my coop is built inside a hoop house. my 4 birds (10 wks old) sleep in a nest box instead of the roost ever since 10 of their friends were killed. last night they were so hot i was afraid they would die in the night.
i also read yesterday it's not good to let them sleep in the nest boxes because it gets the eggs dirty.
i put a fan in the coop last night. today i closed off the nest boxes (they won't be laying for a couple of months yet), changed their roost & mounted the fan better.
the hoop house has dutch doors on each end. hubby built a screen door for the top half of one end today using hardware cloth. that way more ventilation can happen at night. the other end will get a screen door for the upper half also.
sure hope this will enable them to survive a Texas summer better.
the girls were upset. they do NOT like the changes. they huddled under the roost on the floor, fighting to see who could squeeze into the corner the tightest. i don't know if they will ever really feel safe again. i don't know if they will ever use the roost again - even though the attack happened outside.
i also read yesterday it's not good to let them sleep in the nest boxes because it gets the eggs dirty.
i put a fan in the coop last night. today i closed off the nest boxes (they won't be laying for a couple of months yet), changed their roost & mounted the fan better.
the hoop house has dutch doors on each end. hubby built a screen door for the top half of one end today using hardware cloth. that way more ventilation can happen at night. the other end will get a screen door for the upper half also.
sure hope this will enable them to survive a Texas summer better.
the girls were upset. they do NOT like the changes. they huddled under the roost on the floor, fighting to see who could squeeze into the corner the tightest. i don't know if they will ever really feel safe again. i don't know if they will ever use the roost again - even though the attack happened outside.
