Texas

[Matejka]

I hate to say this.....
I kinda wish that had moved our way.....
We don't need the damage destruction but we need the rain

 

[007Sean]

Looks like what I predicted, moving out into the Central Atlantic.

 

[Matejka]

Yep you were right

 

[DavidReaves]

I have 6 barnyard mix cockerels that are already showing at 4 weeks. I hatched eggs from a farm down the road. They are reported to be Cream Legbar and Rhode Island Red crosses, though there is weird coloration on a couple of them.

I'm near Fort Worth. Is anyone interested in them to raise out for meat? Since they are crosses, I don't know that they would be good for roosters... unless you really are going for a barnyard mix egg.

I would be willing to meet to have them taken off my hands so I don't have to cull them. Since I have a small coop it isn't practical for me to raise them out myself.

The first photo is the best looking of the crosses. He looks like what one Texas breeder (Windy Whiskers Poultry) calls a Fiesta Red.

The odd colors cockerels, with a lot of white-- maybe a white dominant gene slipped in somewhere? Their photos are a bit younger, taken last week.

Then there are the others, which may be Rhode Island Red, but may also be a mix manifesting differently. Number 6 may not be a cockerel, but it does have more comb than others in the brooder.

Is anyone interested in all six? Or maybe one or two to see how they develop?

 

[YellowRoseFarm]

Hi all, not that I need to tell you this, but it's hot. I have a 10" fan installed in the coop wall above the roosting bars and opposing windows for cross-ventilation. I also have a thermostat in there. My poor chickens only moved outside a couple of weeks ago, and the N. Texas weather has been wacky as ever. So now they're in the coop at night panting. I only have their food and water in the run, not the coop.

My question for you fine folks is, do you put water in the coop overnight for these hot nights? I worry about moisture but if they need water, they need it.

Another question is why they are all piled on top of each other on the roosting bars if they're panting? Is there some sort of chicken cooling by osmosis that happens?! But seriously, that seems like odd behavior.

 

[electrycmonk]

……. My poor chickens only moved outside a couple of weeks ago, and the N. Texas weather has been wacky as ever. So now they're in the coop at night panting. I only have their food and water in the run, not the coop.

My question for you fine folks is, do you put water in the coop overnight for these hot nights? I worry about moisture but if they need water, they need it.

Another question is why they are all piled on top of each other on the roosting bars if they're panting? Is there some sort of chicken cooling by osmosis that happens?! But seriously, that seems like odd behavior.

Water: YES! GET some water in that coop stat!
As you can see in my build thread (Linky thing under my avatar) and in it the water is 100% 365 available in there.

It’s all about correct thermal ventilation. It may be hot but, in there is real thermal variation with a breeze than they will adjust and be either close to or fine. Start making “Tupperware frozen water containers in the freezer to be added to their water era ASAP.

More
Later.. night night

 

[YellowRoseFarm]

Water: YES! GET some water in that coop stat!
As you can see in my build thread (Linky thing under my avatar) and in it the water is 100% 365 available in there.

It’s all about correct thermal ventilation. It may be hot but, in there is real thermal variation with a breeze than they will adjust and be either close to or fine. Start making “Tupperware frozen water containers in the freezer to be added to their water era ASAP.

More
Later.. night night

Thanks for this! Awesome coop, by the way.

During the day, the coop and run are in the deep shade after about 8 AM. The fan is technically an exhaust fan, but I installed it with the intake outside under the covered run, so it stays about 10 degrees cooler than even the coolest shade. The coop has constant airflow and has remained below 95 when temps over here hit 110 with the heat index. So I feel like I'm doing something right there. Probably because I grew up in the mid-west, and even after 20 years here, I STILL don't tolerate the heat well, so that's all I could think about when building the coop, HA!

I also placed some frozen gallon jugs of distilled water in the corners of the run and ice in their waterers. They licked off the condensation from the jugs, but they were comfortable all day, and no one was panting or showing signs of discomfort.

Of course, coop temps and humidity rose when all the ladies piled in there and that's when the panting started. It might not have been so bad if they weren't fighting over the same roosting bar and piled on top of one another. It did stay below 90, though, and steadily dropped overnight.

I'll add a waterer to the coop today so they can have access to water overnight.

Pictures are forthcoming. The last storm downed a tree and punctured the roof so that's been a priority.

 

[electrycmonk]

Of course, coop temps and humidity rose when all the ladies piled in there and that's when the panting started. It might not have been so bad if they weren't fighting over the same roosting bar and piled on top of one another. It did stay below 90, though, and steadily dropped overnight.
……….Pictures are forthcoming. The last storm downed a tree and punctured the roof so that's been a priority.

So there is a fantastic thread that might be actually be an article? Subject: testing type & shapes of roosting rails.

A few of us have added to the thread from our own experiments after reading the thread.

All that to say, “Go read it, and consider doing your own test as well as plan for the likely hood you will give them more roosting rail space - ALL at the same height as well.”


Thanks for the compliment as well. My coop is still a work in progress… getting ready to clean out all the last 12 months of litter & spray it down again with a lime-wash coating …. Then a week later I’ll give it another dose of mite killer spray….

 

[electrycmonk]

Fun stuff Yo!

 

[007Sean]

Fun stuff Yo!
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Same down here, dude...except we're at 101°F today. Supposedly, it will be 103 to 106°F tomorrow!