Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

Oh DH works at the airport. He said it was 122' yesterday at the airport.. On the Tarmac 187'! He was out in the heat for 7 hours..
By the end of the 7 hours he could not see.. I told him when I find out who was running the show I am going to

 

[kevs-chickadees]

Wow, how did they get a temperature of the tarmac?

 

[Arizonachicken]

My Production Red is fading. I've found a couple of eggs on the roost where she sleeps. At first I thought they were from my Wyandottes. They used to lay all over the place. One of the eggs was soft shelled. It was weird, but we are having the heat wave, and there's the 4 broody hens, etc. Today I noticed my PR was laying the the grass a lot and when she got up her abdomen was swollen, like an internal layer. She's 2 1/2 years old and has always been a good layer. What are the chances she is now internal laying? Her vent is pulsating, too, and she as a funny little growth on her back, right at the base of her tail. It also looks like she's beginning to molt. I don't think she'll last the summer with all that.

City farm: When I worked in the ER, we always had airport workers come in during the summer with heat stroke. I can't imagine being out there in the summer.

 

[Demosthine]

At my job, we usually use a laser thermometer for things like that. A quality one is more accurate than a standard one and they are significantly cheaper these days. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if every plane was recording the temp these days!

 

[Demosthine]

Arizona, we had our first soft shell ever today, too. It's gotta be the stress from the heat, because mine are well fed with free-choice calcium. The only other semi-soft one was right after we got Batman from Cindy, but that was the first day after moving her.

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

Oh DH works at the airport. He said it was 122' yesterday at the airport.. On the Tarmac 187'! He was out in the heat for 7 hours..
By the end of the 7 hours he could not see.. I told him when I find out who was running the show I am going to

My daughter works at Cutter. This was their sign. She said people who flew with their dogs were making them walk on the tarmac and the owners refused to listen to her about how hot the ground was for their pet. The dogs were jumping as their pads were burning. I said to tell the owners to take their shoes off and walk on the hot tarmac!

 

[cbnovick]

Meant to add, that with the genetic pendulous crop issue, birds from a colder climate than ours may have the problem but it will never show. When I went searching for Bourbon Red hatching eggs this year, I bought from breeders in the hot SE (NC, Georgia). Hopefully they will be okay.

your royal palm is stunning!!

I love turkeys...but no can do where I am at now...someday!!

 

[cbnovick]

All my birds are 'rocking' this desert heat thus far...

still laying everyday too...except for one that's started molting about 4 days ago. it's been alot of work and worry...misters, fresh water and ice jugs for my 13 chicks in the garage...moved them to laundry room inside from 2-8pm each day for the past 4 days...they are almost 2 weeks old. Sure will be nice when I can move them to the outside grow out pen in a week or 2.
Hope everyone else's birds are well...

WE GOT SOME RAIN THIS EVENING in North Scottsdale!!!

Just a short shower...but it dropped the temp fast to 98. My birds loved grazing a little extra this evening in the cooler temp. Unfortunately whilst watching my clan graze the mosquitos (or chiggars) were opportunistic and I got bitten several times, so I headed back inside. We have not had an issue until this humidity climbed a bit this past week and been running the misters more than usual...can't have it all I suppose

Cindy

 

[maryhysong]

Well Globe was 115 on Sat and near that on Sun. On Sunday I had what I think was my first heat related fatality. Poor EE girl just keeled over in the pen. I don't remember anything 'off' when I fed in the morning but she was gone when I got home from work. She was in the hottest pen; gets the most sun during the day and even with shade cloth, water and wet spots it's pretty warm out there.

Until Sat. my girls had hardly slowed down at all except the BO and the BOxBR girls, which went from 5 or 6 a day down to about 2. I've started adding ice blocks to those hotter pens and so far everybody looks OK> Tho I came home today and my Muscovy drake was not looking so hot. The shallow pool water was hot from the sun so I dumped it out and while the hose water was not that cold it was cooler. He looked better after a soak.

I can't imagine living in the valley with the 120+ I think I would just croak. The heat here is making me sick enough as it is.

 

[Demosthine]

You know, it seems the breed to die from the heat the most are the Easter Eggers. I'm hoping my four Ameraucana do not fall in to that less-hardy category. They seem to be doing well so far, but they are younger and not nearly as feathered as a grown adult.

On the note of ice blocks and all, my three turkeys are the only smart ones. I've got a box fan running on the back porch and a shallow pan of water in front of it. I'll be darned, the turkeys lay directly in front of the fan and go to sleep. They are the only ones I see standing in or walking through that, too. None of the others care much for either. Instead, they using both wading pools as a drinking fountain. I guess that could mean the chickens aren't as stressed by the heat as much, but they were all panting some. Who knows.