chickens overheating

[bj taylor]

my 3 mo old girls (4 of them) were overheated tonight when i went to close up their coop. they are sleeping in the nest box (they were roosting well with the others until the other 10 were killed). ever since (3 wks ago) these 4 have crowded into one nest box. today i removed the separator between the box & the next so they have double the space.
today i read i should not let them sleep in the nest box because the eggs get dirty.
i want them to sleep on the roost & i'm sure they would be cooler - i just don't know how to go about getting them to move.
tonight i put a fan in the coop. hopefully that will help them.
suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[goldies99]

after dark, take them out of the box and put them right on the roost....once its dark they should stay there till morning...
they dont move around much once its dark....i had one hen start to sleep in a next box....2 days of putting her back on the roost did the trick...good luck!

 

[bj taylor]

thank you for the advice. i went out there & moved them. they didn't like it & i'm not sure they stayed put. tomorrow, i'm going to figure out a way to block off the nest boxes. they don't need them for a couple of months yet.
sure hope i can work out a good system where they get good air flow/fan @ night. Texas nights don't cool off much in the summer.

 

[bj taylor]

i went out to peek at them & see how they were doing. they had gotten down off the roost & were huddled under the nest boxes. the little stinkers.

 

[goldies99]

OH NO!!!!....i didnt really pay attention to the age!.....now that you say that, i DID have that problem alot with mine sleeping in the corrner....i kept putting them up on the roost, and i also did have my next boxes blocked off till they started to lay....so just keep working on.....they will get the swing of it soon enough with a little help from you!!!!