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Hello,
The eglu tour bus has been out
on the road with Omlet's merry band of men, women,
chickens and rabbits playing to sell out crowds...we
really must get round to recording a version of Old
Macdonalds farm, could be a Christmas number
one! We visited the National Gardening
show in Somerset. It had amazing giant vegetable
arena which was a surreal experience – almost as
difficult to comprehend as some of the west country
accents!
This newsletter is packed with some extra
goodies. There is the very first Eglu Owner of the
week, a fantastic recipe from Barbara's collection for
scotch eggs and lots of photos. Enjoy!
National Amature Gardening Show |
Is this a giant marrow or just a small
person?
Are these large pumkins or a new style
of eglu?
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This Weeks Star
Photos
Thanks Gwen for this
wonderfull photo!
Diana, Amy and Carla with
chickens Angel and Pirate
If you have any pictures of rabbits
in your eglu then we would be
delighted if you could send them in to james@omlet.co.uk |
Barbara's Weekly
Diary!
Coloured
Eggs
Did you know that there are hens
which can lay green and blue eggs? Amazing! Years ago,
the only ones you could buy from the supermarket were
white until they introduced the so-called “healthier”
brown shelled egg. Silly really because eggs are healthy
whatever colour the shell! The colour comes from the
oviduct which is the last stage of the egg’s formation.
During the last hours of production, the shell is formed
and the pigment is deposited on the outside of the egg
at this time. Strangely, you can rub off the dark brown
pigment on a Welsummer’s egg while the duck egg blue of
an Araucana’s egg goes right through to the inside. Most
dark brown eggs are white inside.
If you are after a
palette of different colours, perhaps you should
consider that Leghorns lay white shelled eggs while
Rhode Island Reds and Faverolles produce softly tinted
brown shelled eggs. Anconas and Silkies lay creamy
coloured eggs and Araucanas will produce wonderful
greeny blue ones. Cotswold Legbars eggs are almost sky
blue and Barnevelders have deep brown shells.
Speckledy’s produce shiny chestnut eggs with dark brown
speckles all over them.
Scotch
Eggs
Ingredients:
4 eggs
454g
sausagemeat or sausages
breadcrumbs
seasoning
Method:
1.
Hard boil the eggs and leave to cool then remove the
shells.
2. Take the sausagemeat
and divide it into 4 portions. If you are using
sausages, skin them first before dividing into portions.
Flatten out each portion and place a hard boiled egg
onto the centre of each one then mould the sausagemeat
around the egg so that it is entirely surrounded by
meat.
3. Roll the sausagemeat
covered egg in seasoned breadcrumbs and bake in a
preheated oven at 200C for 30 minutes. Serve either hot
or cold. Delicious!
For a healthier
version, use half fat sausages.
Enjoy,
Barbara
p.s. if you have any
recipes that you would like to share them please email
them to barbara@omlet.co.uk |
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Getting them in at night! Judybart’s hens
arrived the other day and she posted that
“My chickens arrived yesterday and it took ages to
entice them into their Eglu in the evening. I tried the
torch but to no avail. Eventually we were successful but
it took hours. Any suggestions to avoid the same thing
happening tonight?” - Judybarts
“They should get the hang of it. I would just leave
them to it as long as they are in the run and it is
locked they won't come to any harm and I should think
that before you need to go to bed they will be in the
Eglu snuggled up then you can just close over the door
and lock it.........Or as some people have done you
could gently shove them in from behind with a broom
handle. I have to admit I never had any trouble my
chooks just went off to bed as soon as it went dark.” –
Nicola
“Mine came yesterday too and I was amazed. I went out
at 9.00 armed with a torch, broom and a stern
disposition and as I opened the back door, I saw them
both trotting off to bed.” –
*Sarah*
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"We kept ours locked in the run for about
10 days after they were delivered. After letting them
out for the first time, we simply put our arms out wide
(as though you were herding sheep) and they march back
in. Works every time! No problems!" – Daisy
Duck
"The torch trick worked for ours on
the first night and now Henrietta is in bed by 8pm every
night!! Mildred on the other hand will pretend to have
gone to bed and as soon as we step outside she's back
out eating and scraping around!!! This lasts for about
10mins until she finally gives up and potters back to
bed!" - Rachel19 "Thanks
everyone for your helpful suggestions. Last night I was
so enjoying Fawlty Towers that it was dark before I
thought about putting the girls to bed. It was 9pm and
they were all happily tucked up in bed already - all by
themselves. I can only conclude that 8pm was just too
early for them the first night or of course that they
have sussed already that dark means bedtime. As you have
all said, they are very clever" -
JudyBart
Trial Access To The
Forum
If you are an egluowner then you can
access to the forum. Evening if you haven't got chickens
yet you can have a weeks trial access to the forum by
clicking this link here -> forum
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Egluowner of the
Week
Anne
Prouse
Forum Username:
AnnieP
Age:
35
Occupation: Primary School
Deputy Head teacher
Hobbies:
Cars (we own 4), gradually turning our home into a
miniature zoo (don’t tell my husband: he hasn’t realised
yet), eating and drinking.
Where do you
live: Pewsey, near Marlborough,
Wiltshire
What pets do you have:
2 dogs (Airedale Terrier and a Collie x). 2 rescued
donkeys (Misty and Boots) and of course, “the girls”. We
also “rent out” some of our land to whoever wants it:
We’ve had 6 various horses staying with us and a flock
of 40 sheep. Next spring we are buying 2 pigs: A breed
from New Zealand, called Kune Kune (pronounced Cooney
Cooney), who look like little wild boar. They’re the
smallest breed of pig in the world and are exceptionally
friendly and domesticated, as they used to live in the
Maori’s homes with them. Our two will live in the
paddocks however, not in the
kitchen!
Desert Island luxury
item: An endless supply of bread,
butter and marmalade and my Dualit toaster
Would you like to be egluowner of the
week?
Each week we will be featuring an
elguowner of the week. If you would like to be
featured then read our questionnaire here
and email your answers to james@omlet.co.uk .
You can download the questionnaire here |
Chickens: 2 (a
Pepperpot and Gingernut). We got them at the end of May,
so still quite young. Called Crockett and Tubbs. Because
we haven’t owned a TV for about 15 years and Miami Vice
was just about the coolest programme on when we gave it
up!
Eggs: We get around 10 a
week.
How do we eat them? Ermmm,
I don’t like eggs! Jon loves fried egg with our
traditional breakfast every Sunday after we have mucked
out the donkeys, I love using them for quiches: Never
made one until a few weeks ago, and can’t believe how
easy they are and how much tastier home made ones are to
shop bought ones! We’ve suddenly gone quiche
crazy!
Our friends, when we said “we’re getting chickens”
thought we really had lost the plot: foxes, rats, poo
etc. We didn’t tell them about the Eglu, so I guess they
were imagining a more traditional set up. However, when
the girls arrived, we threw a massive “hen party”,
inviting over 40 of our friends and neighbours down to
meet them: It was a beautiful evening, and we hosted it
in the garden, with champagne, music and nibbles. When
people saw the Eglu, it blew their minds! It really is
such a cool design! Many of our friends have design
backgrounds, so of course, they loved its functionality
and appearance. Others just fell in love with the girls,
who were the absolute stars of the show! I think they
must have thought, “Blimey, its alright here innit?
Plenty of entertainment”! And of course, now the eggs
are flowing, the girls are universally popular!
We
have now moved the girls onto the paddocks to keep the
donkeys company, and their party trick is to flap up
onto the donkey’s backs and pick off the flies! The
donkeys love them! They can also do the 100 metre dash
quicker than Linford Christie if the prize is a few bits
of sweet corn: Their favourite
treat!
What question have you missed?
How about, would you ever give your chickens
and Eglu back? And the answer is a resounding “no”,
after a few weeks of wondering if we were “doing it
right”, we’ve relaxed into ownership and now absolutely
love their antics and characters, and the eggs of
course! The Eglu is just amazing. Chickens are by far
the easiest pet I have ever owned.
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