I lost two chickens today :*(

[redhen]

MomtoSyd&Emma :

I to am blaming myself for the death of our 5. What kills me is that 4 of them were babies that we hatched here at home under a broody. I had never in my 35 yrs of life done that. I have one chick left from that hatch now. I do animal rescue, I foster animals etc... it kills me to know I have helped other animals and yet my own are dead now. Dang its hard.
I checked the thermometer a lil bit ago, its still 85 here in Roanoke va!

Here is a photo of our thermometer today in the shade!

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/mommy4syd/heatwave001.jpg

Its not your fault either!

We're all doing the best that we can... thats all we can do....​

 

[DTRM30]

Good idea - I have some frozen vegies - I can give those to them - I'll have to see what else I have around that I can freeze that they can have. This is just such bad timimg - we just got back from a long weekend so don't even have a lot of food in the house at the moment .

- my shopping day won't be until Friday.
It's still in the 80's out - but at least it's supposed to get down in the 70's - at least that will give them a short break from the heat.
Good luck to everyone else dealing with this mess ! I don't know how they manage in the south and south west - I suppose the animals just get used to it over time.
Well, it's time for me to try and get some sleep -
thanks again everyone for the hugs - and advise -
I send a hug back to each and everyone of you.

 

[loopy12]

I'm so sorry.
My favorite chicken was on her side on the floor, gasping, eyes rolling and almost dead this morning when I opened the chicken house. The others were fine but Buffy has 2 six week old chicks who still snuggle her and I think that tipped the balance.
I've had her in my living room under a ceiling fan and with a portable fan blowing at her all day, sat on a teatowel of icecubes and feeding her electrolyte solution hourly etc. She perked up for a bit but now seems pretty listless again.

she'll still be with us by morning.
This heat is unbearable. I agree the problem is that its gone from being in the 80s to around a hundred overnight and that's whats doing it.

I have been filling bwls with ice water and frozen veg, and scattering them around the garden and that seems to be helping - particularly my ducklings - they are bullied by my drake who drives them to hide in the trees and I worry they aren't drinking enough because he's guarding the water bowls...

Bring on the cooler weather...

 

[kla37]

Hard to stay cool in this kind of heat. Maybe a box fan making a nice breeze in the run would help. someone else here at BYC had the suggestion of freezing large soda bottles filled with water that they can lean on and cool off.

 

[pkw]

I have a window swamp cooler in my chicken house and fans to circulate the air.

 

[nitro3custom]

so sorry. I also lost a white rock and a 6 year old rabbit today. Put up a big tarp over the run tonight. Can only hope it will be enough to keep them safe tomorrow. guess It's really bothering me, because I take good care of my animals and now I'm sitting up at 2:15 am posting this.

 

[3chimama]

Here in Oregon we will be in the 90's this week. I am so sorry for all of my BYC friends who are losing chickens due to the heat. Sounds like you are all trying your best to keep them cool and safe. Hugs.

 

[DTRM30]

Wow - I feel so badly for everyone ! We're losing our babies

I aleady warned my son who did stay home today (yea !) that he's on chicken watch today. That he's to go out every 2 hours and spray them with the hose and if they look like there is ANYTHING wrong - inside they come - I don't care where. I'd rather clean up chicken poop off the floor then have to dig another chicken grave.
I think today is the last of the major heat around here - it is supposed to be back into the 80's for the rest of the week. All I can do is hope !

The rest of the girls seemed OK so far this am - I have a small circulating fan (those little corner ones for circulating heat from wood stoves) - running in the coop - it's not much but I figure better than nothing - and it's all I've got.

I do have to say, the two who died yesterday were the two that had the most issues with warm weather - were always panting more than the others - and seemed to pant in tems of 80s when the others were OK.

Of course, we're already talking about replacing them next spring (my son and I - he just loves them) - gives me a good excuse to get more chicks - since they're so hard to resist anyway.

But now my last EE has a swollen foot -

One more thing to have to deal with now !

 

[DTRM30]

Quote:
That's exactly how I feel - I do my best and spoil all my animals - but it wasn't enough yesterday.

 

[easttxchick]

I feel so badly for all of you dealing with the heat wave up in the East-I pray for a break for you very soon.
I'm really sorry for all of you that have lost birds to the heat.
We dealt with just the opposite down here in Texas this past winter-freezing temps that our birds just were not used to and neither were we humans-we all scrambled to do everything we could to protect our animals much as you all are doing.
Again, very sorry for you all.