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What is your secret? As I remember you have an open coop on the north side right?
Do you have a misting system?
Yes, my coop has only 3 sides and is open to the north. It is also located under two tall pine trees for shade (you can click on my BYC page for pics). Even with the coop being open, they are still panting at night - I feel so bad for them.
I do not have a misting system, but I do have sand on one end of their run and I wet the sand with a hose 1-2 times per day so they have a cool place to lay and to scratch in. They really like that - when it was not cooler and I let them out for free-range time, they would only enter their run for food and then exit the run - now, they come back in to lay in the sand and stay. I also placed a large pan (rubber oil pan type) of water in their run for them to stand in - the black stars seem to always be getting into it to cool their legs, but the others don't use it much. The pan is separate from their waterer, but still has to be changed every day due to getting dirty.
I got 12 eggs again yesterday - it probably helps that my chickens are still young and in their prime for laying (they're less than 1 year old).
I doubt the feed has anything to do with it, but they eat lay crumbles for game birds (20% protein), instead of regular chicken feed (16%).
I opted for a higher protein feed to make up for their free-range time - we have plenty of grass, but don't have many bugs.
What is your secret? As I remember you have an open coop on the north side right?
Do you have a misting system?
Yes, my coop has only 3 sides and is open to the north. It is also located under two tall pine trees for shade (you can click on my BYC page for pics). Even with the coop being open, they are still panting at night - I feel so bad for them.
I do not have a misting system, but I do have sand on one end of their run and I wet the sand with a hose 1-2 times per day so they have a cool place to lay and to scratch in. They really like that - when it was not cooler and I let them out for free-range time, they would only enter their run for food and then exit the run - now, they come back in to lay in the sand and stay. I also placed a large pan (rubber oil pan type) of water in their run for them to stand in - the black stars seem to always be getting into it to cool their legs, but the others don't use it much. The pan is separate from their waterer, but still has to be changed every day due to getting dirty.
I got 12 eggs again yesterday - it probably helps that my chickens are still young and in their prime for laying (they're less than 1 year old).
I doubt the feed has anything to do with it, but they eat lay crumbles for game birds (20% protein), instead of regular chicken feed (16%).
I opted for a higher protein feed to make up for their free-range time - we have plenty of grass, but don't have many bugs.
