Cornless feed? 100-110 deg summer days

[saddina]

Last night I lost a hen to heat stroke. When a looked at thier feed today I noted a good chunk of it is corn, and am concerned that that may be adding to the heat stressed on the birds. I'm willing to mix feed if need be, but was wondering if there was a commercial cornless feed I should try. Summer here is from April to October, and 114 happens at least once every August.

 

[Wifezilla]

I haven't found any commercial feed without corn soy or wheat. (I have ducks)

You could go to a feed mill and see if they will do a custom blend.

Another option might be to supplement with more greens.

Another option if you have electric in your coop....swamp cooler. (You are in a desert area, right?)

 

[Judy]

Fan, swamp cooler, hose down the coop, shallow pan of water for them to stand in, frozen soda bottles they can cuddle up to or in the waterer... several good ideas on here. They need breeze and shade for sure.

It is a subject of argument here whether corn actually contributes to their body heat any more than any other feed does.

 

[saddina]

Yes to the Dessert, southern Ca. We're in the city, so we're limited to 4 chickens (now 3), so the coop is a well ventilated 4x6 "townhouse" with a 4x8 run "basement". We put a gallon sized water bottle "cooler" in the run to help cool the area, but since it;s smaller than a tuff shed a swap cooler would most likely tip it over. Hmmm I may be able to jury rig up something with a drip hose, computer fan and old computercase though... there's an outlet near the coop.

I'm looking at the formulia in Storey's guide, and it lists corn, milo, barley, oats, wheat and rice all on the grains line, I'm reading that as interchangable, but I know the protien ratios vary alot in that list.

 

[Davaroo]

Get the birds cool with shade, shade, shade. Give them shady shrubs and lots of overhead cover. Add some covered pits where they can hunker down into the earth. Mine always seem to do that in the heat.
Make sure their water is fresh, and water misting on them and/or their overhead cover is a good idea.

 

[saddina]

Shade is there 100% of the time (up against the north side of the house, never direct sunlight).

 

[upthecreek]

Are you sure it was a "heat stroke" ? What indicated it ?

If you have cool shade and moist ground(at least one part of the shade moist) then your birds should be fine . (?)

Shannon


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