I'm so Mad at Myself
it got smoking hot in the coop yesterday before I noticed it. The coop can get quite hot in the summertime when the late afternoon sun clears the birch tree. Yesterday was really the first day since Sydney started setting where it was that hot without afternoon thunderstorms. I never even considered it.
That was until I lost Phyllis.
It was 7:30 pm and I could not find Phyllis. Now Phyllis goes to bed early but that would be 90 minutes or more before sunset. That's silly early. Before I panicked and started looking outside the fence for her, I checked coop cam.
There was Phyllis on the roost clearly roasting. That's when it hit me. I ducked inside to see and the inside coop temperature was 99°F (37°C). I removed Phyllis from the coop and put the fan in the front window.
I then took Phyllis around to all the best worm locations. Moving boards, planters, etc. Until she had eaten them all and the coop temp had dropped by 15°F.
I feel so guilty now about poor Sydney sweltering all afternoon in that heat.
The fan will now remain until fall.
Roosting Adjustments
So the new warmth in the coop led to new roosting locations. Here is how roosting has been working ever since Sydney went broody. Aurora normally gets to the roots too late to get to the high roost. I took the photo because she had gone to bed early for some reason and made it up there.
Now the high roost is obviously going to get less air circulation than the main roost, even with the fan. So it will be warner up there. That just so happens to be where the temperature sensor for the coop is as well so I get the extreme reading.
The extension on the roost that Maleficent loved so much is right in front of the window. Now right in front of the breeze from the fan.
Normally when Phyllis roosts for the night she goes for the high roost. Then Lilly comes in and makes her get off of it. Phyllis goes to the spot that Daisy (the greatest hen ever), Patsy, and Lilly all thought was best prior to the introduction of the high roost. Hence the arrangement above.
Last night everything changed. See the video. This Ovid after the fan was in the window.
I did not think to take a picture of the final roosting positions but when I locked the complex up last night, all the big girls were on the low roost with Aurora starting right into the fan, feathers fluttering like she was in a Mariah Cary video.
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