll get eggs, there is no way of ageing a hen, you don’t want to buy something that’s 3 years old.
Which type of Chickens would you suggest to get as a first time Chicken owner?
If you’ve never kept hens before I always suggest you choose a fairly calm type of hybrid. The Red Rangers, Blacktails, Light Sussex & speckled hens. These girls will lay you lots of eggs with the minimum of fuss. Bantams are also a good choice if you have a small garden.
What type of Coop would you recommend?
Always buy the biggest coop you can afford & have space for, hen keeping is addictive, you start with 3 & end up saying, ‘oh I like that colour, that breed, that shape……..’
How many Chickens would you suggest getting initially?
First think about your coop size, I always recommend starting with 3, the classic & the Go easily take 3 hens, should you have the misfortune to loose a bird you need to add a minimum of 2 hens, these coops have the space for 4 hens max. With the Cube you can take more hens, but remember when you want to add to your flock it’s best to double your numbers, so 4 or 5 in a cube allows you to add again in a couple of years time to keep a year round supply of eggs from new layers.
Should you always keep more than one Chicken?
Chickens like to be in flocks, no one wants to be lonely, why would a chicken?
This entry was posted in Chickens
Have you ever wondered what’s going on in the minds of your chickens?
- Chickens have, just like us, full-colour vision. So the colourful Eglus from Omlet will also brighten up your chickens’ day!
- Chickens dream just like we do. During sleep they also experience REM (Rapid Egg Movement?). Maybe they dream about all the exciting things they did during the day…
- Chickens are omnivores, which means they eat both vegetables and meat. They love seeds and juicy worms, but will also appreciate a small mouse if they come across one.
- Chickens are related to the Tyrannosaurus rex. Maybe this is not that hard to believe when they stare at you with a penetrating gaze (trying to convince you to feed them…again!).
- There is a word for the extreme fear of chickens, namely alektorophobia.
People with alektorophobia can even develop a fear for eggs.
- Chickens have an excellent memory. They are able to recognise the faces of more than 100 members of their species, other animals and humans.
- Wild chickens just lay ten to fifteen eggs a year during the breeding season. Battery hens are bred to lay an egg almost every day. To make sure you’ll use the eggs of your hens in date order, Omlet provides the Egg Skelter.
- The heaviest chicken egg ever weighed was 340g (as a comparison: an average chicken egg weighs between 55-75g). As chickens get older they will lay fewer but larger eggs.
- The colour of the egg does not alter its nutritional value or taste. The reasoning behind different shell colours is that different breeds lay eggs of different colours.
- It takes 21 days on average for a chicken egg to hatch once incubation begins, whether you incubate them with an incubator or set them under a hen.
- It is very unlikely that an egg with a double yolk will produce a chicken twin. There is too little space in the egg for two chicks to fully develop.
- Worldwide there are more than 25 billion chickens (as a comparison: there are less than 7.5 billion people). Chickens are therefore the most common birds on earth.
- The red junglefowl (gallus gallus) from Asia is the ancestor of the modern chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus). Chickens were probably already domesticated in the sixth millenium B.C.
Sources: www.omlet.com.au, www.backyardchickens.com, www.countrysidenetwork.com, www.smithsonianmag.com, www.thefactsite.com, www.thehappychickencoop.com.
This entry was posted in Chickens
With only 25 days until Christmas we thought we’d give you a little something to keep you and the kids entertained… a Christmas card colouring competition. The great thing about this is that all you need is a piece of A4 paper and pens/pencils and you will end up with a lovely card to give to someone…
Not only can you have fun colouring, but you can also win some eggcellent prizes!
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Christmas is coming and with it the dreaded Christmas shopping! To make life easier this year for you we are offering FREE DELIVERY ANYWHERE in Australia when you buy the Eglu Go Chicken Coop or Eglu Go Hutch (more…)
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When you talk to most people who are planning to get chickens they talk about wanting them so that they can have fresh eggs daily and yes, that is usually the main reason, but there is more to chickens than their eggs… (more…)
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It’s wintery and cold and time to celebrate Christmas in July with Omlet. We have 3 fabulous stockings stuffed with prizes to giveaway PLUS 7 runners-up prizes… (more…)
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If you want to collect your order rather than have it delivered you can. Here’s how you do it and some of the commonly asked questions:
1. Decide what you want to order (we’d suggest one of everything!! :))
2. The DAY BEFORE you want to pick up your order, order online or call 02 81034124
3. The day AFTER your order, call the warehouse on 02 8882 5400 to confirm what time between 8am and 3:30pm (Monday to Friday) you will collect your order. Take your order number with you and go to:
ACR Supply Partners
12 Distribution Drive
Orchard Hills
NSW 2748
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Can I collect my order on the weekend?
No sorry, the warehouse is only open Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm. - It’s a long weekend are you open on the public holidays?
No sorry. - What happens if I am running late, do I need to call and tell Omlet?
The warehouse is a third party that we use, it isn’t owned by Omlet, sometimes they are there later than 4pm, but we cannot guarantee it. It is up to you if you still go or if you go another day, you don’t need to let us know. - Can I see any of the Omlet products assembled at the warehouse?
No sorry, it is literally just a warehouse with boxes of products in it. - Can I pay at the warehouse?
No sorry, there is NO Omlet office at the warehouse and therefore no one to take payment. - Will someone call or email to tell me that my order is ready for collection?
Yes, we will email you to let you know you can pick it up. If for some reason it has been a few days and you haven’t collected your order we will probably give you a call to check that you didn’t select collection by mistake. - When I order online it wants my address why is that?
You do need to put in your address when you order online even if you are picking it up so that we can check your credit card against your address. - Can I send someone else to collect my order?
Yes of course, just make sure they have your name and order number. - Will my order fit in my car?
It is best to check on the page of the item you are ordering, at the bottom of the page it will tell you the box dimensions so that you can work out if it will fit. - Do I have to lift the boxes into my car?
Usually the warehouse guys will help you, unless they are very busy.
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Summer is well on it’s way and with it comes Australia day. If your chickens, rabbits or guinea pigs are feeling a bit fed up with their house this is the perfect time to upgrade it to a new easy to clean house!
Save $50 off all the Eglu Go’s below when you use coupon code: AUSSIE50 at the checkout before 31/1/16
Eglu Go chicken coop with 2m run – usually $499 now $449
Eglu Go UP chicken coop with 2m run and wheels – usually $699 now $649
Eglu Go guinea pig hutch with 1m run – usually $449 now $399
Eglu Go rabbit hutch with 2m run – usually $499 now $449
Get $50 off these chicken coops, rabbit hutches and guinea pig hutches with runs when you use the coupon code online before midnight on 31st January 2016.
Please note that the discount does not apply to any orders already placed before the discount started (18/1/16) and the discount cannot be used with any other discount codes. The offer only applies to Australian orders. The discount only applies to house and run packages not the house alone.
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You can download the one page information on how to fundraise with your school or kindy for an Omlet chicken coop as a PDF here : Omlet Egg Carton Fundraising 2016-01-07
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This is a question I get asked A LOT… The answer is YES AND NO! Have I confused you yet? Well according to my eggpert source, a food scientist eggs can be kept in or out of the fridge. (more…)
This entry was posted in Chickens
As you will have seen on the website we are currently out of stock of the Eglu Cube…. and because they are made in the UK it does take a while to get more over here. We do have a container bursting full of Cubes arriving mid January, but if you can’t wait until then I thought I’d give you some alternatives. The Eglu Cube houses up to 10 chooks (depending on their size) so the options below will do the same… (more…)
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If your chickens are pecking at the fence or run wire it may be because they are bored.
Chickens are pretty intelligent animals and are a bit like children who are bored, they turn a bit naughty! This naughtiness might be in the form of pecking through their fence if is a nylon one.
Why Do Chickens Get Bored?
A bit like us it is because they have nothing to entertain them… The reasons they get bored can be because:
- There is nothing to peck at in their run, maybe the grass has all gone
- You have had to move them into a smaller run or area due to colder weather
- Their run is just dirt, nothing interesting in there for them
Ideas to Help Prevent Chicken Boredom:
- Hang up a bird feeder with vegetable leaves in it
- Hang up a whole cabbage, the fun with this is that it moves around as it is pecked which makes it harder for the chicken
- Use something like broccoli and hang it so that the chickens have to jump to reach it, exercise, entertainment and food in one!
- Hang up bird toys that you would buy for parrots, you could easily make one of these as well
- Hang up a mirror, they love looking at themselves – they find it fascinating
- Throw in some straw or hay with a handful of sunflower seeds or mealworms for them to peck around and find
- Fill an empty plastic bottle with chicken scratch, then piece the sides with holes so that the chickens have to roll the bottle around to get the scratch
- Add a dust bath to the run, this can be as simple as a container filled with sand
- Freeze treats like sweetcorn into ice cubes so they have to peck through the ice to get the corn
- Hang up old cds so that they move in the breeze
- Add extra perches, this can be an old wooden crate or a tree stump, it doesn’t need to be fancy
- Add a chicken swing, hours of entertainment swinging to and fro
What do you do to keep your chooks entertained?
This entry was posted in Chickens
I get asked this question A LOT, and the answer is yes plastic chicken houses do get hot in the heat, but so do wooden ones. Just because a chook house is made from plastic it doesn’t mean that it will heat up more and boil your chooks.
With the Omlet Eglu houses they are double insulated, which means that they keep the inside of the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Now to clarify the double insulation in summer does not mean that your chickens will be living in a fridge! It is probably around 5 -10 degrees cooler in the house versa outside depending on where the house is situated. (more…)
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The Eglu Go UP usually comes with a 2m run, however you can buy it with an extra 1m run extension, if you do this, then the run gets a bit wobbly when you put it together….. Which is why you get 2 green poles to attach to the outside of the run to make it more stable.
Unfortunately at the moment the instructions you get with the 1m run extension doesn’t explain this, so people get left with 2 poles and wonder what they are for 🙁
In the diagram here you can see where to put the 2 poles – one each side of the run where the long red line is. (more…)
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