Here’s a great tip to keep your hens cool on hot days from email subscriber Jim Anderson:
“I will freeze a watermelon that I cut in half and then I’ll give them 1/2 of it a few hours apart throughout a really hot day, and boy do they like that! I use other types of fruits too like cantaloupes and such but they really love watermelons!”
Judy from North Texas, where some days it’s been 108 degrees Fahrenheit, also shares this idea:
“I’ve been making my girls popsicles in a 9×12 pan, 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick. It had chopped up strawberries and blueberries which they love. I’m leaving it in the container, so it stays frozen longer. They can see the fruit, so they keep working on it until they finally get to the good stuff. Some will even walk on it which also helps to cool them down.”
This means that even if a hen lays a fragile egg when the next hen jumps into the nest the pressure from her feet is less likely to crush the egg in a well-padded nest.