California - Northern

[ronott1]

Quote:

I made the mistake of subscribing to the incubators anonymous thread but soon found that they were enablers! Any time someone emptied their incubator, they found ways to fill them up with eggs....

If they hatch, I will put them straight onto Craig's list(Maybe..). Cheapest hatching egg yet--$2.79 per dozen.

Leghorns are listed as having the best feed to egg ratio of any breed. Not so good for meat, but any bird will make chicken stock...

.

Ron

 

[Hangtown Farms]

The chicken coop reads 118ish. :| I don't care what the weather man says- I care what the thermometer says where the chickens actually ARE (since heat varies upon location AND what type of structure). I hosed the outside of the coop off, misters on, fresh cold water in their waterers. Ahhh! It's so darn hot!

yeikes. yep 105 at my work but as I start to drive up the hill I can feel the air greatly heat up at the base of the foothills. My arm gauge gave me the 110 rating lol.

 

[capayvalleychick]

He's so handsome!! Does he ever go after the birds? I had reserved myself to never leaving any dog loose on our property because the kind of dog that fit our family- weren't the kind that fit farm life. We couldn;t find a bred that was perfect for not being prey driven at all but have a high instinct AND ability to protect their family. Pits/Rotts/Dobies fit us family wise. But other breeds could have been better outside with the animals but wouldn't have fit our family if that makes sense.

Amybeth, you can train a dog to leave the chickens alone. We have a GSD whose German sire was 4th in the world Schutzhund trial competition. If they see you as their leader and understand that those are your chickens, they will protect them out of obedience to you. It does take a lot of patience and consistent training and you don't trust a pup alone with them until they are mature mentally. Sometimes when they are young, they may make mistakes, but you use that as a learning experience to reinforce your rules. It's not true that once they kill, they have the taste of blood and will do it again. Our English Shepherds are also dogs that protect the family and livestock, including chickens, as well as herd and hunt predators & varmints.

I lost a Golden Comet over night. Dead in the small coop this morning. She stopped laying last October so I expected her to die and any time after that. Kind of surprised me today. She is all packed for the Necropsy and the form is filled out and printed.
...

Kim, I will get you some Basque Chicks as soon as I can. They lay very nice brown eggs.

I'm sorry about your hen. The farmer near here with sex link chickens free ranging in his fields is losing huge numbers of them to the heat.
That's so nice of you to offer the Basque chicks. I appreciate it but can't handle having another breed here. I don't know how people breed so many different kinds and keep everything separate.

Love the pic of the chickees looking at the lizard.

Kim

 

[zooweemama]

Amybeth, you can train a dog to leave the chickens alone. We have a GSD whose German sire was 4th in the world Schutzhund trial competition. If they see you as their leader and understand that those are your chickens, they will protect them out of obedience to you. It does take a lot of patience and consistent training and you don't trust a pup alone with them until they are mature mentally. Sometimes when they are young, they may make mistakes, but you use that as a learning experience to reinforce your rules. It's not true that once they kill, they have the taste of blood and will do it again. Our English Shepherds are also dogs that protect the family and livestock, including chickens, as well as herd and hunt predators & varmints.

I'm sorry about your hen. The farmer near here with sex link chickens free ranging in his fields is losing huge numbers of them to the heat.
That's so nice of you to offer the Basque chicks. I appreciate it but can't handle having another breed here. I don't know how people breed so many different kinds and keep everything separate.

Love the pic of the chickees looking at the lizard.

Kim

Thanks! We plan on doing a lot of training with her! We're all excited about her. Even my mil who was terrified of our rott AND was very nervous of us getting the pitbull (we share the same property)- she just fawns all over here. Very funny!

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Thanks Kim!

I meant if you quit raising Delawares you could get the Basque. I know you want to limit your breeds. I remember your Buckeys you had last year.

If you decide you want some let me know!

Ron

 

[Papa Brooder]

well, i thought my CL was turning the corner, she took some independent drinks and ate some yogurt I gave her. I took the kids to the lake and when we came home she was dead. big huge bummer! I had been prepared for it all day yesterday and even this morning but when she started to drink I assumed we were over the hard part and she would gradually turn around. no such luck. everyone else seemed fine in the intolerable heat but egg production has definitely slowed even with my super consistent layers. can it be friday yet? it's supposed to cool down. tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. yikes!

 

[ronott1]

well, i thought my CL was turning the corner, she took some independent drinks and ate some yogurt I gave her. I took the kids to the lake and when we came home she was dead. big huge bummer! I had been prepared for it all day yesterday and even this morning but when she started to drink I assumed we were over the hard part and she would gradually turn around. no such luck. everyone else seemed fine in the intolerable heat but egg production has definitely slowed even with my super consistent layers. can it be friday yet? it's supposed to cool down. tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. yikes!

I am so sorry!

The heat probably shut down the kidneys. They really have very sensitive organs.

Ron

 

[debs_flock]

I'm having the same thing Jeff. The first two I lost to the heat (a WCB polish and a bantam BR) were gone in the blink of an eye. The second two that went down out of my egg flock (a sussex and a LF BR), they were down on their sides, with their eyes closed. I was able to turn them around completely. A cool dunk in a bucket and a few hours in AC and they were totally back to normal. But the second WCB that went down yesterday, she's still in the house, barely drinking sav-a-chick water and not standing at all. She is drinking a little by herself and is holding her head up, but that's it and not eating.

I really don't want to lose this pullet, that will drop my group to 3 cockerels and 3 pullets,

Deb

 

[HighNDryFarm]

well, i thought my CL was turning the corner, she took some independent drinks and ate some yogurt I gave her. I took the kids to the lake and when we came home she was dead. big huge bummer! I had been prepared for it all day yesterday and even this morning but when she started to drink I assumed we were over the hard part and she would gradually turn around. no such luck. everyone else seemed fine in the intolerable heat but egg production has definitely slowed even with my super consistent layers. can it be friday yet? it's supposed to cool down. tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. yikes!

Well shoot...you did your best. Hopefully it cools off before any more chickens are lost.

 

[Papa Brooder]

I'm having the same thing Jeff. The first two I lost to the heat (a WCB polish and a bantam BR) were gone in the blink of an eye. The second two that went down out of my egg flock (a sussex and a LF BR), they were down on their sides, with their eyes closed. I was able to turn them around completely. A cool dunk in a bucket and a few hours in AC and they were totally back to normal. But the second WCB that went down yesterday, she's still in the house, barely drinking sav-a-chick water and not standing at all. She is drinking a little by herself and is holding her head up, but that's it and not eating.

I really don't want to lose this pullet, that will drop my group to 3 cockerels and 3 pullets,

Deb

It so frustrating! It's even harder that she had just been laying for about 3 weeks now. Not to be all economical and heartless, but she was just about ready to earn her keep. I need some chickens around here to earn her keep. I did find her in the nest box, the other was in the main coop which is hardware cloth floor so has more natural ventilation so maybe that was the difference. Anyway, I am nervous now to leave which stinks but everyone else was fine when we got home from the lake. when I start thinking that I have 250+ chickens, it puts things a bit into perspective. Good news is the ones that do make it will hopefully breed more heat tolerant offspring i hope. i also notice that my legbars more than any other breed hang out in the coop a ton instead of in the dirt where they can dig into cooler ground. wonder why that is...

lets pray no more losses this week!