Today, August 2, 2011 at slightly over 20 weeks Miss Featherbottom laid an egg. She is the buff Orpington, on the left in the top picture. She has shown an interest in the nesting box lately so I thought she might be getting ready to lay. The temperatures have been over 100 for the past several weeks so I am surprised she started laying. I let the hens out of the pen during the day so they can get to a shadier spot. They enjoy being under the bushes. They have really enjoyed eating a cold slice of watermelon as well. I have also frozen a litter bottle of water and laid it on the ground for the hens to snuggle up to so they can cool off a bit. I put a smaller frozen bottle in the coop at night to help cool off the space.
