heat stroke in florida..what to do.

[Sunny Side Up]

Awww, I'm sorry for the loss of your lil' ones. Where are you in Florida? I'm in Palm Beach County, the air here is like broth.

Perhaps you should check your chicks & their set-up to be sure it's not something else besides the heat that's killing them. Three-week-old chicks are vulernable to a lot of things, if all you do is lower their coop temp you might be missing something else.

I have chicks & chickens outside here and they seem to be able to survive the heat on their own. They have airy coops & pens and a lot of shady places to rest in & pant. They also like to dig down in the dirt and scoop out big craters to roll in, it must feel cooler there.

I hope you figure out what's bothering them, and how to remedy it soon.

 

[ams3651]

I have a fan in the coop, they will roost right in front of it. You can hang frozen water bottles in front of it too to cool the air. I put large ice cubes made from freezing water in butter dishes in their water twice a day. Keep watermelon, grapes, even frozen corn in the fridge to give them. and a place to get shade. My run gets direct sun all afternoon so I bought a $2 bamboo tanning mat to wrap around the conrer to create shade. Even thought about one of those sun unbrellas that has the clamp on the end for attaching to the run. But I agree, shouldnt chicks be used to those temps?

 

[threehorses]

By the way, you won't want to wet any birds other than waterfowl. Wetting chickens can cause problems; just spot wet their combs, etc.

However, having a mister in the room is a brilliant way to keep them cool. You can find misters for porches in many hardware stores.

We're having the same problems down here in Houston. (Bless the Gulf for making us suffer in the summer. heheh)

I have chicks and poults and goslings. I'm about to start freezing water in jugs. I'm also considering freezing small ddrinking bottles of water and floating those in their bigger waterers. Or putting the frozen jugs of water on top of their waterers as cool goes down.

For the bigger outside birds, we have a shallow baby wading pool. My turkey hens get in it and will stand there all day. I put mine under leaves and wet the leaves and ground daily. Pick a spot where the sun never hits the ground as that will be cooler - or where they usually hang out. The wet ground and overhanging leaves make an airconditioned area that, since the sun doesn't hit that spot, stays cool all day. If the sun DOES hit it, use a sunshade of some sort.

I'm also thinking about using a little chicken electrolyte in the water - but very very dilute. The birds drink a lot more water in the heat, so I don't want to overload them. I also don't like things in the water as I feel it creates an environment for bacteria to thrive. But I'm still considering a little electrolyte in the chicks/poults water. Just a smidgeon.

Be sure to also take care of yourself in the heat; being as you're from Florida, I don't have to remind you of that. I've found that drinking gatorade 10 minutes before doing my chores makes me feel a lot better while doing them!

Take care!

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

I know Florida and Houston have a swelltering heat

but in Iowa I used a mister that rotated back and forth from one end of the roof to the other end and cooled on the metal roof of the building

and that gave much relief to my chickens and rabbits
august heat and humigity in Iowa is corn growing weather

cool fresh water and as Nathalie suggested frozzen packets in the waterers helps

also it helps to leave a 100 watt light bulb on in the chicken house thru the nite as then they will take on cool water so do the last watering about 6-7 pm

any questions email me

 

[Country Living Farm]

OK, I have had it!!!! Another Black Copper Died. They are ALL coming in the house in totes with pine shaving until they get another month or so older or until I get a mister or something.

 

[threehorses]

Agreed about the possibility of it being something else. I think we all just accepted the heat stroke, because it's so hot. But we never made sure that everything else is ok - like droppings, the feed, not a lot of electrolytes in the water, everyone's been eating and drinking (most importantly), no parasites, etc?