Arizona Chickens

[desertmarcy]

I haven't been on lately and there are too many post to completely catch up.
I lost two of my laying hens today with the heat. I'm so bummed! One barred rock and one BO. They were both hatched last Oct so this was their first summer. They have shade (from trees and a shade cloth), plenty of water, mister was on and there was 1/2 of a frozen watermelon I put out at noon.
Now I have 6 laying hens and 7 10-week-old's. I'm hoping we don't loose any more but I thought we were doing everything right. Anything else I should be doing for them? I feel terrible!
I was expecting the chicks to have a harder time but I didn't expect two of my layers to die especially with all the precautions I was taking.
Tomorrow I will put out ice blocks several times during the day in hopes that will help. So sad!
Anything else I should do?

You are doing everything you can. Some birds just aren't going to be able to take our heat. I, too, lost birds today--2 Rhode Island Red cock birds, one was my founding breeder, his son I kept from last year and one of his daughters. They were fine yesterday morning when I fed, the older bird and the hen were dead this morning and the other male died this afternoon. They just keeled over. I had gone out in the heat of the day to turn on the mister and spray down the pens that didn't have misters and that is when I found the other male. I was a little too late. I had not had trouble with this breed in the heat last year and I felt that last year was hotter. I am rethinking breeding these if they can't take it here. I will try one more year. Maybe I will be selecting for the heat tolerant ones. What I have found is when we have relatively cool periods and then the temperature spikes suddenly, that is when I lose birds. It was also humid and no breeze. It is a real drag. Mine aren't pets but I hate to loose them that way. My founding cock was a nice show bird, he was only 2 years old. I was hoping he would be siring more chicks.

 

[Papas Chickens]

I haven't been on lately and there are too many post to completely catch up.
I lost two of my laying hens today with the heat. I'm so bummed! One barred rock and one BO. They were both hatched last Oct so this was their first summer. They have shade (from trees and a shade cloth), plenty of water, mister was on and there was 1/2 of a frozen watermelon I put out at noon.
Now I have 6 laying hens and 7 10-week-old's. I'm hoping we don't loose any more but I thought we were doing everything right. Anything else I should be doing for them? I feel terrible!
I was expecting the chicks to have a harder time but I didn't expect two of my layers to die especially with all the precautions I was taking.
Tomorrow I will put out ice blocks several times during the day in hopes that will help. So sad!
Anything else I should do?

Sorry for your losses

You can put some electrolytes into there water to help them with the heat thats what i do with my girls.
here is my recipe for electrolyte.

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Gallon Water

Hope this helps i know it does for my girls.

 

[mom-to-5]

Sorry for your losses   You can put some electrolytes into there water to help them with the heat thats what i do with my girls. 
here is my recipe for electrolyte.

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Gallon Water

Hope this helps i know it does for my girls. 

Thank you for that! I will make some up for tomorrow am.

 

[mom-to-5]

You are doing everything you can. Some birds just aren't going to be able to take our heat. I, too, lost birds today--2 Rhode Island Red cock birds, one was my founding breeder, his son I kept from last year and one of his daughters. They were fine yesterday morning when I fed, the older bird and the hen were dead this morning and the other male died this afternoon. They just keeled over. I had gone out in the heat of the day to turn on the mister and spray down the pens that didn't have misters and that is when I found the other male. I was a little too late. I had not had trouble with this breed in the heat last year and I felt that last year was hotter. I am rethinking breeding these if they can't take it here. I will try one more year. Maybe I will be selecting for the heat tolerant ones. What I have found is when we have relatively cool periods and then the temperature spikes suddenly, that is when I lose birds. It was also humid and no breeze. It is a real drag. Mine aren't pets but I hate to loose them that way. My founding cock was a nice show bird, he was only 2 years old. I was hoping he would be siring more chicks.

Sorry you lost some birds today too. I know i am trying and the heat is just brutal. I don't think I could survive it!
My chickens are pets, and well loved. I wish I could have done something for them but perhaps you are right and some will have a harder time than others.

 

[Sill]

Do any of you use sand in your runs? I use a mister and fan in the run and it is covered with a shade tarp so the soil gets real wet. I thought if I had sand in it it would be better.

I put my mister where most of the mist that falls hits paving stones in the shade of a large tree so the soil itself stays dryer. They can hang out on the damp stones or not. I have one of their pans of water near the mister so that one stays even cooler than the other two.

Like a true mother. Trying to get better to cook for other people.

I myself and having the pleasure of doing a 2 day prep for a Colonoscopy/Endoscopy tomorrow. Glued home and to you know what and can't eat anything solid until tomorrow afternoon.

Good luck with your procedure, hope everything is normal.

Right now we only have a flexible mister (see below) that I set on a patio table and I have a heavy duty fan behind it...so it acts kind of like an evaporative cooler. I use it everyday, so the ground doesn't completely dry and gets soggy by afternoon.

http://www.thegreenhead.com/2012/03/flexible-cooling-mister.php

That's the one I use for my chickens. For my quail I use a T-shaped one on a stand. I only turn them on if its going to be 112 or over.

 

[Sill]

Sorry to everyone that lost birds in this heat. I lost a bird too, an EE. She was having a hard time with the heat anytime it got over 110. While the other hens would pant, she would pant so hard it made noise. She hand almost no comb and zero wattles to help shed heat and abundant fluffy feathers, great for cold weather.

I normally turn the misters on around noon on the hottest days, today it wasn't soon enough.

You are doing everything you can. Some birds just aren't going to be able to take our heat. I, too, lost birds today--2 Rhode Island Red cock birds, one was my founding breeder, his son I kept from last year and one of his daughters. They were fine yesterday morning when I fed, the older bird and the hen were dead this morning and the other male died this afternoon. They just keeled over. I had gone out in the heat of the day to turn on the mister and spray down the pens that didn't have misters and that is when I found the other male. I was a little too late. I had not had trouble with this breed in the heat last year and I felt that last year was hotter. I am rethinking breeding these if they can't take it here. I will try one more year. Maybe I will be selecting for the heat tolerant ones. What I have found is when we have relatively cool periods and then the temperature spikes suddenly, that is when I lose birds. It was also humid and no breeze. It is a real drag. Mine aren't pets but I hate to loose them that way. My founding cock was a nice show bird, he was only 2 years old. I was hoping he would be siring more chicks.

I think you are right about sticking with breeds that do well in our heat. Its hard to see them suffer in the heat and worse if they die from it.
I'm thinking about getting some Penedesencas the next time I get chicks to raise, they keep coming up anytime I search for heat tolerant breeds, plus they have high production and beautiful very dark eggs. Anyone here have any? It would be great to get some locally but I'll probably have to ship some from out of state.

 

[desertmarcy]

Sorry to everyone that lost birds in this heat. I lost a bird too, an EE. She was having a hard time with the heat anytime it got over 110. While the other hens would pant, she would pant so hard it made noise. She hand almost no comb and zero wattles to help shed heat and abundant fluffy feathers, great for cold weather.

I normally turn the misters on around noon on the hottest days, today it wasn't soon enough.

I think you are right about sticking with breeds that do well in our heat. Its hard to see them suffer in the heat and worse if they die from it.
I'm thinking about getting some Penedesencas the next time I get chicks to raise, they keep coming up anytime I search for heat tolerant breeds, plus they have high production and beautiful very dark eggs. Anyone here have any? It would be great to get some locally but I'll probably have to ship some from out of state.

My Marans do well in the heat. I have a couple of older hens, too, hatched 2011 and haven't had any die from the heat. And they keep laying in the heat! I would say 85% of the eggs I am getting now are from Marans. I have 24 laying age Marans versus 52 of other breeds. They are the only breed I have that lay the dark eggs so I know those eggs are coming from them. You don't have to search high and low for a heat tolerant breed.

 

[Papas Chickens]

Here is one of my Rocks is it a Cockerel or a Pullet, it is only 4 weeks and a couple days old.

I call him/her Brave because he/she is always the first to do anything lol

 

[K9Dave]

I haven't been on lately and there are too many post to completely catch up.
I lost two of my laying hens today with the heat. I'm so bummed! One barred rock and one BO. They were both hatched last Oct so this was their first summer. They have shade (from trees and a shade cloth), plenty of water, mister was on and there was 1/2 of a frozen watermelon I put out at noon.
Now I have 6 laying hens and 7 10-week-old's. I'm hoping we don't loose any more but I thought we were doing everything right. Anything else I should be doing for them? I feel terrible!
I was expecting the chicks to have a harder time but I didn't expect two of my layers to die especially with all the precautions I was taking.
Tomorrow I will put out ice blocks several times during the day in hopes that will help. So sad!
Anything else I should do?

I think that misters and stuff weaken their ability to adjust to the heat. I have read several articles and many believe that it does them more harm than good to supplement their cooling. Especially if you miss the time to turn it on, need to be out of town etc. I haven't really seen much more than some panting with mine. They lay in the run that's soaked every now and then and have a water pan that they never get in.

Sorry for everyone's loss

 

[mom-to-5]

I think that misters and stuff weaken their ability to adjust to the heat. I have read several articles and many believe that it does them more harm than good to supplement their cooling. Especially if you miss the time to turn it on, need to be out of town etc. I haven't really seen much more than some panting with mine. They lay in the run that's soaked every now and then and have a water pan that they never get in.

Sorry for everyone's loss

Today was the first day I turned on the mister as it was over 110. In my case, perhaps it has something more to do with the 6-8 degree increase from the previous day as DesertMarcy suggested. And probably having birds not well adjusted to this AZ heat.
I think I will continue to mist when the temps spike, I don't want to loose anymore birds and hope no one else does either.