The Omlet Blog Category Archives: Summer

Hens on Holiday!

We’ve been in touch with Sarah from Sussex Garden Poultry who has told us about a fantastic service that they offer to hens when their owners go on holiday…

How many Chicken Coops do you have? 
I have at the moment 10 x mark 1 Eglu cubes & 8 x Eglu classic that I use for hen holidays. An Eglu Go & an old Eglu Classic with 1 mtr run I use as a broody coop

When did you get your first Coop?? Which type of Eglu was it?
The first Eglu I bought was a 2nd hand classic, I’d asked about & people said they’d owned them for 10 years with no problem & they look as good as new.

Why do you like Eglu Chicken Coops?
I like the Eglu for ease of cleaning, I love the varieties of colour, I try to have one of each, (I’m still hunting a pink cube), i also like the flexibility of being able to add to the runs length.

Please tell us more about the Chicken Holidays
I started the chicken holidays because I had potential customers who’d say ‘I’d love chickens, but what do I do when I go on holiday?’ So I said bring them back & i’ll board them for you. No one was offering this service locally so it made sense to offer hen holidays.

What is the most chickens you’ve looked after at any one time?
Difficult to say! We are usually fully booked over the summer holidays & Christmas to new year, but I have some birds of my own too, they take up 4/5 cubes, so I’ve the potential to accommodate over 100 holiday hens.

What is the longest time that a Chicken has stayed with you?
We had a trio of light Sussex that stayed about 3 months as their owner was sailing   Around the Mediterranean & her progress was weather dependent!

I imagine the service is very popular…… Do you get fully booked up?
We like to take bookings a few months in advance especially for summer & Christmas, I don’t like to turn people away but each coop houses hens belonging to one family, we never mix flocks. If I’m out of space, then I’m out of space!

What is the furthest distance a customer has travelled to bring their chickens to you?
People do come a long way, but we are not that far from Gatwick airport so some drop off en route, its funny when the chickens take up more space in the car than the luggage.

What do prices start at?
Eglu classic & Go are £5 per night & take a max of 3 hens, Eglu cubes are £8 a night & take 4-8 hens. Feed included.

To find out more about Hen Holidays please view the Sussex Garden Poultry Website: https://www.sussexgardenpoultry.co.uk/home

To find out more about Eglu Chicken Coops – Click here

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This entry was posted in Chickens

Keeping Your Hens Cool in the Heat

As the weather starts to heat up we have created a list of our top tips for keeping your chickens cool in the summer months. Chickens can suffer from heat stress and stop laying eggs therefore it’s incredibly important to take measures to ensure their temperature stays as cool as possible in the heat of summer.

When chickens become very hot, you will also see them holding their wings out away from their bodies and ruffling their feathers, this is to help the heat escape. Unlike humans, chickens don’t sweat to release the heat, they pant,  similar to a dog. Please keep an eye on them so that they don’t suffer from heat stress.

Signs of heat stress include:

-panting with beak open

-laying around with wings outstretched

-loss of appetite

-slow to respond to stimuli, unresponsive

Top 11 tips to help avoid heat stress

• Make sure you provide plenty of shade for your hens to escape the sun. We have a variety of heavy duty and shade covers for all our Eglu runs.

• Keep your hens hydrated with plenty of fresh water, why not add a few ice cubes to their glugs to keep the water nice and cold for as long as possible

• Create a dust bath area for your chooks to nestle down and find a cool part in the ground.

• One key tip is to look out for the signs of heat stress and act fast, if you think one of your chickens is suffering, dunk them in a bucket of room temperature water keeping their neck and head above the water. Keep them inside in the air con and make sure they get plenty of water.

• Use a sprinkler/mister- the hens won’t like the water very much but it’s for their own good.

• Freeze fruit and veg in ice blocks so that your hens can peck at it. Or just freeze pieces of fruit, Watermelon is a popular favourite among chickens.

• Avoid foods such as corn and scratch as they require longer digestion processes, which creates more body heat.

• If your local climate stays warm at night simply place a large ice block in the coop, your hens will enjoy sleeping near it at night.

• Add vitamins to their water to make sure they are replacing the lost nutrients.

• Pay close attention to bigger/heavier hens

• Plan ahead for next year and plant a tree or bush to provide extra shade!

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This entry was posted in Chickens