Tell us about your flock's most creative (or hilarious) way to cope with summer heat. 🌞 We've all watched our birds do weird, wonderful things to stay cool. Share your moment: Examples: - "My Wyandotte discovered the concrete pad under the AC unit and camped there for 6 hours straight. She looked like a pancake bird." - "All five birds piled into the kiddie pool and refused to move. I had to refill it twice before they got out." - "Found them all huddled in the shade under the deck, panting like they'd run a marathon. They didn't move for hours." - "One of my hens figured out how to use the garden hose spray and now stands under it every afternoon. She's basically taking showers." - "They discovered the dust bath was muddy after watering the garden and just... sat in it. Turned into a mud bath situation." Why we're sharing: - Laugh together at our weird, resourceful birds - Pick up new cooling ideas from each other - Normalize the reality: summer heat stress is real, and our flocks adapt - Celebrate how smart chickens are **Share your story in the comments. What's your flock's heat survival hack?**

Controversial opinion: Chickens are better stress relief than anything a doctor could prescribe. No copay. No wait time. No side effects except maybe getting too attached and ending up with more chickens than you planned (like that's a bad thing?!?) Sitting in the coop, watching them do their thing — there's nothing like it. If you've felt it, you know exactly what I mean. Has your flock ever genuinely gotten you through something? Tell us about it!

We have a rooster that has this wound and it’s just been getting worse even though we’ve been putting some spray on it that I’m also sending a picture of. Not sure what to do at this point looking for some advice. Do we need to clean? How do we do that? So many questions and not sure where to start.

Let's open this can of worms... Indoor chicken privileges — where do you stand? Because some of you have a hen with her own spot on the couch and you know exactly who you are. And some of you think that's absolutely where the line gets drawn. No judgment either way. But we want to know — does your flock have indoor access, and how did that even start?

Summer brings more predators to backyards—and more daylight for them to hunt. Time to audit your defenses. Signs of predator activity: - Feathers scattered near (or far from) the coop - Killed birds left uneaten or partially eaten - Missing birds with no bodies found - Damaged run/coop (holes, bent wire, missing boards) - Birds acting skittish or refusing to leave coop - Daytime predators (hawks, foxes) seen circling or lurking Predator-specific clues: - Hawk: Aerial kills, feathers scattered in wide area, bird partially eaten from back - Fox/coyote: Missing birds, multiple kills, prints/scat near coop - Raccoon: Torn wire, missing head/organs, kills at night - Rats: Holes in run, missing chicks, droppings - Weasel: Kills multiple birds, small entry holes Quick summer predator audit: - Run walk-around: Check for gaps, holes, loose wire - Coop inspection: Roof intact? Vents predator-proofed? Door closes properly? - Perimeter: Clear tall grass/brush within 15 feet (predators lose concealment) - Run coverage: Any spots where a hawk could dive-bomb? - Night lock-in: Are all birds secured every single night? Summer vulnerability spike: - Longer daylight = more hunting hours for predators - Juvenile predators learning to hunt - Heat stress makes birds less alert - Natural cover grows in and provides predator shelter Your action this week: Do the audit. Find one vulnerability and fix it. >>>Check out the "Scary Story" video I posted last year on YouTube about a close call Queenie Greenstien had with a hawk! https://youtube.com/shorts/CjQgFxRKo9g?si=vfD6JByefbvSyGJv