Hot weather has been continuing throughout Japan since early this year.

According to the calendar, we are now in the early stages of summer, and it's starting to feel more and more like summer.

Here around Ark Tategamori, temperatures have been exceeding 30°C for several days, so it is important to take measures to protect animals as well as people from the heat.

When we humans get hot, we sweat and the sweat evaporates to help regulate our body temperature and prevent heat from building up inside the body. However, the chickens that lay "mukashi eggs" do not have sweat glands and therefore cannot sweat.

Chickens try to lower their body heat by drinking cold water and excreting cold water, but there are limits to how much their internal organs can do.

If we look back at us humans again, being exposed to the breeze and being in the shade are effective in lowering the perceived temperature.

That's why Ark Tategamori poultry farm has installed blackout curtains around the chicken coops.

The chickens choose their own environment to live in, enjoying the breeze from a fan inside the chicken coop or cooling off in the shade outside.

It makes me happy to see them having a relaxed time.

The chickens at Ark Tategamori live like this every day, laying delicious old-fashioned eggs.

Agricultural Department Takumi Makino