A Tale of Two Classics…

| 30th May 2014
No, I haven’t been reading well known literacy masterpieces; we have been thrilled this week to receive, not one but two, Eglu Classics here at Hen Corner. Each has a tale, a love story, and we’ll tell it here!

Eglu Classic Breakfast SetA Birthday Breakfast…

I first fell in love with the Omlet Eglu Classic chicken coop when I saw it in a design magazine back in 2006 and, after much persuading, was delighted to have been given a green Eglu complete with two hens, Pepsi and Shirley for my birthday that June. Who would have known where that first step of the journey would have led us and indeed Omlet who are celebrating their 10th birthday this year. We love the guys at Omlet and have much admiration for the enthusiasm, creativity and energy that each of the founders still bring to this exciting business. It all began when four students of the Royal College of Art, here in London, decided to unite their passions for fantastic design. The Eglu Classic began it’s life as a final design piece in a college workshop and now, as well as helping thousands of chicken keepers protect their precious hens from foxes, holds a place of honour at the Victoria and Albert  museum in London’s South Kensington. To celebrate this special birthday Omlet have commissioned this groovy breakfast set that is a 1/8th scale replica of the original product that launched their business. Mmm, let me just re-read that 2011 feature in the Wall Street Journal all about the Classic Eglu and our courses at Hen Corner while I crack into this tasty egg…

DSCF4507Returning to the flock…

Chicken keeping is addictive. Within a year of keeping those first two hens, we moved house, just 13 doors down the same street – but to a bigger house with the corner plot garden. My husband, Andy, was now convinced that the chooks were cool and was happy for us to upgrade to the Eglu Cube, which arrived at the new house before we did on the day we completed! Our friends, Ben and Jo, who had previously looked after our girls whilst we were on holiday in Australia became smitten with the feathered friends and decided to buy our old Eglu Classic and a couple of hens from Charlotte’s Chickens allowing them to begin their own adventure. A few year’s later, we were planning to hatch some chicks under Broody Butternut, so bought the newer Eglu Go to use as a maternity ward…

We tell our story at each of our courses and it always begins with that first Classic Coop.

So when Ben and Jo told us that they were moving to Australia for a while, we were more than happy to adopt their hen, Madge, and bring our original Eglu back to the flock. So we now have all three designs here, and a Beehaus up the other end of the garden, I told you it was a love story!

More than Honey: Sara will be looking at the role of bees in so much of the food we produce in the UK, she will be looking at changes in farming and bee keeping over the years and the challenges and benefit of keeping bees today.Who is in the hive?: Sara will explain the structure of a honey bee colony, looking at the nest, the castes, the life-cycle, and roles of each bee.The Bee Keeping Year: Sara will outline the seasonal tasks & responsibilities of keeping bees today including suggestions as to how those interested can find out and experience more.
Read more at http://www.countrylivingfair.com/Spring/Content/Spring-Garden/4_10/#2Lq7bkl3oHGxTz3q.99

UH peopleComing up at the Corner…

This year we have planned courses right throughout 2014 giving everyone the opportunity for ‘A little bit of country life in London’. Throughout the summer we will have three types of courses available: Introduction to Bee Keeping, a practical hands on opportunity for small groups to inspect our honey making pollinators, Urban Hens, keeping chickens in London and Pick and Pickle, an introduction to preserving.

Keeping ChickensBook of the Blog Post:

Keeping Chickens: The Essential Guide to Enjoying and Getting the Best from Chickens
By Jeremy Hobson, Celia Lewis

I was given this book for my birthday back in June 2006 along with my first Eglu, it is beautifully illustrated and will inspire chicken keepers and animal lovers alike.

This book is available with many of our other favourites books from the Hen Corner Shop!

Other News:
Jobs for next week:
  • Try and merge my four colonies of bees into two, I need to find the strongest queens and ‘retire’ the weaker ones…
  • Finish replacing the raised beds in the Kitchen Garden, we are more than halfway there
  • Watch for Butternut’s next broody cycle, maybe we’ll hatch some more chicks this summer

 

Have a good week yourself…Hen logo good

Join us on the Journey!

 


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5 comments

Sarah Jewison 30th May 2014 at 1:22 pm

Hi sara I came to yours for a chicken course a few years ago and your story inspired us to start keeping big chickens too. Since then we bought an eglu cube and got 4 chickens. Now down to 3 as one got taken by a fox. One hen is also a bit poorly I think so soon we maybe down to 2!

Do you do courses or group gatherings for people to get together to talk about keeping chickens? Might sound like no need but I think it would be useful to talk and hear experiences other people had? I guess slightly more advanced courses than for beginners.

Thanks Sarah

Sent from my iPhone

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Reply
hencorner 11th June 2014 at 10:26 am

Thanks for this Sarah,

Sorry to hear that you’ve lost a chicken to a fox and another is unwell.

I’ve not been asked to run courses or groups for more experienced chicken keepers before, we tend to try and answer all questions in our Urban Hens course, however, we are always learning and an opportunity to do so together is always good.

I’ll ask some of my other course guests to see what the take up would be,

Good luck with your girls…

Sara

Reply
lindaswildlifegarden 30th May 2014 at 1:43 pm

Reblogged this on Linda's wildlife garden and commented:
Lovely update and thank you so much for sharing have a blessed day

Reply
ladyclarington 2nd June 2014 at 11:56 am

Yesterday I collected my new coop (not an Omlet alas but one made from recycled plastic that can be completely dismantled for intensive cleaning which is why we picked it instead of a wooden one) and the lady at the farm asked “how many chickens are you getting?” (I’ve booked on her hen course in July – can’t wait!)
“We’ve agreed on four, but haven’t decided the breeds yet”
“Oh that’s good. This coop will stand you well for a few years – it’ll easily hold up to eight or ten”

Seems you NEVER just get a few chickens!

Reply
hencorner 2nd June 2014 at 3:54 pm

Sounds fantastic!
Chicken keeping is very addictive, we’ve currently got 16 but are planning on hatching some chicks again soon!

Reply

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