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- #11
On the contrary, it's been a very cool and pleasant June so far, unusually so - days in the 70s, nights in the 50s-60s.
The only thing I can think of in terms of temperature, is at night, I keep having to move them. The chicks are being raised collectively by two broodies, and the broodies REALLY want the chicks to roost for bed, but they take them to the tallest roost. Which starts out fine, but some chicks inevitably fall down and then can't get back up, and curl up on the floor by themselves. So every night after it gets too dark for them to see and try to get back up, I have to go out there and put everybody on the floor. At that point the chicks go under the moms and all is well. But until it gets dark, they spend some time wherever they happen to settle - some on the roost, some on the floor, some under the hens, some not... and might be getting chilled that way, though it's only temporary, until I move them down, and by now they have a lot of feathers already. Would that be enough to cause this reddening? I have 3 roosts at different heights, including one about 10 inches from the floor. If they settled there, the chicks could get back up. But no... They HAVE to have the top roost!
