The Omlet Blog Archives: October 2019

Top Picks From the Omlet Christmas Shop

The Omlet Christmas Shop is back and better than ever!

Tick off Christmas presents for your VIPs (very important pets) with the Omlet Christmas Shop and our wide range of festive toys, treats and more, for all of your beloved pets. 

Kick off the most wonderful time of year with our range of advent calendars for dogs, cats, and small animals. A fun, festive tradition which kids (and grown ups) will love sharing with their furry friends. 

For dogs, we have a wide range of delicious treats in a variety of Christmas flavours, from Turkey bites to Christmas pudding cookies, as well as fun and cuddly toys that will keep them happy in the excitement of Christmas Day! You can even keep your canine friend cosy and warm this December, with our super cute winter jumpers available in 3 sizes. 

For the feline residents of your home a wide selection of treats and toys are available, including a Grumpy Cat LED lights wand and brussel sprouts rattles for interactive play. The Deluxe Christmas Stocking makes the perfect gift for your fellow crazy cat lovers, and are also available for all other animals

Back by popular demand this year is our delightful Christmas Coop-pourri. Add a fresh scent of Christmas cheer to your girls’ nesting area with our blend of fifteen herbs, flowers and spices, including notes of cinnamon and clover. For chickens, we also have our popular Peck Toys, Caddi Treat Holders, plus new hanging seed decorations. The new Automatic Chicken Coop Door makes a great gift for chicken keepers as it can be fitted to all wooden coops, the Eglu Cubes and all Eglu runs. 

For small pets, including rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters, we have a variety of Christmas themed gnaws, as well as a super cute snowy igloo and a delicious celebration cake!

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This entry was posted in Christmas on October 8th, 2019 by chloewelch


How to Prepare your Chicken Coop for Winter

A chicken keeper and her dog outside in the snow with an Eglu coop

The temperature is already dropping rapidly, the nights are drawing in and we are just weeks away from the first frost. Although the fresh air and crunchy leaves may be loved by some, the signs of winter being just around the corner can be a worry for chicken keepers. 

Now is the time to act! Get your chickens’ coop ready for the colder months before the freezing temperatures hit, and you will be able to rest easy knowing that your girls are warm and healthy throughout winter. 

Take a look at some of our top tips for getting your chicken coop winter-ready…

Move Your Coop Closer to the House

This is a simple step for making it easier for you to look after your girls and give them their daily health checks, which are even more important in the colder months. Choose a lightweight coop with wheels, like the Eglu, to make it even easier to move it around your garden.

Upgrade Your Wooden Coop to an Eglu

An Eglu coop covered in the snow

The main benefit to an Eglu Cube Chicken Coop for chicken keepers in winter is the twin wall insulation found in the design of the plastic house. This works in a similar way to double glazing, by creating a barrier between the cold air outside the coop, and the air in side. The air between the two walls conducts poorly, which means inside the house stays at a consistent and warm temperature throughout winter, whatever the weather is doing outside. Chickens are very efficient at keeping themselves warm, all you will need to do is make sure the coop door is shut at night time. 

Autodoor

…and to make sure your chicken coop’s door is always shut at dusk, even if you are not yet home, the Automatic Chicken Coop Door is a convenient solution for the Eglu Cube or wooden chicken coops. You can set the Autodoor to close at a specific time or light percentage to suit when all your girls have gone up to bed and the sun has set. The Autodoor runs off batteries and has been tested to work down to -10 degrees celcius so there is no worry, however cold it gets outside! 

The other benefit to the Autodoor is that it will open again at dawn so you can head off to work early before the sun rises and your girls need to be let out, or you can stay in bed for even longer at the weekends without going out in the freezing cold to let your chickens out of their coop! 

The NEW Coop Light also makes it easier for you to check on your girls and carry out daily chicken keeping duties if you don’t get home until after dark. This plugs directly into your Autodoor control panel, and can even be programmed to automatically turn on 5 minutes before your Autodoor closes to encourage your chickens up to the coop.

“The nights are drawing in and I couldn’t be happier knowing that my girls are safely tucked up in bed with their Omlet Autodoor closed behind them. The Autodoor has given me peace of mind, flexibility and a well needed lie in! Couldn’t recommend it enough!” – Hayley’s Lottie Haven

Run Covers

Chickens are very good at coping in cold temperatures, but don’t like getting wet, so it would be kinder for them to be protected from the elements when in their run by our clear covers and windbreaks. Available in a variety of sizes to suit your run length, the clear run covers protect your girls from wind and rain so they can continue to play whatever the weather, whilst still allowing light into the run. 

Extreme Temperature Jackets

A close up of an Eglu coop outside

When the temperature drops below freezing for multiple days in a row during the very depths of winter, it might be wise to give your chickens extra warmth with an extreme temperature jacket. Poorly or older chickens, will definitely benefit from this extra support.

Hentertainment

Prevent chickens getting bored when rain stops play with a variety of fun and interactive toys they can play with in all weathers. The Chicken Perch provides an easy outdoor perch which can be installed in their run (and protected by the run covers) for when your chickens can’t perch in their usual spots around your garden. The Chicken Swing provides hours of fun and again, can be easily installed in any run. While the Peck Toys and Caddi Treat Holder offer enriching entertainment as well as a rewarding flow of treats.

Added extras

Prevent your chickens’ water from freezing with a water heater to ensure they have access to flowing water at all times. It is also recommended to provide extra layers pellets and treats during winter, as chickens will need more energy to keep themselves warm and lay their eggs in the colder months.

 

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This entry was posted in Chickens on October 8th, 2019 by chloewelch


Getting a Budgie – Where, When, Which and Why?

Budgies make great pets. They’re easy to look after, intelligent, easily trained, and small enough not to eat you out of house and home or demand lots of space.

Because of the easy availability of budgies, it’s tempting to simply nip to the nearest pet store, bring one home, and take it from there. However, it’s worth answering a few questions first, to make sure you’re making the right choice, buying from the best place, and bringing the budgie home at the ideal time.

Where From?

The best place to source a budgie is from a local breeder. They will know the bird’s pedigree (and may even be able to introduce you to your new pet’s parents!) They will also know the exact age of your budgie, and will be able to give you details of the variety of bird you are getting. This won’t make any difference to looking after it, but will help you understand exactly why your pet has a particular colour or pattern – e.g. Opaline, Spangle, Skyblue, Texas, Yellow Face, Frilled, or a dozen other varieties.

Check online of in a local directory for a list of local budgie breeders. The closer to home the better, as it’s best to minimise car journeys when bringing new birds home.

A good pet shop is the second best option. The budgies here will usually be healthy, but the shop will not have bred the birds itself, and so will not usually have full background knowledge of each individual. They may also be a little vague about the age of the pets they have on sale. Shop birds are often relatively old, and a bit set in their ways. This makes them more difficult to hand-tame.

Where To?

Budgies needs a suitable space in the home, away from direct sunlight, draughts, steamy kitchens, scary dogs and cats, screaming children and bright lights. They also need a cage of a suitable size, equipped with all budgie mod cons. The geodesic Geo bird cage makes a perfect home for all small birds, including budgies.

When to Buy?

A budgie should not be brought home before it has passed the eight-week mark, and ideally it should be no older than 16 weeks. Young birds are much easier to hand-tame and train, and young males have a better chance of becoming talking budgies.

Older birds, especially ones that have lived in a cage with other budgies for a long time, tend to be less trusting of humans and therefore more difficult to train. However, an older budgie that has already had experience of perching on human hands will make the transition easily, regardless of its age.

You can check the age of the bird yourself, using a simple visual clue. Young budgies have horizontal stripes across their heads, including the forehead. These disappear after the bird’s first moult, (three to four months after hatching). So, any bird with a barring pattern on the head will be less than 16 weeks old.

As for your own part in the ‘when?’ question, bring your new budgie home at a time of relative peace and quiet. Renovations, house moves and long holidays are not good times to buy a new pet!

Which Type?

All budgies are beautiful, whatever their age, gender, colour or coat pattern. It’s best not be dazzled by colour. Sometimes you’ll see a budgie with unusual or colourful plumage and think ‘That’s the one!’ But there are more important factors to consider, such as age, personality, and gender.

Ideally, you want a young, confident bird. An older budgie will take more time hand-taming; a shy one is likely to remain shy and flighty; and a female bird is not going to talk (if that’s something that’s important for you as a budgie keeper – although bear in mind that no budgie is guaranteed to learn how to talk).

Why?

This is a deceptively simple question. Why do you want a budgie? Is it for you, for the children, as a companion for an existing bird, or a replacement for a budgie that has passed away?

All pets require our time, and budgies are no exception. They should never be purchased simply to make a house look prettier, but should be considered as friends and companions.

Children don’t make good budgie keepers – at least, not if they are under the age of 10. Birds are very fragile, and easy to injure or frighten. They also require regular and reliable care, in terms of feeding and cleaning.

It may sound like a good idea to buy your lonely budgie a new friend, but the birds won’t always automatically hit it off. The newcomer will often end up bullied and unhappy, and you may need to separate them. This is less of an issue if you have a larger aviary, with plenty of space for a new bird to find his feet, to hide if necessary, and to gradually work out his place in the hierarchy.

Why Not?

It’s not all pros – there are cons too, as with any pet. Budgies, although not in the same league as cockatiels and larger members of the parrot family, are still noisier than the average finch or canary. They mix their musical bubbling chatter with squawks that can become very grating.

If the squawking goes on and on, it usually means the bird is unhappy with something in its cage or in the immediate environment. Make sure there are no drafts, ensure that the bird is not trapped in sunlight without shade, make sure the food tray and water dispenser are topped up, and keep other pets out of the room.

Then there’s the mess. Budgies manage to scatter seed husks over the floor, and at moulting time the slightest breeze will send handfuls of downy feathers floating to the ground. They’re not super messy, but obsessively tidy owners may start to get twitchy! By purchasing a cleverly designed cage, like the Geo, you will minimise the spill from the budgie flapping wings.

If you’ve considered these basic questions and decided to go ahead and buy a budgie, the rest is plain sailing and many years of happy companionship with your feathered friend.

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This entry was posted in Budgies on October 8th, 2019 by linnearask