Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Danz, sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. What if you were to let them all out to free range during the 2-3 hottest months of the year, and keep them penned for breeding purposes the rest of the time? Would that help? I agree - I've never lost a bird to the heat, but mine always have the ability to move around and get to a place where the heat is survivable. I don't do fans and misters and frozen water bottles and some of the other things that people do to keep their birds cool. Their water warms as the day warms and their only heat relief is finding a shady place, yet between holding their wings out, panting, staying hydrated and choosing shady areas, they seem to do okay. But I do think the key is to be able to freely choose where to spend the day in order to survive it, and that it is penning them that is so detrimental to their ability to survive.

It was so lovely and cool last night. We were kept awake by a cricket chirping in our room (oh, the joys of country life!) and when attempts to locate it failed, we finally decided to let it have the bedroom and we would sleep on the couches in the living room. At o-dark-thirty, I was stunned to see on the thermostat that it was only 59 degrees outside! I love this time of year when it starts to really cool off at night even when the days are hot.

 

[chicken danz]

LOL I was cursing the temp last night because it was too cool for the AC to kick on so it got to feeling sticky and stuffy in the bedroom. Luckily I haven't found any crickets in the house yet but they sure are plentiful every time I look under something outside.
I would let all the chickens free range, but I have so many expensive ones right now that I feel I have to hatch all year, although I don't hatch that many in the summer. I use that time more for building up my own stock than having birds to sell. I keep thinking I could let the girls out if I had better control over the boys. But then I have the broody raised mutts running around that I have to eliminate if I would ever just let the girls range. Every time I get them all sold or given away then I end up with some girls sneaking off to be broody again! I keep saying I need a rooster pen but it hasn't happened. Too many projects!
I need to get busy building the new turkey area and maybe setting up a new grow out area for the birds that are too old to be in the brooder. I honestly need a large building and a huge pen just for grow outs so I can pick my breeders for the future. I wonder how those big operations decide which birds to keep and which to sell when they are trying to improve the breeding.
Pete the peacock has been molting and I get a handful of tail feathers every day. So I've really been concentrating on my plans to do a peacock Christmas tree on some of these really hot afternoons. I got a few ornaments off ebay that needed a little work. Most of the others will be adapted from stuff I have and stuff I make.

 

[HEChicken]

LOL I was cursing the temp last night because it was too cool for the AC to kick on so it got to feeling sticky and stuffy in the bedroom. Luckily I haven't found any crickets in the house yet but they sure are plentiful every time I look under something outside.

Oh yes - I hate when it is stuffy inside. What I do is watch the outside temp on the thermostat and as soon as it is cooler outside than in, I turn off the AC and open all the windows. That way almost every night we have fresh air coming in all night. Sometimes - like last night - I can reduce the temperature of the house inside by up to 5 degrees. Then in the morning I leave the windows open until the outside temp is drawing close to what it is inside, and then I close the windows and turn the AC back on. This morning it was mid-morning before I turned the AC on, but because the temp had dropped 5 degrees below the AC threshold, it hasn't kicked in at all yet. Most days it is mid-afternoon before the AC kicks on for the first time. I'm able to keep our electric bill down to a reasonable level that way.

Oh. Crickets. They have been my bane this summer. Well, that's a bit dramatic I suppose since it only started about a week and a half ago. I was woken at 2am by one chirping in my room and that night too, I changed rooms because I couldn't find it. DD found and got rid of it the next day so I looked forward to a good night's sleep - only to be woken at 2am by a cricket chirping. That night I found another cricket, got rid of it and enjoyed a good night's sleep the rest of the night. Nightly this has been going on - some nights we've removed 3 crickets in a single night. Then finally on Friday night - peace. And Saturday night. I didn't know how they got in but figured we had got rid of all of them so it was very distressing last night to be woken by yet another. I did find it this morning, and have it sitting waiting to be cricket food next time I go out. But now I'm worried tonight will be more of the same.

 

[chicken danz]

Don't they just drive you insane?? I hate that non stop chirping. Flies are my bane. I have no idea where they all come from.
I'd love to open windows but I have so many allergies I wouldn't be able to breath by morning. Actually living in the country has helped me adapt to my allergies some. I might try that one night this week just to see how I get along since I am feeling sickly anyway.
I've managed to waste the morning again. I need to go get busy. I just pulled another batch of chicks out of the incubator. That means I really need to get something done with the brooder house.

 

[sharol]

We live in a full contact berm house (underground on all but one side). We have a whole house fan installed at one end and open the windows when it cools off. That thing really pulls the air through the house. It was 68 degrees in here this morning at about 7, and it had only been on for a couple of hours. Usually I shut down the house like you do, but today, I just haven't done so. It is 84 outside and maintaining at 75 inside with no AC on. I suppose I'll have to close windows in another hour, but I really like the fresh air.

There is a whole hoard of crickets in my portable chicken coop. The little chickens in there aren't sure what to do with them. I've been considering shutting them out and leaving the door open for the older girls to take care of the cricket infestation. That shouldn't take long.

Oh yes - I hate when it is stuffy inside. What I do is watch the outside temp on the thermostat and as soon as it is cooler outside than in, I turn off the AC and open all the windows. That way almost every night we have fresh air coming in all night. Sometimes - like last night - I can reduce the temperature of the house inside by up to 5 degrees. Then in the morning I leave the windows open until the outside temp is drawing close to what it is inside, and then I close the windows and turn the AC back on. This morning it was mid-morning before I turned the AC on, but because the temp had dropped 5 degrees below the AC threshold, it hasn't kicked in at all yet. Most days it is mid-afternoon before the AC kicks on for the first time. I'm able to keep our electric bill down to a reasonable level that way.

Oh. Crickets. They have been my bane this summer. Well, that's a bit dramatic I suppose since it only started about a week and a half ago. I was woken at 2am by one chirping in my room and that night too, I changed rooms because I couldn't find it. DD found and got rid of it the next day so I looked forward to a good night's sleep - only to be woken at 2am by a cricket chirping. That night I found another cricket, got rid of it and enjoyed a good night's sleep the rest of the night. Nightly this has been going on - some nights we've removed 3 crickets in a single night. Then finally on Friday night - peace. And Saturday night. I didn't know how they got in but figured we had got rid of all of them so it was very distressing last night to be woken by yet another. I did find it this morning, and have it sitting waiting to be cricket food next time I go out. But now I'm worried tonight will be more of the same.

 

[chicken danz]

I just went out to gather peacock feathers and found the hens had hatched 6 baby peafowl. There were 6 more eggs in there but one of the Mom's was keeping the other one from the nest. So I fixed a waterer and some food for the babies and took the other 6 eggs. One of them was no good. Three of them were definitely alive and two others aren't as developed so I'm not totally sure. I am thrilled. One of the babies isn't standing and I don't know if it is just newly hatched or if there is something wrong with it's legs. They take a few hours before they walk well.
Happy Happy Happy! That's more money later on God willing she raises them all! I put the other eggs in the incubator. I have one other egg in there I took that they laid on the ground.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. What if you were to let them all out to free range during the 2-3 hottest months of the year, and keep them penned for breeding purposes the rest of the time? Would that help? I agree - I've never lost a bird to the heat, but mine always have the ability to move around and get to a place where the heat is survivable. I don't do fans and misters and frozen water bottles and some of the other things that people do to keep their birds cool. Their water warms as the day warms and their only heat relief is finding a shady place, yet between holding their wings out, panting, staying hydrated and choosing shady areas, they seem to do okay. But I do think the key is to be able to freely choose where to spend the day in order to survive it, and that it is penning them that is so detrimental to their ability to survive.

It was so lovely and cool last night. We were kept awake by a cricket chirping in our room (oh, the joys of country life!) and when attempts to locate it failed, we finally decided to let it have the bedroom and we would sleep on the couches in the living room. At o-dark-thirty, I was stunned to see on the thermostat that it was only 59 degrees outside! I love this time of year when it starts to really cool off at night even when the days are hot.

Well I don't normally have free range chickens getting overheated, but there is a first for everything since two days ago I had one of my laying flock hens, an Ancona, get heatstroke. They are out all day long free-ranging so I wasn't sure what happened to her. She had collapsed in one of the worst places to be laying, right out in the heat in the sun. Today though she is back out there happily running around with the others again so hopefully I found her in time & got her cooled down. She stayed in the downstairs bathtub for two days recovering but she is very glad to be back outside.

I just went out to gather peacock feathers and found the hens had hatched 6 baby peafowl. There were 6 more eggs in there but one of the Mom's was keeping the other one from the nest. So I fixed a waterer and some food for the babies and took the other 6 eggs. One of them was no good. Three of them were definitely alive and two others aren't as developed so I'm not totally sure. I am thrilled. One of the babies isn't standing and I don't know if it is just newly hatched or if there is something wrong with it's legs. They take a few hours before they walk well.
Happy Happy Happy! That's more money later on God willing she raises them all! I put the other eggs in the incubator. I have one other egg in there I took that they laid on the ground.

Yay, that's great you got so many peachicks! I'm surprised your birds have layed so late. Do you know what colors they're from?

 

[HEChicken]

Danz - congrats on the peachicks!

On the subject of heat....aren't these birds crazy sometimes? Several times recently, I've gone down to the yard in the heat of the day to find birds looking dead, laying out on their sides in the sun. But they jump up when I approach and it is clear they were just sun-bathing? I cannot imagine how the sun could possibly feel good on some of those hot days, but each time this has happened, they've acted like it was perfectly normal!

 

[Trish44]

Danz - congrats on the peachicks!

On the subject of heat....aren't these birds crazy sometimes? Several times recently, I've gone down to the yard in the heat of the day to find birds looking dead, laying out on their sides in the sun. But they jump up when I approach and it is clear they were just sun-bathing? I cannot imagine how the sun could possibly feel good on some of those hot days, but each time this has happened, they've acted like it was perfectly normal!

Mine do the same thing! I saw two laying right back to back the other day out in the middle of my front yard with their wings splayed out & that is what they were doing. My turkeys even do that & you walk up to them & they jump up just like you said, it's crazy.

 

[mamau]

Danz- it seems to be a weird year. We've had lots of strep throat & cold like stuff around here. Nasty!