Oh no, I was wondering if we were going to lose some birds in this terrible heat. So very sorry MIni and Ralphie. Mine are right now on the roost with their wings out and panting. I have 3-10 inch fans in there, 2 blowing down on them on the roost, one blowing air out of the highest ventilation holes. I spent most of the day inside myself, not wanting to do anything out there.
On these really hot days I don't let them out to free range until about 6pm when the sun is going down as they are so excited to be out they will not sit down and rest in the shade for the whole day, it is go, go, go, and i'm afraid they would just go until they drop dead. So I keep them in their pen, which has plenty of shade, and they lay down when they need to and stay cooler. I feel bad, but it is for their own good when it is hot.
I let everything out of the coop, One of the coops (layer coop) has a run that is covered by the oak and box elder canopy, so they are as good as I am going to get as far as heat goes.
The Creamettes have shade in the afternoon and I have a canvass over the run to help give shade. Not Ideal, but the creamettes have a smaller body and seem to be weathering the heat just fine.
The turkeys I let out to free range every day, they hang by the layers, so they are under tree canopies most the time. They are not really free ranging right now, they just lay outside and go back into the coop to eat game bird feed. I think they like to know they are costing me money. Little do they know the more they eat, the bigger they get, the sooner they lose their heads.0
My main concern is the meatballs. They are very large now and they never do well in heat. I let them free range, They are so miserable they spend most of the day just lying in the shade of buildings or trees. They do not have a real coop, They have those brooder boxes and tractors to live in. They do fine in those until about 6 weeks of age, when they could really use more boxes. The tractors/.runs attached give them lots of room, but it gets messy with that many poop machines in it. I have a canvas tarp over one of the tractors to give them more night time area.
The free ranging is needed, because of their poor genetics regarding longevity. They need the exercise, I doubt I could get them to the point they dress out over 10 pounds without free ranging. When the sun gets low in the sky they go to town on bugs. They are filling half their crops on bugs. I sit and watch them chase bugs, if you have ever raised CX's you know how clumsy they run. They get on a bug or cabbage moths trail and off they go waddling it down. Last night I watched them chasing gnats and eating them. Just plucking them out of the air.
Did I mention I have my 5th survivor? She is a little cutey that likes to sit on my lap. She came over the other night and looked up until I held her. That earned her the 5th get out of camp day band. Since then she has sat in my lap every night. She is the one that was picking p\flies off the dogs belly.
Last night, the dog returned the favor as I held her by licking poop off her butt. We tried to get a picture but missed, the chick sitting on my leg and the dog laying its head next to the chick on my leg. We did not get it.
I know I should not get close to the chicks, it just makes camp day harder, but dang I just love them so much.
So Coffee, I will be holding back my own tears, the only thing that helps will be alcohol and knowing how good the meat will be. It is the way of the world, something has to die for us to eat.
RHETT> I have a hummingbird today at the feeder, I thought they had left me..
