INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

I am working on the perennial garden also. So far, I have put in blueberry bushes last fall, strawberries this spring, and have Asparagus crowns coming next. I ordered both the Jersey green variety, and the purple! Dad and I both love it, I want it fresh to put in salads.

 

[faerydust16]

The easiest way with new hens is placing fake eggs in the nest box. Golf balls work too, or you can place their own eggs in it. Be sure to date the eggs if they are real. I have seen hens lay in rocks before and even try to brood a rock, crazy. Be sure to show them where it is. Sometimes, a good rooster will call his girls and tell them "LOOK its here! A nest! and look it has eggs!" Both my fellas will sit with a hen that's laying, even in the box if its roomy enough. Its usually a mature rooster, I've never seen a cockerel do it.

Ooo... yeah I made a big nest box for her too! Brat

 

[Leahs Mom]

The easiest way with new hens is placing fake eggs in the nest box. Golf balls work too, or you can place their own eggs in it. Be sure to date the eggs if they are real. I have seen hens lay in rocks before and even try to brood a rock, crazy. Be sure to show them where it is. Sometimes, a good rooster will call his girls and tell them "LOOK its here! A nest! and look it has eggs!" Both my fellas will sit with a hen that's laying, even in the box if its roomy enough. Its usually a mature rooster, I've never seen a cockerel do it.

@faerydust16
I'll add -
If you have a coop/chicken house, try keeping them in the coop in the morning until they are done laying eggs. Do this for a few days until they are laying in your nest boxes. (Or, if you normally let them roam the yard, but you have a pen/run with your coop, keep them in the run/pen with access to the chicken house until after they've laid.) You won't have to do this for long; they'll get the idea pretty quickly.

Like @jchny2000 said, some fake eggs in the nest boxes do wonders so they get the idea. I got some very realistic looking ceramic eggs at a local hardware and I think the craft stores (like Joanne's Fabrics or Hobby Lobby) have them as well.

 

[Faraday40]

Some pics from today:

Went to check on the bantam tractor & look what I found....
Yes, DD dyed her serama boy blue!

The rest of the bantam gang are another serama - named Noodle - who's female but also crows. An OEG named Digger, a buff silkie named Macy, and a LF English orp named Cupcake (also nicknamed BFO for Big Fat Orp)

Digger

Broody Jewel. She's sitting on turkey eggs, so perhaps that's why she's imitating a turkey.

Our young cockerel

Mr Wonderful:

Some turkeys raised by Smudge. (They'll be off to their new home tomorrow.) I think we may have a male & female.

Edited to add that I forgot to share Jewel's biological daughter. Jewel may no longer be the biggest chicken in the yard once this girl gets to full size. I can't wait to see how she looks once she grows into those massive legs. Sorry that her pics are not the best. She's still in her "wild teen pullet" stage.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

What do you do to keep your flock cool in the heat? Mine get fresh water of course. Ice cubes, frozen peas, and frozen blueberries. They have some shade to relax in.
I don't think I can add a fan, so that is out. Any other suggestions?

 

[Leahs Mom]

I put out a pan or 2 of water. Some like to stand in them and cool off.

I try to refresh the water a few times a day.

They also drink from them.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I put out a pan or 2 of water. Some like to stand in them and cool off.

I try to refresh the water a few times a day.View attachment 1433815 View attachment 1433820

They also drink from them.

Fun. I have some dog water bowl bottoms from automatic waterers that I saved just in case - I might add one in their run and see what they do.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I like the pyrex since they don't leach anything (like plastic does). You can often get them at goodwill or a resale shop very inexpensively.

That BR hen stands in the water quite frequently. My other birds get in too, but not as frequently as the BR. She's a big girl and probably holds more body heat than some of the others.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I will look, but I also like to use things I already have on hand if I can.
I let the muscovies over to the chicken side, they were very interested in the new water dish. I didn't get any pics, but had to change out the water already as they were eating from the chicken's feeder.
I got pics of them trying out the chicken's ramp - though none went into the coop.
I made them go back to their side before I came back in as they were stressing the chickens out and I dont need them too stressed on such a hot day.

@Nyla do you recognize these guys?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Beating the heat--here are some tips I gathered a couple years ago after losing a hen to heat (there are some repeats for what has been posted, I just copy/pasted) :

• Run fans in the coop to keep air circulating
• Freeze gallon jugs and 2-liter bottles of water and sit them in shady spots for birds to lay against (or put them in front of the fan for a makeshift air conditioner)
• Freeze smaller water bottles and put them in waterers to keep their drinking water cool
• Put out shallow pans of cool water for the chickens to stand in or drink from (I've also heard of people putting out small kiddie pools with just a couple inches of water and putting paver bricks in it for the chickens to stand on)
• Spray water on the outside of the coop (especially on the roof) to help draw away heat with evaporation
• Wet the ground in shady spots for them to stand on and cool off (my flock also ranges around the side of our house and there's a small section of brick wall that's shaded under the lilac bush, so I wet the bricks down and it feels much cooler there)
• Run a mister in shady spots -- My girls absolutely HATE misters and won't go near them, but some people swear by it, so I thought it was worth adding.
• Freeze (or at least refrigerate) fruits and veggies and put them out for the birds to peck at (especially watermelon!)

One thing I learned the hard way within that same year--Always have MULTIPLE waterers! This is especially important if you have younger birds with older birds or multiple roosters, or birds that just generally don't get along. Water is of the utmost importance on hot days, and birds having a spat may prevent others from getting to water if you only have a few waterers available!


Mostly, all I do is refresh water often to keep it cool and wet down shady areas for some evaporative cooling. I had a bunch of frozen water bottles for hot days so that I could put them in waterers to keep the water cool, but I guess they got tossed when the freezer was cleaned out over the winter. Gotta build that stock back up! I also made them a frozen treat for today out of all the egg whites I had remaining from a recipe, with some feed and scratch mixed in. I guess my strategy is freezing everything.