5 dead in an hour

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I would check the temp under those tarps, they may actually act like hot house, I think it might actually intensify the heat. Birds can take some heat,but I have been in VA. during a heat wave and it was HOT.

How many birds do you have and can you get them somehwere that a fan can blow over them? Fans help livestock more than you can imaagine.

Good luck we have some heat waves here and so far not bad enough to have them do more than pant and sort of hold their wings out. Were all the birds panting?

Sorry went back and red the original post again, I see you have a fan on them, that will help a whole bunch. Was the fan going when you lost the birds??
 
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Generally, when using a tarp, I suspend it above the area I want shaded, so that more air can circulate. Have you checked the temperature in the houses/ runs under those tarps? It may have kept it a bit hotter than you would think. I am very sorry for the loss of your girls.
 
I do think it was the heat. I really truly do. None of the ones in the camper were affected. It was just the ones that had ground heat getting to them. DH & I were laying in bed last night going over EVERYTHING about this, I can not stress to you all how much we love our birds. To us they are as important as the ones I see people paying hundreds upon hundreds of dollars for. Not only are they our Pets, they help to feed out children and family.

I just came in from checking the camper coop, all is fine, I even have to get DH to unwire the fan so we can get the egg out that the Black Australorps gave us over night.

I went downstairs ready to get a trash bag. All are fine! Thank goodness!! I took them a piece of bread and divided it between the 4 and they gobbled it up.

They have ate almost the entire pan of food we gave them overnight also.

DH said that the ground is just soooo hot that he thinks it acted almost like an oven to the poor things. We are going to TSC to get pine bedding to put in crates today, bringing ALL chickens inside (shew its gonna stink, but hey I do not want anymore of my girls to die) And they will spend all day inside with us, go back to coops as the sun starts to set. They need time to spread their wings, run around so I feel keeping them in during the HOTTEST part of the days is all we can do at this point.


Thank you all again, I had to have somewhere, that people understand how much they mean to us to turn to!
 
Darn!!! I'm sorry to hear what you've gone through. It sounds like you have a grasp on the situation and have a plan. I hope you and your chickens do well with the heat of the rest of the summer.

We had a similar type of heat recently and I got some great ideas here at BYC.. We have a fan that runs in the coop - which I keep open during the day so the gals can come in and out of it into their 1/2 covered run when they like. In the evening I unplug the fan and turn on the heat lamp because we have cool nights. During hot days, I put out big, sturdy dishes of cool water with large chunks of ice floating in them. Like the big pans that go under big plants to keep the water off your floor. They are about 14"x2". They love it! THey walk through them and drink out of them. I also freeze those gallon milk jugs with water and put a few out for them to hang out near/on. I've seen them standing on them. I heard there at BYC that chickens regulate their body temperatures by walking on cool ground so I guess the cool water helps. I also spray the run down on those days. We have shade cloth over 1/2 the run and I soak those things too. As soon as the ground is wet the birds come out and have drinks, start scratching around, and end up laying in the cool dirt. The frozen fruit helps too.

Best of luck to you all!!!
 
I am so sorry about your loss. It is hard to just lose them at all. I fill their waterers with ice and water, I don't have a Fan. I worry for mine too. I give them iced bottles and all kinds of stuff to keep them cool.

Caroline
 
after looking at your set up,i do think maybe it was the heat.you need to just use those blue tarps for a little rain protection.you need to use a shade cloth(lowes')where that blue tarp is.the tarps do not allow air to pass thru so with it coming down the sides like in the picture not enough cool air could pass thru and a tarp actually keeps hot air from escaping(like a green house).
i would use tarps just over a small area for them to get out of the rain(if not a coop) and shade cloth over the rest of the top and sides during the summer.JMO
p.s.-i am not trying to make you feel bad as we who have ever kept chickens all learn somethings the hard way.

and i would also take out all the windows in the camper and put up hardware cloth(wire).you could alter it for the winter but air circulation is very crucial to chicken health.
 
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We are going today to get the shade cloths, the campers windows are all open, and DH even made a hardware cloth screen door for the camper about a week ago.
 
Update today, We have a chicken hotel in the basement. lol All are fine! I took photos of the thermometer on our back porch in the shade about an hour ago! It is reading between 106-108 degrees F

heatwave001.jpg


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heatwave005.jpg
 

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