Help! 5 out of 9 passed in four days

[Ant]

I live on the coast in sc and it has been hot, the upper 90's snd low 100's.my girls have access to the yard and their house. On Monday, I found 4 of my hens piled on each other in their egg box dead. We were worried about the four hens I have at school and so I brought them to my home coop yesterday. Today, as we had diner, one hen passed away on the floor of the house. I've put extra water out, they get watermelon 2 times a day. Not sure what else we can do... I have a few jugs of water I the freezer and I'll put it in their coop tomorrow.

And I have one poor chicken who has crooked beak and she has been pecked at terribly. I seperated the coop in 2 using a peice of chicken fence. Not sure if they will ever be ok with her. I'm think g I may give the aggressive one away. 2 of 3 chicken are pecking and chasing her. I hate it! My crooked beak bird is our favorite.
All of the chickens are just over 1 year, aurucana hens.

I could really use some experienced thoughts on my problems! Please!

 

[mnferalkitty]

Take the egg boxes away. put a sprinkler on so it sprays back and forth on run, put a fan on for them. increase ventalation in the coop

 

[Ant]

The entire coop is metal woven fencing ... Not sure what's it called, but maybe will get a fan. About the boxes, don't they need the boxes to lay? I've also read that too much heat make cause egg binding. The boxes are build into one side of the house. I guess i could block them off.

 

[mnferalkitty]

No they do not need boxes to lay they will lay anywhere,

 

[bj taylor]

so far i'm having pretty good success dealing w/the heat. my birds have shade all day in one area or another of their run. i have an area that is loose soil. one of my hens is laying her eggs in the soil. i let her be. it's better than the coop which gets so hot during the day. i've tried to make other areas in the run where they might like to lay. i think i would close off the nest boxes for now.
a mister during the day has been invaluable for me. i barely turn it on. they all hang out in the mist during the hottest part of the day.
i've got some pretty serious fan action going on in the coop itself. i have a fan pulling air in and i have a fan puling air out (my ventilation is otherwise not so good).
good luck

 

[Ant]

Thanks for the info! I will definitely cover the boxes... This is their first summer and we haven't had heat like this in a long time. So not having access to their boxes won't stress them out or encourage egg binding???

 

[jjthink]

Ant, I suspect you are losing them to heat. There must be ample access to cool comfortable places for your birds during this terrible heat. Fans, fans, did I mention fans? If no power in their area, run an exterior extension cord out and get fans moving. This in addition to the cold water available at all times and cold fruit treats during the heat of the day especially. Lots of shade, even puddles (if you can let a hose run slightly during the heat of the worst days.
JJ

 

[riley081]

I'm here in NC and the heat is horrible too! Over 100 for several days this past week. We have an oscillating fan set up on a thermostat plug....so if it gets over 80, the fan kicks on and runs...at night when it cools, the fan automatically clicks off. Seems to be working well for them. We have new chicks so I am very concerned for them as well. They have lots of shade in their yard, plenty of water. I saw one of the thermostat plugs today at Tractor Supply. Good luck! Its going to be a looooong summer!