Better roosting accomplished. Once numbers go down, the nearest and largest roost bar can be removed until next season.
Nest boxes fixed except for drilling large key holes in the side of one...but my drill attachment for that seems to have walked off the property.
Boys.
Fan is up, though it's a wimpy fan...and all the dust kicked up there will require it to be cleaned often, but at least the girls aren't panting on the nests today.
The coop somehow looks bigger now, feels bigger too. Come fall I'm going to get my big boys to lever the coop side up so I can slip some treated 4x4s I found in Dad's lumber stack under the frame in strategic places, also cement block. That will give me 4 more inches of height all around and I can place boards in the gaps to keep bedding in. That gives me more litter room, head room, air circulating room, etc.
It's 95* in the shade here...but not in the shade in that coop! 80* there at roosting height, so the coop and the shade tree to one side of it is keeping that coop 15* cooler. The fan blowing into the nests should be keeping those even cooler for the gals.
I also wish all the folks out there battling flies could see this coop...been working up there for a couple of days this week, some of the hottest days of summer, and the only flies I've had to deal with were horse flies trying to get to me. No flies on the feed remnants in the feeder, none on the litter..and it's damp in there from the rains last night, so smells should be drawing them in. No flies. No smells....well...except my FF bucket.
Since switching to FF and composting deep litter, we haven't seen a fly around here. All these chickens pooping all over the lawn and we don't even have a fly in the house now and again. Wasps, but no flies. I LOVE THAT!
