MJ's little flock

[BDutch]

Fancy Nancy, Martha, Hilda and Nelly the Welly.

View attachment 4288857

Fancy Nancy and Nelly the Welly do sound a bit off for a family name.

Maybe Mad Martha and Hilarious Hilda would fit it the series ?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I feel you with the heat. It's still 33 here @ 7pm . My chicks are spending very little time under their hens but are still caged. I have a murder of crows about & the chicks are just the right size for being a choice tit-bit. Wrold had Anixe out in the run by now. I did close the coop for a couple of hours this morning so they could explore a little but it really needs to be open for the layers.

It sure gets hard to keep them safe and thriving in excessive heat. The chicks have been ok at my place but the hens have needed a few options for keeping cool.

I’m trying to remember what I was doing in last summer’s heatwave (it’s 7°/-14°C here this morning .)

One huge success was partially burying a large rectangular plastic Rubbermaid tub in the soil and filling it with water from the garden hose to belly depth. A few submerged bricks allowed them to first cool their legs before getting up their nerve to go all in. Heavily panting pullets cooled off within minutes.


A second was having a shade cloth-covered area for deep dust bathing. 8-10 cm down, the soil was appreciably cooler than the air and the surface soil.

The final partial success was using small clip-on camping fans to keep a breeze blowing on them. The ones I bought had rechargeable batteries, had four speeds, and oscillated so that there wasn’t just an endless blast of air. The “partial” success was because the Buff Orp noped right on out, suspicious of the little black whirring things.

I hope the heat breaks for you and your ladies soon!

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Rec...-Essentials/dp/B0DWMHY6V1/ref=ast_sto_dp_puis

 

[MaryJanet]

I’m trying to remember what I was doing in last summer’s heatwave (it’s 7°/-14°C here this morning .)

One huge success was partially burying a large rectangular plastic Rubbermaid tub in the soil and filling it with water from the garden hose to belly depth. A few submerged bricks allowed them to first cool their legs before getting up their nerve to go all in. Heavily panting pullets cooled off within minutes.


A second was having a shade cloth-covered area for deep dust bathing. 8-10 cm down, the soil was appreciably cooler than the air and the surface soil.

The final partial success was using small clip-on camping fans to keep a breeze blowing on them. The ones I bought had rechargeable batteries, had four speeds, and oscillated so that there wasn’t just an endless blast of air. The “partial” success was because the Buff Orp noped right on out, suspicious of the little black whirring things.

I hope the heat breaks for you and your ladies soon!

View attachment 4289455

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Rec...-Essentials/dp/B0DWMHY6V1/ref=ast_sto_dp_puis

Are you familiar with Adelaide? Maybe you've lived here and recall the dryness of the heatwaves and the length of the days? My place is between the beach and the port and you'll recall what the soil is like down here.

Over the years I've tired a range of fans for the hens and it hasn't been successful. They simply walk away from them. But the fan has been handy for additional ventilation in the room the chicks are in. Perhaps it would be different for Ribh as her heat would be extremely humid while the heat I live with is extremely dry.

I've tried everything recommended online and then some, eg, there's a misting system set up in the run which works like a giant evaporative air conditioner. When I first got hens, I used to ask for advice on what to do but nothing was effective. I think that's because there's no describing how dry the heat is, so people offering advice are simply misguided by their reading of my context. I use the words 'extremely dry' but people never seemed to grasp what ti really meant. No doubt I need to choose different words.

Lots of trial and error over several years taught me that the most successful approach is to run the garden hose out to the hens' favourite shady tree, hang it over a branch, and keep a small trickle of water flowing into a ceramic water bottle which overflows into the sand. The hens like to stand on the wet sand in the shade and sip the water. They dig holes where it's dry, maybe 30cm away, and just sit in them. My guess is that it keeps their legs and bellies cool while keeping their feathers dry. Through evaporation, the small trickle of water cools the air around the ceramic drinker and the hens stay cool with their legs and feet in the cool sand and their faces within the cool air from the trickle of water. They don't even pant after an hour. Sometimes they wander off to forage, overheat and come back again to cool down.

However, this might not work where you live. Every place is different and I have never been where you live. We just have to continue observing our environment and being creative in our responses to it Remember all online advice is situated in real places and may or may not translate to our own flocks. These days i don't even ask for help from people - sadly, I find a team of AIs to be more helpful.

Anyway. I must get back to sleep.It's 3am.