Summertime and the Living Is Easy

Summer is a brilliant season to be a chicken owner – at this time of year they’re laying lots of eggs, enjoying strolling around outside, and keeping insects off of your favourite garden plants.

One of the main things you’ll need to be concerned about in summer, particularly in some of the more arid regions of Australia, is the heat. If your chickens are kept outdoors then you’ll need to provide a lot of water, and good protection from both the heat and the sun. You'll need to offer some outdoor shade. If you have an Eglu, you can do this easily by covering your unit with a specially-crafted Outdoor Shade.

Helping your chickens cope with the extreme summer heat is a very important aspect of chicken ownership in most parts of Australia, so we’ve made a page offering help and advice on keeping your chickens healthy in extreme weather. You may need to move your chickens inside if it's scorching, so that they can share your air conditioning!

Chickens will need protection from the heat in the summer

In the summer months, chickens in the wild would be spending their days rearing their young. This is a season in which chickens kept in captivity are particularly likely to ‘go broody’, a phenomenon whereby hens get very protective over their eggs and incubate them for extended periods. If you notice that one or more of your hens have gone broody, then there are some things that you can try in order to get your chook back to normal. We’ve created a broody hen page to give you some more advice and details.