Yesterday was a bad day for us. Haven taken what I thought was proper precautions to give our birds relief from the heat,(the same as years past) I came home to three dead BC Marans hens, a BCM and BW Ameracuna Roo in serious trouble. I quickly started running cold water under the wings of the two birds in trouble and was able to save them.
All of our birds have nice large shaded runs which we provide plenty of water. They also are not crowded and I had put out fans. But I was unprepared for yesterday's 115 temps and 125 heat index. So this morning I went about rigging a misting system for the pens. I feel terrible I was sure that them being in total shade in big open runs with the fans they would be ok. It is always hot here this time of year but yesterday was a record. I am very grateful that we only lost three of the over sixty we currently have. It was a lesson we would have rather not had to learn.
Also a side note our Heriatage RIR seemed to handle it better than any of the other breeds.
All of our birds have nice large shaded runs which we provide plenty of water. They also are not crowded and I had put out fans. But I was unprepared for yesterday's 115 temps and 125 heat index. So this morning I went about rigging a misting system for the pens. I feel terrible I was sure that them being in total shade in big open runs with the fans they would be ok. It is always hot here this time of year but yesterday was a record. I am very grateful that we only lost three of the over sixty we currently have. It was a lesson we would have rather not had to learn.
Also a side note our Heriatage RIR seemed to handle it better than any of the other breeds.