Losing another hen to this awful heat

[seminolewind]

I agree, the SF's of mine look the worst. My silkies are good with their big fan and ice water. My JG's are pretty bad. And my Ameraucana looks miserable and gets palish.
I catch the worst ones and dunk them in cool water. Now I run the hose for hours on the ground

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Yeah, I just went out and increased the amount of water coming out of the well hose a bit. Strange, the birds don't want to be sprayed with it, but if I leave it hanging up spraying they'll go under it. Chickens!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Ranchy this reminded me of something I forgot to mention to you. Last night I was reading Keith an interesting article on armadillos. Like most of the other farmers (read: rednecks) around here, Keith hates them and if I wasn't the guardian of all living things on this farm, the dillos would have long ago met their demise.

At any rate, the article mentioned that dillos adore fireants and will eat hundreds of them in one feeding. Keith made a comment about how interesting it is that we haven't had a fire ant problem in the yard since our latest resident dillo moved in and I think, gained a new appreciation for the funny little critters.

I say all this before asking...want me to ship you a few dillos?

Oh and don't anyone go getting upset about my use of the word "redneck", I am one.

 

[sumi]

The worst feeling is when you lose a chicken and think you could've prevented it. Been there, it's hell. So is summer in our part of the world.
First week of January we had temperatures up to 120, for a whole week. I poured buckets of water into the chicken run, it really helped. The hens seem to like having their feet cool. Two hens were trying to hatch eggs. We got one chick from 17 eggs, it's a rooster called Miracle. Good luck!

 

[magicpigeon]

So sorry for your loss Gritsar

The worst I've seen is 44C (111f) I kept the silkies in the laundry for most of the day seeing as it's the coolest part of the house (external) that I could afford to get filthed up. Most of the other birds could tolerate the heat though it's a given most of my birds are light colored bar Bobo the Australorp

 

[7L Farm]

Sorry you lost one it does hurt. I lost one this year not heat related but egg bound I never thought I'd miss a chicken but I do. The heat in here in Texas is terrible. Its hard on our feathered friends so please take some time and help them stay cool.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Was hoping that all the storms that passed through yesterday would leave a little rain. It rained, but only for about 5 minutes. Not even enough to settle the dust.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Sorry for your loss!!

So far I've been really lucky!! On Friday I will be covering my whole run with a shade cloth!! I hoping that it helps!! It's been crucial that's for sure!!

 

[Kitt]

We can't get rain here no matter what. So I'm outside most of the time with the hose.

 

[Keltara]

I'm so sorry you lost Doe. We are not having the heat problems up here in the North, but have you considered something like this?
http://www.amazon.com/Orbit-16055-Arizona-Outdoor-Performance/dp/B000FH89EM