While we are helping birds out this hot summer, let’s think of our backyard chickens. It’s been in the 90s here for the past couple of weeks. The run is in a shady part of my garden, so the girls aren’t bearing the brunt of the heat. However, they are wearing little down coats and have to be feeling it. I’ve been getting fewer eggs on the really hot days, so I decided to try a “redneck air conditioner”. All that consists of is a frozen bottle of water. In this case I used a cranberry juice bottle filled with water. The idea is that you put it in their run and they can sit or lean up against it to cool off.
Just put one of these in my run last week! They love it, they all cuddle up to it and make their little dust baths next to it. First encounters weren’t the friendliest, though. I think they thought I was bringing a really odd looking chicken into their home!
Definitely getting less eggs. One of my girls didn’t lay for three days straight, after she had been laying every day. Then, this morning I opened the box to this really strange egg with what looked like entrails coming out the back… I’ll keep the details to myself. I would have never been able to deal with this before I had my girls; I would have run from it yelling!
I’ve gotten those weird eggs. Feed your girls some yogurt to give them more calcium. They wolf it down as one of the best treats ever.