4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[madchickenlady]

My ladies are not happy at all I'm keeping their water cold, giving them frozen peas and corn to eat and have even put a parasol up for them to lounge under I swear, all they need is teeny chicken bikinis and a fruity cocktail and they'd look like they were on their hols! I have found that they are laying less, though, and they are bickering like mad

[laurmurf]

i never thought of frozen peas... good idea.

mine are walking around with their wings out like Nora Batty with hands on her hips complaining about her stockings falling down. Grumpy madams...

[Falkor]

My orps are really suffering with the heat........I keep thinking i have lost them as they are camped out under the dense hedge in the shade.

 

Snowball is wandering about with her wings out and muttering as she goes

 

Fizz seems oblivious to the heat and is pottering around the garden as normal.

 

Egg production is a bit off.....had a softy, a yolk, and a shell. And even Snowball, my little egg machine who has normally laid before i let them out in the morning laid at 6pm last night.

 

Lots of water and chilled goodies are being offered. Although they do seem to be steaming through their pellets a little faster than normal too.

Edited July 2, 2009 by Guest

[tom123]

I'm really lucky in the fact that the whole of the chickens run is covered by a lovely tree so it's very shady under there and lovely and cool. Ducks are sat by the pond with their heads under their wings with sprinkler spraying over them A minute ago they were under the dining room table with the dog fast asleep!

 

Tom

[ubereglu]

Molly, Muddles and Starlet are ok with it, it's just Spice the barnevelder who doesn't like it so much. I keep wondering where she's gone and then find her under the hedge at the bottom of the garden panting. She quite likes being refreshed by drinking from the hosepipe!

[Egluntyne]

My girls have plenty of shade, luckily as they play under the trees, but their area is like a dustbowl now.

 

The hens seem happy enough.

[wooky]

Corbett, our black-feathered pepperpot is really struggling. Unfortunately our walled south-facing walled garden is a sun-trap and it reached 105 degrees yesterday... I dunked her in water but it just made her grumpier. there are sunshades and iced water and watermelon but it's not enough. If it doesn't cool down later I'm going to take the electric fan out and dunk her again About 10 sets of neighbours can see into our garden..... what a sight to behold.

[sugarspice]

my and are ok but is suffering she is panting and her wings are out. she also somehow managed to hurt her leg/foot and is limping around like a wounded soldier. our speckled star is broody she is grumpy anyway. just been out and put icecubes in their drinks.

 

the 2 newbies a amber and sussex star both seem fine with the warm weather but they are white birds.

[Griffin]

The 'larger' ladies seem to be feeling it more. I'd say Poppy is suffering the most, she's built like a tank. The majority seem fine though.

[abwsco]

Nearly all of mine are suffering and panting like mad, but are most of them sat in the shade, are they heckers like I tried sprinkling the hosepipe on them and they didn't like that either. Really worried about my broody and chicks as they are in a section of the WIR and it's hot in there now, even though there's shade.

[teri]

my girls seem ok. i put the sprinkler on earlier and aimed it into their run thinking they would like a nice cool gentle shower.....how wrong was i!!!! after a lot os shrieking and complaining the all crammed into the only dry corner, skillfully balancing ontop of each other! i removed said sprinkler and the grils calmed down again... but only after giving me looks that could kill the dog and the kids on the other hand love it!!!

[Kit]

do you think I should leave the eglu door open at night? Would it be too warm in there with it closed?

 

I was going to leave it open last night but chickened out.

 

Kit

[Falkor]

do you think I should leave the eglu door open at night? Would it be too warm in there with it closed?

 

I was going to leave it open last night but chickened out.

 

Kit

 

Lol...same here I left the doors open but....I went out at 3.30am to shut the and door as I was parinoid about the girls getting up and making a din at far too early o'clock

 

I wish I hadn`t bothered now as psycho neighbour was up shrieking at her two young boys at 5.30am!!!! She woke both OH and I up...we thought someone was in our house screaming ! She does this all day every day......OH just laughs at me when I say I am worried about the hens making too much noise....he just points at her house!!!

[Kit]

poor children...

 

Is the eglu run and converter fox proof? Although I have never seen a fox, I live in a semi rural area and I am worried that they will show up at night.

 

Kit

[iwannachicken]

I'm really lucky in the fact that the whole of the chickens run is covered by a lovely tree so it's very shady under there and lovely and cool. Ducks are sat by the pond with their heads under their wings with sprinkler spraying over them A minute ago they were under the dining room table with the dog fast asleep!

 

Tom

That's the life!!! Oh to be a duck!!

[cathybc]

mine seem to be OK, I left them out all day so they could hide in the bushes, even though I was at work. I have never done it before but felt the risk of them over heating in the run was greater than the risk of them scaring the cats or something

[brambles]

It's been 30 degrees here today - I've just got in from work, it's gone 10 and I was in from 7.30 this morning. Oy vay. This is the time that I'm so glad that the cube is in a shady corner of the garden under our magnolia tree. The girls will be out free ranging tomorrow, so a day's eating of layer pellets has, I hope , been good for them today.

[kitchens]

I've had to let my girls out of their run for the last 3 days which is completely trashing the garden!! Lots of pooh everywhere too which hubby kindly picked up for me this evening!! They were panting so much and because I have a walk in run with a covered roof it was rather warm in there. It's great in winter but on the mega hot days it's like an oven. We've been leaving the door open too.

[chickencam]

We leave our Eglu door open all the time unless it is sub zero. We have a very enclosed north facing back garden, with brick walls and fencing and a tall gate. I wouldn't leave the run open.

 

Bertha my Light Sussex has been panting a bit even though she is white, but the Pepperpots have been fine. Their run is very shaded by the house and a huge eucalyptus. This is great at this time of the year and I have been letting them out in the late afternoon for a couple of hours. In the winter however they rarely see the sun because it only makes it to the end of the garden, it can be pretty bleak for them then.

[Scrambled egg]

My chicken Penny passed away due to the heat. Just last night. Please, please keep your chickens cool! I miss her so much. We are going to bury her in her favorite place to have dust baths with Mudweasel (our pepperpot) I have no idea how she's coping without her sister.

 

We will always love her.

[hennymom]

we have a walk in run too with a corrugated roof and we have coverd half of the run roof with thise raffia type sheets that people use a decorative fencing so half the run is in the shad all day anyways.. and we have attached heavy duty wire mesh (unbendable to say the least) and screwed it to the inside of the coop door with a hinge or two and put a big bolt on so we can leave the main door open but have the wire grate closed so air gets through it definately helps!!

[cathybc]

sorry to hear about Penny