Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[Fancychooklady]

Does anyone just wet their birds? That would cool them nicely...

I can't imagine living in 45 deg heat. Sounds horrible.

I think the Russian ships are pretty hot too.

Felix, I lost 2 birds to heat stroke last year and the third one I placed in a bucket of water and managed to save it. If there is any breeze about it helps to drench a towel and lay it over the mesh . For the birds in the garden , they huddle under under the hazelnut tree and I spray the top of the tree to get a ' trickle down ' effect. Thankfully we only get a few days in the low 40's in summer. Sorry for your loss Sam.

 

[vehve]

That must be nasty, watching them go like that. So far our two losses have been from a hawk, and a vicious beast known as Älize, the dachshund.

 

[Teila]

Good morning

As I mentioned on my previous post; everyone coped OK with the heat yesterday except for LuLu who appeared a bit distraught, panting more than the others and wings held out. I damped down her face and comb and had the mister going, frequent changes of water to fridge water, frequent damping of the dirt to cool it and watermelon available.

With it expected to hit 40C today I am a little concerned how LuLu is going to go. Any tips of anything else I could do for her? Any other signs I need to look for and what 'drastic' steps should I take if she has issues today?

 

[cwrite]

Sorry for your loss @Satay.

Can only hope for the best for today!

@Teila I'm really not sure what else we can do. I'm keeping their water cold with frozen cups of water, putting frozen peas in & refilling with frozen cups & fresh cold water during the day. I'm going to give them feed mixed with a multivitamin & water like porridge, but not too much as apparently it's better to feed before roost time than in the morning when it's very hot due to heat generated by digestion. I like Sam's idea of making a damp sandbath. My chooks have never cottoned on to the idea of standing in water, although if they look distressed I'll put them in a shallow pool. I hose down around the run and mist manually a little as I don't have anything set up. I just have to run all the burning hot water in the hose pipe off first.

Who did the rain dance last time? I can't remember now.

 

[satay]

Good morning 

As I mentioned on my previous post; everyone coped OK with the heat yesterday except for LuLu who appeared a bit distraught, panting more than the others and wings held out.  I damped down her face and comb and had the mister going, frequent changes of water to fridge water, frequent damping of the dirt to cool it and watermelon available.

With it expected to hit 40C today I am a little concerned how LuLu is going to go.  Any tips of anything else I could do for her?  Any other signs I need to look for and what 'drastic' steps should I take if she has issues today?

With my marans yesterday there really was not signs they were panting a little but not too much went back out half our later to check them and she was gone.

 

[Ashburnham]

This is the sort of shade you need to beat the heat. I have planted several of these fig trees in my pens.
All pens have at least one fruit tree growing in them.

xxxxx M


It is also better to spray the ground and walls and floor of coops rather than directly on the chooks- evaporation cools the air, and they will burrow into the wet ground to cool off.

 

[Teila]

Oh Satay, I am sorry to read that

I missed that in your earlier post


cwrite my gals also do not like getting wet and would not stand in water but as I said, I have the mister on the run and for those in the garden I am frequently damping the dirt with the watering can .. I need a double tap!

Sadly, it is going to be a long worrisome day for many of us today; my thoughts are with everyone and I hope fires are kept under control and everyone's loved ones survive the heat, two legged, four legged and no legged.

 

[Teila]

This is the sort of shade you need to beat the heat. I have planted several of these fig trees in my pens.
All pens have at least one fruit tree growing in them.

xxxxx M

It is also better to spray the ground and walls and floor of coops rather than directly on the chooks- evaporation cools the air, and they will burrow into the wet ground to cool off.

Thank you Ash, your coops do look very cool.

I read that chickens cool down via their comb and that damping their comb and face will help with the heat and I tried that on LuLu yesterday but then I wonder if that is OK to do?

Definitely keeping the ground damp here.

 

[satay]

Oh Satay, I am sorry to read that    I missed that in your earlier post


cwrite my gals also do not like getting wet and would not stand in water but as I said, I have the mister on the run and for those in the garden I am frequently damping the dirt with the watering can .. I need a double tap!

Sadly, it is going to be a long worrisome day for many of us today; my thoughts are with everyone and I hope fires are kept under control and everyone's loved ones survive the heat, two legged, four legged and no legged.

It sure is .. We have hit 40c already and it's only 9.30am.

 

[satay]

Thank you Ash, your coops do look very cool.

I read that chickens cool down via their comb and that damping their comb and face will help with the heat and I tried that on LuLu yesterday but then I wonder if that is OK to do?

Definitely keeping the ground damp here.

Miracle kept running around in the heat up near the house yesterday and was looking shocking. I got the hose and hosed her down... She looks good today.