Colorado

[wsmith]

VERY dry! We frequently watch the storms go north of us and south of us, and give us nothing. And the wind blows. and blows. and blows. Did I mention the wind?

 

[larca83]

I took the tray from a flower pot yesterday and filled it with water to keep in the coop. Went out a few times throughout the day and dipped their feet in it...they seemed to like that! One little girl was standing in it quite a bit to keep cool. My husband is not that far off from MacGyver, and when he got home last night he made sort of a swamp cooler for them. We don't get much shade in our yard until about 4pm, so I hope it will help them on these extreme days!

Minchi, how did your girls do on their first day out?

 

[mynamesjenelle]

I have just looked up some threads on keeping your flock cool in this summer heat...maybe we all need to start tossing some new ideas around.

I am OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS!!!!

I am ready to try anything within my power.  I have 5 separate coops that have runs a total of 95ft in length.  Anybody got anything to suggest?



Joe

I would also like some tips on keeping the girls cool! I try to put their tractor in shady places, but where it is shady in the morning (at 85 degrees) and where it is shady in the afternoon (at 95 degrees) are not the same places and I can't move the tractor by myself when I come home on lunch break. So I've been spraying down the grass under their tractor, giving them ice water when I come home for lunch and after work, and hoping they don't suffer too much. My SO sprays them down the with garden hose sometimes but they HATE that so I can't bring myself to do it. It makes me so sad when their little beaks are gasping for cool air though

 

[ONSTAD1]

I have just looked up some threads on keeping your flock cool in this summer heat...maybe we all need to start tossing some new ideas around.

I am OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS!!!!

I am ready to try anything within my power.  I have 5 separate coops that have runs a total of 95ft in length.  Anybody got anything to suggest?



Joe

It would seem to me building a canopy with a "silver" tarp might be the least expensive option. Wouldn't need to be more than 2-3' tall. Pvc frame would be light and mobile.

Mo

 

[GonzoChicken]

Hi all! I'm new here. I had 103 temps in the backyard yesterday. I'm in Denver. I used the mist setting on my garden hose and a large floor fan and managed to get it to cool down a little. The garage got down to 93. Some of my hens have figured out to hang out next to the dog door as cool air flows out of it from the swamp cooler. Little buggers are getting smart!

 

[wsmith]

Hi all! I'm new here. I had 103 temps in the backyard yesterday. I'm in Denver. I used the mist setting on my garden hose and a large floor fan and managed to get it to cool down a little. The garage got down to 93. Some of my hens have figured out to hang out next to the dog door as cool air flows out of it from the swamp cooler. Little buggers are getting smart!

Welcome to BYC and the Colorado thread.

 

[coloradochick]

Hi Gonso (my letters don't all work so I have to use an s in place of the letter that won't work)


I'm ready to just hang this up. I'm so tired of losing my birds. This morning I put a couple of plastic feed bowls around and one of them in the barn. I walked in a little while ago and one of my 2 week olds had fallen in and drowned. It did me in. I felt so guilty. And the mama was walking around calling to it which really got me going like a faucet. I get too attached and emotionally I'm done.

It's so dry here and like you Smith, we have no grass and only a couple of trees that aren't beneficial to the birds because they aren't close to the barnyard. They just pant and pant and I thought I was doing a good thing. I'm sick to death of the dirt and dryness. They said on the news yesterday that 2013 will be very strict on water usage. Pretty scary.

 

[ONSTAD1]

This just might be pionting out the obvious, but what about a couple of box fans?

Mo

 

[wsmith]

LOL. Ours are employed in the house.....

 

[GonzoChicken]

Hi wsmith and coloradochick! Thanks for the welcome.

coloradochick: I'm so sorry, I've lost five in that last two weeks, had my last one (of 5) go on sunday, I'd been feeding it by hand, holding it up so it could drink, so I hear ya. It's a heart breaker. Hang in there.

This may help, but may not help the people with no grass. I mow a section of my yard a day and give it to all my birds, they eat a bunch of it, then they tend to bury them selves in it. Seems that the water in the fresh cut grass is acting as a cooling agent? I notice they tend to dig down into it and chill out a bit when it's the hottest.