@the_henry that phone alarm trick is smart but does draining the liquid every other day actually change the smell or just keep the bucket from getting too full to handle? I wonder if the real problem is letting it sit too long versus the actual bacterial balance in there. Not sure I want to test it myself though after your story.

Admitted I was in the same boat as you, always thought the feed bag was the end-all be-all for my girls. But after a bad molt last fall where my layers dropped way off, I tried mixing in some black oil sunflower seeds with their scratch and it was like a switch flipped. They perked up and egg production came back faster than I expected. Now I do a small handful of scratch grains in the afternoon and my birds seem a lot happier overall.

Think they oversharpened those photos a bit though.

Man, that Phoenix heat is no joke! I've been there and it turns your hawk into a fry pan. Thing is, everybody talks about keeping the mortar wet but nobody mentions the type of sand you're using. If you've got super fine sand, it'll soak up the water way faster and crust up on you no matter what you do. Mix in a little bit of coarser sand next time, like a 2 to 1 ratio of fine to coarse, and it'll hold moisture way longer on the hawk. Also, try pre-wetting your hawk itself before you load it, not just the rag. The cold water on the metal buys you an extra 30 seconds easy.

Huh, five weeks in is rough. I'd be more worried about what's happening underground than above ground with cedar that fast. Might be worth checking if the ground soil pH is just eating the wood alive.