Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Cynthia12]

Exchequer..baby, Leghorn top left..white up front. You know it. I live Leghorns.

 

[Ponypoor]

Just to give you an idea of the coop, this was it under construction...View attachment 3559483

Yes I see the windows, any way you can pop that OSB off and just use wire? I think it doesn’t get so cold where you are you could likely just remove all the OSB and use 1” 22 gauge poultry wire on the walls. The solid walls are blocking the breeze from being of any use, that along with the fact that the steel is very hot, would heat it up in there.

Heat I think is more an issue in your neck of the woods, where as cold is here.

 

[Ponypoor]

Where did those come from?

The golf balls!

Peavey Mart had an order in today from Hoovers - hence my questions the other day

But I have since figured out that Hoovers doesn’t have legbar, and their coloured layers selection doesn’t include Bielefelders.

So I have no idea what the kiddies are, likely Americana or Prairie Blue Bell Eggers. I do t care as long as they get Sophia off the nest and they all thrive.

 

[Ponypoor]

LEGHORN View attachment 3559531

And a beauty she is

 

[Ponypoor]

View attachment 3559559
Exchequer..baby, Leghorn top left..white up front. You know it. I live Leghorns.

Notabitail has Exchequer Leghorns Such pretty birds

 

[featherhead007]

No Dakota inside tonight! She sure has a lot of water in her today. I made a prediction that she would do a projection, and I was correct what a mess!
I hope she feels okay.

 

[Lilion]

I don't like it when it gets to triple digits. I do things to cool them down including bringing them indoors at night if it stays really hot at night.

What things short of bringing them in? It will be down to the low 80s; high 70s by morning, which they are used to.

Yes I see the windows, any way you can pop that OSB off and just use wire? I think it doesn’t get so cold where you are you could likely just remove all the OSB and use 1” 22 gauge poultry wire on the walls. The solid walls are blocking the breeze from being of any use, that along with the fact that the steel is very hot, would heat it up in there.

Heat I think is more an issue in your neck of the woods, where as cold is here.

It hadn't occurred to us when we built it. I imagine we can the front wall. it's just screwed on. We'd need to move the feeders. The side is a solid piece and holds the nest boxes and, you know, there's Eenie...

We intended that as predator proofing, if a fox were to manage to get in the shed, because we used chicken wire. Realistically though, it's the shed that protects them, not the coop.

 

[BY Bob]

Acclimated or not, we just had a bit of a scare just now. I decided to take a couple hours of leave and go check on the chickens. Husband was off helping a neighbor. This is what I found. They were all overheated, but Sheba was really distressed.

I set up a fan, not that it did much, it's pretty breezy. We got those frozen jugs out and put them around. I gave them frozen veggies. Sheba had me particularly worried. At one point she kind of climbed up and hugged the waterer. My husband stuck one of the ice jugs against her breast and she leaned into it.

So we switched out the 2nd waterer with a 2nd jug and she snuggled into them. She stopped making this awful clucks. I'll check her again in a few.

I'm really worried about tomorrow when it's 10 degrees hotter.

We opened the egg door on the back of the nest area and covered it with a grate so she can't come out, but there's a breeze coming in. We also have her some frozen veg and she ate a little, but she's not inclined to move. She's not panting and really seems the best off of all of them.

Of course, in the middle of all this, before my husband got home, Manny managed to escape for the first time ever. So I got to wrangle him back. If it weren't the ladies calling him in distress, he'd likely still be out. If it weren't for this big dog running loose in the neighborhood, I'd consider letting them out. It was cooler under the trees.

There is no way you could bring her into the house tomorrow for some air conditioning at the hottest party of the day.

 

[BY Bob]

Is that steel building where they are housed?

Is there a back door? Or windows for a cross breeze. For a breeze to be effective you need an entry and exit point.

A cement slab would be cooler than bedding, and you can put a sprinkle of shavings to make sweeping easy. My alleyway is brick pavers and they will roost there when it’s hot, so maybe going to the slab might be an idea. Then just sweep the floor daily.

I always said heat is worse then cold - one can always put on blankets, etc, but hard to take off fur or feathers.

Heat is way more dangerous to chickens than cold. Frost bite might remove a point on a comb but heat will simply kill them.

 

[BY Bob]

LEGHORN View attachment 3559531

So beautiful.