Arizona Chickens

[BlossomSilkies]

I'm not here much, and this visit I'm here to whine, I'm giving you all fair warning.

I have lost 2 hens to this heat. And that's with A/C in both coops. After losing one of my BCMs today, I caught every one of my chickens and closed them inside their coops. Cleared out both waterers of the SCORCHING water inside them, added ice and cold water and electrolytes hoping that will help. If I have to keep them closed up for the rest of the summer, I will. It breaks my heart to lose them and to think they suffered so. In the standards coop I tossed ice packs around the floor. The banty coop seems to stay a few degrees cooler.

I just don't know what else to do for them. Blah!

 

[Mahonri]

115 here today. The birds in the big coop with AC weren't even panting... those in the grow out pens on the south of the house looked close to death... I got them cold water and they downed it in big gulps. I sprayed down the roof with the hose. I have two Icelandic hens I'm real worried about. I'm moving them to the AC coop tonight. Can't even imagine how much my electric bill is going to be... and I only have the AC set on 85, but it doesn't go off much until after midnight when it's this warm. 8PM and it's still 105. September seems a long ways away at this point.

I was watching some of the birds in the big coop... there are about 7 who will slip under the towel that closes off the pop door, they'll run out into the run, realize how stinking hot it is and beeline it right back into the coop. Pretty funny.

Oh, and Noel, I've never seen your MIL, but I've met the fireman and your kids and your story just cracked me up!

 

[kush3120]

So far so good with my ladies. I have two large sisso trees over the coop and run with only a couple terracotta bases for them to cool their feet in. Have not put out any ice in but they are doing good so far. They pant durring the day, not heavely.... but even without ice in the terracotta bases they stop panting after they stand in them. I don't feed them any scraps or scratch in the summer since that raises their body temp. Well, when it cooled down over the 4th I made it a point to give them some scratch since the high was like 95.

 

[Drjennidvm]

[quote name
="GoldBarRanch" url="/t/31227/arizona-chickens/29540#post_9300418"][COLOR=DDA0DD]Just for Giggles I want to share with you guys this phone my mother sent to me via email. Its a redneck chicken tractor made from a trampoline frame lol She was making fun of me because I like to recycle things and I used my old swimming pool frame as a tortoise pen shown below. Oh well what can I say ! Shes right I would totally do this lol[/COLOR]

[COLOR=DDA0DD][/COLOR]
 my recycled swimming pool frame below

[/quote]
I love these ideas - I'm all about reduce/reuse/recycle too!

 

[Mikey D]

115 here today. The birds in the big coop with AC weren't even panting... those in the grow out pens on the south of the house looked close to death... I got them cold water and they downed it in big gulps. I sprayed down the roof with the hose. I have two Icelandic hens I'm real worried about. I'm moving them to the AC coop tonight. Can't even imagine how much my electric bill is going to be... and I only have the AC set on 85, but it doesn't go off much until after midnight when it's this warm. 8PM and it's still 105. September seems a long ways away at this point.

I was watching some of the birds in the big coop... there are about 7 who will slip under the towel that closes off the pop door, they'll run out into the run, realize how stinking hot it is and beeline it right back into the coop. Pretty funny.

Oh, and Noel, I've never seen your MIL, but I've met the fireman and your kids and your story just cracked me up!

I have a window swamp that I cobbled together that I'm going to put in the coop/run.

They have a mister under a half of a plastic dog house. It's kinda funny to watch as they will go in the "chicken wash" for a few minutes and come out dripping wet.

Then the next couple go in...

Rinse and repeat - literally!

 

[parentwarrior]

To "tarp" or not to "tarp", that is the question. Will having a tarp on the top of the run as a shade provider actually hold in heat? Would I be better off using shade cloth? I have a tarp on about 1/2 my run (on the roof only to keep out sun and rain) but I was wondering if it actually holds in more heat than if it weren't there. I have misters all around the run too. Any thoughts or suggestions for what you all are using? Is anyone using a tarp (the vinyl type you find in all the camping sections)?

I have misters in my coop and then put a tarp over it a while later. I think it holds the cooler air in. I also have a fan blowing through the mist in the shaded area. My guys are comfortable even in this heat. The only problem I have is at night when the misters are off. I turned them back on tonight because it is so hot. I was worried about them.

 

[parentwarrior]

Hoppy bobbing for apples



This is her good eye - she keep the left one closed most of the time.



Action shot - though you can see how beaten up she has gotten.



Mama definitely wants her out of the sink!

So clever! I love it. I am going to try that!

 

[parentwarrior]

So far so good with my ladies. I have two large sisso trees over the coop and run with only a couple terracotta bases for them to cool their feet in. Have not put out any ice in but they are doing good so far. They pant durring the day, not heavely.... but even without ice in the terracotta bases they stop panting after they stand in them. I don't feed them any scraps or scratch in the summer since that raises their body temp. Well, when it cooled down over the 4th I made it a point to give them some scratch since the high was like 95.

I have been spreading a bit of scratch on the ground in my coop before I go to bed so when they wake up early in the morning they can have some fun finding it. I figured it was cooler then. Do you think I should hold off on that? I don't give them any during the day. I also have been giving them some grass clippings which they love. We have a mulching blade on the mower some the pieces come out small and finely chopped. Do you think that is OK?

 

[Mikey D]

AWESOME!!!

 

[kush3120]

I am not sure how long after feeding them scratch it affects their metabolism, I just know it raises it. In my opinion if it has been working so far I would stick with it. All in all it sounds like a good idea to me. My coop is a deep litter type coop so I use my grass clipping instead of pine shaving in the coop and they don’t eat much of it, so far no issues. I have never attempted feeding it too them other than when they eat it from free ranging. I would consider grass similar to table scraps, but I have not read anything regarding the similarity or difference. If you find something out let me know.

Are you on http://www.phoenixpermaculture.or this is a great site for things local to phx area. Great resource!