I think it's the "mass" that matters, as the only other breed that had troubles and died from the heat here were show stock Cornish- the super wide, deep chested massive ones. Despite their much harder and shorter feathering, they suffered worse in the heat. I won't even consider trying them here ever again. In comparison, hatchery stock Cornish didn't have any difficulties.. those are way slimmer than the show stock ones.
The BC and blue coppers I have now do have a higher carriage and their bodies are not so deep/solid plus the roosters have gigantic combs. I'm guessing that made a difference between them and the cuckoos- which were very "solid" and had small combs.
It took quite a lot effort to keep these roosters from stroking. Sprayed, got kiddie pools, pans filled with water littered through the whole yard, even had drip running under a group of trees.. even went as far as to trim off the feathers on their legs and breasts. Even hosed their legs and breasts whenever they seemed a bit hot. That seemed to help. But if I wasn't home during the whole day...
I also read somewhere that chickens are able to tolerate the heat better if the nights are cool enough for them to dissipate the heat from their bodies overnight. Unfortunately when it's really hot, so are the nights here- it can stay up in the high 70s-80s at night.
The BC and blue coppers I have now do have a higher carriage and their bodies are not so deep/solid plus the roosters have gigantic combs. I'm guessing that made a difference between them and the cuckoos- which were very "solid" and had small combs.
It took quite a lot effort to keep these roosters from stroking. Sprayed, got kiddie pools, pans filled with water littered through the whole yard, even had drip running under a group of trees.. even went as far as to trim off the feathers on their legs and breasts. Even hosed their legs and breasts whenever they seemed a bit hot. That seemed to help. But if I wasn't home during the whole day...
I also read somewhere that chickens are able to tolerate the heat better if the nights are cool enough for them to dissipate the heat from their bodies overnight. Unfortunately when it's really hot, so are the nights here- it can stay up in the high 70s-80s at night.
