Arizona Chickens

[Rhapsody1]

My vote is for pullet. I had a RIR a couple years ago that looked just like that at that age. I had so many fears she was a rooster because for a while she had all kinds of wonky tail feathers, but she ended up a little hen. These pics are when she was about 14 weeks or so.

Thank you so much. She is not as friendly as the other RIR ( I guess she is actually a production Red), but that means I am 5/5 Pullets. I do have some baby silkies that I am super sure are Roos, but the big girls are in fact big girls.

 

[City farm]

In case anyone is interested, here's some news on the Avian flu: http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAAPHIS/bulletins/109d739#.VX84tMKdBxI.facebook

Great, i will read this later. Here is some other information
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/m/#publication?id=PS032

 

[moms3cuties]

I just bought a mobile swamp cooler/fan for my chicken cabin, and misters for the runs, plus more shade cloth. I also give them ice in their water, freeze water in bottles for them to lay around, hose down the earth so they have cool places to dig into, keep a small "pool" of cool water for them to soak their feet in...or for me to soak their feet in if they seem overheated, and feed them frozen veggies and chilled watermelon. I'm utterly paranoid that I'll lose some of my beloved feathered friends this coming week...especially my Bielefelders, which seem to be really struggling with the heat. 

Got the fan going and wetting down their run twice a day. Ice in the water which they like, but I will add frozen veggies. 5 of them are 13 weeks so not babies, I do have some silkies that are younger and I am doing the same for them. If it gets really bad I will bring then inside for the week.

Just a word of caution, I would think allowing them to get acclimated to heat would help them. And if the are brought inside, when its real hot, I wonder if that would end up being a detriment to them, & I wonder whether or not they might feel like its a shock to their system to be in the hot weather when it's over a hundred degrees. anybody with more experience the meeting might be able to chime in. @ChuskaMtns@desertmarcy
it's just my thoughts as a pursuing medical student.
Everything else sounds wonderful that your doing!

On a side note, and it's probably just me, I'd like to be super careful and I choose not to purchase any misters at least the ones at Home Depot, due to that they had cancer causing ingredients, if you will .. in their materials. So, I'm using watered down ground areas under trees/shrubs, cool water pools of plant saucers and a baby pool for them or me to help keep them cool this summer; with frozen bottles placed in them, as I've used in the previous summer.

I don't have too much experience but on the one occasion I have brought a chicken inside, I really thought he would not make it, I kept him in the warmest room, with blankets to snuggle in, and returned him outside during the night so the temperature difference wasn't too drastic.
I no longer put a fan or mister for my flock instead gave them more shade, and loosened the dirt so they can dig deeper holes. I worried they would rely too much on my help to keep cool and they have adapted well.

have you lost any doing this last summer? It sounds reasonable.

 

[notinoz2007]

I have had at least one heat related death every summer, with a fan or without. It seems no matter what i do to help they struggle. I feared that one time I or a house sitter would forget to turn on the mister or fan and the whole flock, expecting that relief, would stress and die. Last year was the first summer without the fan and there was one death, a small hen. It was also the year I bright my rooster in, that I mentioned above. I am at a new location now and have high hopes because of the increased amount of shade and holes to puddle. There will be no fan again, I'll post pros and cons as they occur.

 

[desertmarcy]

Unlike many of you who just keep a flock of layers, and hence only one pen to deal with, I breed and have multiple, multiple pens. This makes it logistically very difficult to deal with the heat so I rather expect to lose some but it is still a real downer. So far in this current heat wave I have lost 2 Black Ameraucana cockerels and one of my best laying Rhode Island Red hens. The worst is still to come: by Fri-Sat supposed to be 110 here. I just can't even imagine trying to keep birds in the Phoenix area where it is even hotter. Although with some places that have flood irrigation and grass, that would sure help, but it is still hot.

Knock on wood, I have never lost a turkey to the heat but they do suffer.

 

[csr326]

Unlike many of you who just keep a flock of layers, and hence only one pen to deal with, I breed and have multiple, multiple pens. This makes it logistically very difficult to deal with the heat so I rather expect to lose some but it is still a real downer. So far in this current heat wave I have lost 2 Black Ameraucana cockerels and one of my best laying Rhode Island Red hens. The worst is still to come: by Fri-Sat supposed to be 110 here. I just can't even imagine trying to keep birds in the Phoenix area where it is even hotter. Although with some places that have flood irrigation and grass, that would sure help, but it is still hot.

Knock on wood, I have never lost a turkey to the heat but they do suffer.

Marcia, do you do anything to keep them cool? I know the feeling as you know I lost my breeding pair of white Ameraucanas.

 

[aviddamy]

I have a lady who has always been skinny and just a little off. She's stressed from the heat, so i brought her inside, gave her a bath, and she took a nap. Now im gonna give her food and water. Idk what else to do for her other than let her be inside until she gets a bit stronger.

 

[City farm]

I have a lady who has always been skinny and just a little off. She's stressed from the heat, so i brought her inside, gave her a bath, and she took a nap. Now im gonna give her food and water. Idk what else to do for her other than let her be inside until she gets a bit stronger.

Your a good pet owner if you bring them in. . We only have 2-3 area's for hospital recovery. For things like bumble foot or getting over breed by a roo. Or we find hom a new home.
quarantine is a whole nother area, however i would not bring them in for the heat. we have shade, wet ground, icy cold treats and a fan. Along with standing water in shallow ceramic pots.
Do you give apple cider vinegar in their water? Or electrolytes?

 

[aviddamy]

My 11 year old has her wrapped in a towel on the couch.

shes sleeping. I am planning on getting some electrolytes since i will pass by Tractor supply on the way home. I have to experiment to see why this particular bird isnt eating. Shes been a problem child the last couple of months.

 

[desertmarcy]

Marcia, do you do anything to keep them cool? I know the feeling as you know I lost my breeding pair of white Ameraucanas.

This particular pen is quite large and under a mesquite tree, has a big tarp over 1/3 of it, a lemon tree on the west side plus a building on that side that blocks the sun, so there is always a place they can move to, to get out of the sun. But I noticed they do all want to crowd in one back corner that is under an old table, I guess it's cooler there, and with maybe 30 birds, it is possible the two that died just got smashed under the others? I do wonder about the Ameraucanas, having those pea combs that don't radiate heat like the big single combs do. I gave up my Orloffs because they couldn't take the heat here, they have those small walnut combs. I hope I don't have to make that same decision about the Ameraucanas, after just getting some new blues plus those buffs.

I put a kiddie pool with some water in it in my big layer pen. All my single males or males that have one hen in with them all got water bowls so they have more and cooler water than they can get from the automatic system, and all the grow-out pens have big tubs of water that get changed twice a day---too many birds in those pens for just a few water nipples I think. But it is a ton of hot work cleaning and changing out all these water containers. I hate turning the mister on because it always has some drips and draws in more flies. All things considered, my turkeys give me much less headaches than my chickens.

Edited to add: there are 12 big pens that have a large tub of water that need changing plus right now I have 14 smaller pens with smaller water bowls to change! And 9 turkey pens that have automatic water bowls that I clean out daily as well.