May 31, 2013: Summer Is Here: Our Chickens are Way Cool

While chickens tolerate the cold pretty well, they don't do so well in very hot weather.  We live in the hottest dang part of the Sacramento Valley and will be hitting 100 degrees F on Sunday. 

Our girls already have a covered chicken yard, on the shady side of our house, enclosed with chicken wire to ensure good ventilation, and they have plenty of water, but.... will that be enough?  When we are at home, they are free to run around our shady yard, but when we aren't here they are locked in the chicken yard.   Their coop is in the chicken yard.  What to do?

Our neighbor, who also has chickens uses a" mister" that sends a fine spray of water over the top of his chicken yard, but I'm not keen on all that moisture in the chicken yard, messy and maybe giving them foot rot.  Plus that means turning water off and on, and using lots of water, plus how do you do that when you are away?

I came up with a clever and I think very functional and easy answer.  We bought a cheap standing fan, put it in the corner of the chicken yard facing the coop for maximum ventilation and cooling.  We use a timer, and an outdoor extension cord and programed it to come on at 11:00am when it starts to get hot, and off at 11:00pm when it generally starts to cool off.   So far it is working great!  We can leave for the day or several days and know that the girls will be cool enough. ( we always have someone check on them if we are gone over 3 days and have a big feeder and two waterers).

Meanwhile the girls are doing great, still giving us two eggs a day like clock work.   We had a dish tonight using their eggs.  It's an Italian version of poached eggs.  Put 1 tbs. of olive oil in a non stick frying pan, set on medium heat, add garlic and 1/2 cup sliced onion, and saute' onions until transparent.  Add a pinch each of oregano, basil and herb de Provence.  Add one can of diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup of chicken broth and one tsp of sugar.  Bring to a simmer letting it reduce just a little bit.  Break 4 eggs into the tomato mixture, cover pan and simmer until eggs are like you like them.  Sprinkle with fresh grated parmesano reggiano.  Serve in two bowls, with a slice or two of grilled Italian bread rubbed with garlic, and a small green salad.  Thank you Barbara and Mabel for
a healthy delicious and easy Friday night meal.  Ciao Amici.