I got this idea from another BYC member, and thought I'd post to spark other's use of the idea. So simple (and cheap!) I didn't even think of it until I saw pictures from someone's coop page! Sunflowers as shade! Lightbulb moment!
We live in Oregon where the summers stay between 80-100 degrees in July-September. While temps may be low compared to some of you in other states and our summers are relatively short, I was worried about the location of my coop and how my ladies would deal with the heat. The ONLY place we had for our urban coop happens to be smack dab in the sun at the hottest part of the afternoon, with no shade to be had aside from the roof we put on it. That didn't provide much due to the angle the sun hits the coop between about 3pm - 6pm.
Sunflowers have saved Chickyville! I planted five of them a few feet away from the front of the coop and just in the nick of time they have taken off and filled out nicely to provide shade for my peeps! So glad I decided to plant otherwise we'd have a big problem on our hands. Next year I'm going to plant even more surrounding the coop to provide extra coverage.
We live in Oregon where the summers stay between 80-100 degrees in July-September. While temps may be low compared to some of you in other states and our summers are relatively short, I was worried about the location of my coop and how my ladies would deal with the heat. The ONLY place we had for our urban coop happens to be smack dab in the sun at the hottest part of the afternoon, with no shade to be had aside from the roof we put on it. That didn't provide much due to the angle the sun hits the coop between about 3pm - 6pm.
Sunflowers have saved Chickyville! I planted five of them a few feet away from the front of the coop and just in the nick of time they have taken off and filled out nicely to provide shade for my peeps! So glad I decided to plant otherwise we'd have a big problem on our hands. Next year I'm going to plant even more surrounding the coop to provide extra coverage.
