Extreme heat! Two chickens dead! Trying to save the others! HELP!

[Mahonri]

you should see the time consuming things I go through every day to keep my chickens cool.

Last summer was easy, this summer I'm wondering if I should even have chickens.

I put frozen jugs of ice in with the 14 week olds, a frozen jug in the rooster pen, frozen bottle in the coop waterer. Turn on the wall AC unit at noon and don't turn it off until 5AM.

Their waterers are checked and filled with fresh cold water three times a day. 5AM, Noon and 5PM.

Last year I lost zero to the heat. This year 3 big laying hens... makes me sad.

 

[threehorses]

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LOL you're NOT a bad parent. You're buying misters for your chickens. You're a good parent!

 

[ke_ben]

I'm back to add something about waterers. I see that the subject has come up a few time since I posted. I use a GQF low pressure watering system https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=153 that keeps fresh water to them all the time and is expandable. It is a little pricey maybe but it is the best chicken equipment purchase we ever made. I'm not a big fan of the cheap regulator that comes in the kit bit it lasted a couple of years still. I keep my eyes open all the time for something that might be better but I haven't found it yet. Plenty of fresh, clean water on demand. Available from several sources online and spare parts for things like the goat stepping on it.

Good luck everyone with the heat.

 

[Amethyste]

Here in Silverlake yesterday it was 103

Today it is 95....for the moment ugh

I am blessed with a huge lilac tree next to the run that shades it pretty well. I refilled the outside water 3 times over the course of yesterday. I was out every so often with the hose and wettting down the run and I misted the 2 hens and the 8 babies as well. I got a HUGE watermelon and halved it so they would stay hydrated...I know not the best for 1.5 week old babies but I would rather have them alive.

They seem to be doing well....but oh i was scared yesterday when my big girls were panting

I gave them the other half melon today, and cold cucumbers, and iced up the water. I have been wetting down the ground to try to keep their feet cool as well.

This is the hottest I have ever seen up here!!

We had to shower all our cats too to help keep them cool. Its been an awful few days!

At least the babies now see me as the Treat Hen now lol They see me walking out there and they start peeping up a storm cos they know I have melon or veggie etc.... spoiled!!!!

 

[lisahaschickens]

Hello everyone -

Thanks to all for sharing the great advice and also your own current and past experiences with extreme heat.

I got back home this morning and so far no more losses, thank goodness. Also, the tiny bit of good news is that my fiance (B) told me that my Lady B (star of my blog - see link in my signature) was one of the two that died... but it wasn't her! B has a hard time telling them apart and we had three EEs that looked much the same and the one that actually died was one that was sneezing and wheezing a bit for a couple of days before the heat started (no other symptoms and she seemed fine, but still). Anyway... my best girl is still alive and I'm thrilled! I am, of course, still very sad about our two losses, but I am so happy that my girl is still with us

All day yesterday, B took much advice from this thread. He put a large tarp up over the run to create extra shade, as well as put a large plastic folding table in there for good shade. Under the table, he put a shallow container of water for them to stand in. He misted them at first with the hose (which scared them) and then with a spray bottle, which some of them actually enjoyed. He tried to rig a piece of wet burlap in front of the fan (we had two but one fell and broke) but it didn't work because the fan isn't powerful enough and the burlap totally blocked the flow. He also froze large soda bottles with water in them and put them in front of the fan to cool the air and moisten it with the condensation... and he kept up his vigil of dishes of ice water for drinking, and treats of cold yogurt and frozen veggies.

As of right now, the temperature is MUCH better than it's been. We are averaging about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday, which is a big help. Yesterday we only got one soft-shelled egg on the floor. Today we've gotten 7 perfect eggs! That's seven out of 9 pullets, so they are clearly enjoying the relief! We are still monitoring the temperature and chickens hourly but we seem to be out of the deadly-dangerous zone so far today.

Thanks again for all the fantastic responses and well-wishes!

Any other Pacific Northwesterners out there that would like to share your experience or give us updates if you've already posted, I'd love to hear from you!

~Lisa

 

[lleighmay]

Our summer has been comparatively cool so far though the humidity is starting to ramp up and I'm preparing for August. Fortunately my run and coop are well shaded and the wind seems to always blow here which helps alot. Just last week I decided to try something I learned from a friend of mine who has a travelling food service. He learned this trick from a health inspector.
Take a 2 liter soda bottle, add 4 tablespoons of salt, fill with water, shake it up to dissolve the salt, and freeze solid. The salt makes the temp. lower than plain ice water. They use these in their coolers to make the ice last longer, and also keep extras in their freezers in case they lose power.
Anyway- after freezing one of the bottles I popped it into one of my 3.5 gallon plastic waterers and topped it off with water. The water stayed nice and cold all day and the chickens all seemed to prefer that waterer for the day. Needless to say this is something we'll be doing daily from now until fall cool-down. I hope this is helpful and I'm sorry you lost 2 of your babies.

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

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Glad to hear the good news. What a wonderful fiance you have to be so supportive and attentive!

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

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Hoping you have good news today...

 

[ZooMummzy]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=221645

This is how I kept my chickens cool! It worked... Sorry about your loss

That was my worst fear when this heat set in.

 

[Coop d'etat]

Still hot here in Medford, but "down" to 102 today. The flock is out under the shade and we hosed it all down and then misted them, and gave them cold cantelope halves.
Zoomummy we are a few hours south of you...going to use your icea of the tray with ice water and see if they will take to it. Love the pics of your babies!
Lisa I'm glad to hear things are going well there... it's supposed to get down to the mid 90s this weekend. They showed on the news here people trying to buy fans at Home Depot, etc with no luck. It's just miserable! More thunderheads forming over the Siskiyous this afternoon, it got humid yesterday but the cloud cover did cool it down somewhat.
Stay cool everyone!
Anna