Hot weather

[jeancordelia]

I am in Phoenix, our weather popped up to 108 today and we lost a hen. We had good shade, completely open ventilated area and a fan, water to stand in, At noon all was well, this evening one dead hen. I ran out to Home Depot and got a mister line and a filter for the hard water for both yards to be put up in the morning. We had planned to do it this weekend. Too late. We had Buff Orphingtons in that run. I knew they would not do well in the heat, just thought I had a few more days before it got really hot. It will get up to probably 115 at least this summer. For months on end.

 

[pennypecky]

Wow it must be very hot in your area. Sorry for the loss of you hen. In this case i think that you were doing the best you could. Did you know that some people own chicken in their house and toilet train them, this may be an option (if your interested). Other than this i reccomend hanging wet towels over their coop so that the breeze will bring cool air into the coop. Provide your hens with cool, clean water each day. Offer your chickens some cool watermelon during this heat (a great way to cool down). Hope all goes well!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Sorry about your hen.

It seems that losses to heat often happen in the first wave that hits in the spring/summer. From your description, it sounds like you're doing all that you can. If it's any consolation, the misters will be very helpful. If you ever feel like commiserating about the heat, join us on our BYC AZ thread. Good luck today, it's going to be even more brutal than yesterday.

 

[CluckCluck18]

I'm so sorry for your loss. It's getting very hot here in Florida too and we had a very warm winter. I'm finding out that the heat seems to be more challenging than the cold. The watermelon really helps and bags of frozen greens help cool them off. Sometimes they will sit on top of frozen water bottles although my girls only did it when they were little. There's something called Save A Chick......it's electrolyte powder that you can put into their water. I'm going to start using that, or Pedialyte is good in a pinch. Good luck to you and your flock.