The Old Folks Home

[microchick]

I am sorry you are having the heat and humidity
Morning Old Folks odd night woke at 4:30 sound like a alarm.. The Son that lives with us went to see his brother in Shelton He will pickup a lunch like subway take it to the brother who does not drive .. His Mother convinced him the world owes him Piece of work that one

The defroster fan on our refrigerator freezer makes the same sound Penny. I just slam the freezer door really hard and it stops! Might be worth a try........

On the humidity thing, DH and I were married in Arizona in April. temp 97 degrees. No humidity. The first trip there the year before the temps were over 100. We learned how dangerous and deceptive the high heat and low humidity can be.

Here when the humidity is high like it is today and the temps hit the mid to upper 80s like it has in the past, the problem is, you cannot cool your body down due to the high humidity. Sweat won't evaporate like it will in the dry desert heat, cooling the skin and the body temperature.

Both can be deadly.

 

[getaclue]

Thank you micro. I was about to say that there is a HUGE difference between the heat at higher temperatures in Arizona vs the not as high, but more humid heat in Florida. I had family in Arizona, and we went there between a month to 3 months every few years. They too would come down here for a few months every few years. Yes, there is a huge difference, and it's not perception.

You are correct about the body being able to cool itself by sweating in dryer, dessert type heat vs here, where sweat doesn't evaporate, and cool a person down. In fact, that's why misters, even attached to fans, don't do much good. The air is already saturated, so the mist doesn't evaporate, and cool.

 

[CSolis]

On a sad note, I lost my little rooster who got beat up three weeks ago. Found him near death on the coop floor. Have no idea what happened to him.

So sorry you lost you little guy.

 

[microchick]

Thank you micro. I was about to say that there is a HUGE difference between the heat at higher temperatures in Arizona vs the not as high, but more humid heat in Florida. I had family in Arizona, and we went there between a month to 3 months every few years. They too would come down here for a few months every few years. Yes, there is a huge difference, and it's not perception.

You are correct about the body being able to cool itself by sweating in dryer, dessert type heat vs here, where sweat doesn't evaporate, and cool a person down. In fact, that's why misters, even attached to fans, don't do much good. The air is already saturated, so the mist doesn't evaporate, and cool.

Yep. The first year we were there it was for the first Dempsey Nissan Classic Speed Bike Challenge. The only time Nissan had a weekend free that we could use their test track was the end of June first of July. HOT! That was an understatement but with the low humidity 100+ degrees didn't feel that hot to us, especially if we kept in the shade. It about killed our poor Speed Bike pilot. He is from England and everyone completely underestimated what the dry heat would do to a body in an enclosed capsule no ventilation.

Talk about a learning experience. One hour in the faring, our rider/pilot rolled into the pits and as he ripped by I could hear him scream GET ME OUT OF HERE! We were ready for him and when we lifted the top half of the faring off the bike I saw a literal wave of heat come out of the fuselage. Two strong guys were on hand and lifted him out of the bike. This guy is fit. A professional rider in peak shape and he was almost unconscious. We piled ice on him. People were running back and forth with coolers and bags dumping it on him. He kept saying 'I can't feel it!' and we would pour on more ice. Finally he said 'I can feel it, enough' and we stopped. within 15 minutes he was up walking, in another 10 minutes riding a bike Friday around the pits to cool down.

I sincerely think a lesser athlete would have been in the hospital in ICU.

This picture is from that race. Our speed bike the Varna II. that is me by the front of the speed bike and my DH at the rear getting ready to launch.

Note the umbrellas in the background. The other teams were circled around us while we were trying to revive our pilot and when they saw the shape he was in they looked at one another and scattered to try to figure out how to keep their pilots ventilated.

Shows how insidious low humidity can be in high heat and reinforced my cardinal rule....never go first!

 

[microchick]

So sorry you lost you little guy.

Thanks CSolis. I think he was probably hurt worse than I suspected and only continuous care kept him going. When he was strong enough to go back with the wounded bachelors he just couldn't handle it. I have more roosters than good sense but I love the little twerps and hate it when I lose one.

 

[microchick]

AH! I found the picture of what heat exhaustion looks like.

That is me doing my nurse thing, stuffing ice down his shirt. Figured it would make a way to retain the ice other than it falling all over the tarmac and melting.

And 25 minutes later....

His name is Rob English. Amazing athlete.

The Nissan test track is amazing. 5 miles high banked oval, perfect condition. We did two challenges there before they closed the track for refurbishing.

Nice people at Nissan. They donated the use of the track.

 

[CSolis]

Thanks CSolis. I think he was probably hurt worse than I suspected and only continuous care kept him going. When he was strong enough to go back with the wounded bachelors he just couldn't handle it. I have more roosters than good sense but I love the little twerps and hate it when I lose one.

Well I'm down by 6 young cockerels today. Fella finally showed up to get them. He gets them accustomed to their quarters then turns them loose in his fields with the cattle. Natural bug control. The more the better for him and less headaches for me.
Since the boys left, I took Turtle Dove out to be with the other pullets from her brood. One little pullet that is nearly all white is the head of the girls. She already picked on TD so I'll have to watch closely. TD is not dominant at all.

 

[microchick]

@CSolis, you have done such a good job healing her up.

I hope she isn't picked on.

 

[Sally PB]

So far, so good on the chick integration today. They're in the growout pen in the coop.

I just went out to check on them. They're peep-peeping. The next step will be how the bigs react when they go in to roost tonight.

 

[CSolis]

@CSolis, you have done such a good job healing her up.

I hope she isn't picked on.

Well the two pullets had her boxed in the corner of their turn out pen. I was mad enough to want to put the 10 week old pullets in there and let them learn their lesson. I didn't but I really really wanted to. I find when they are 15-18 weeks it's a much easier business to integrate them.
I had all my 13 week olds in one turn out pen. Added the two 15 week olds without problem, and then two older hens that were molting and needed a rest. The older hens were great at being leaders the first time I let that group free range. So, I guess I'll wait until my two younger groups of pullets get a bit old before integrating them.
I wanted my living room back, but nooooooooo. Turtle Dove is back in here with Gator and me. Boo hoo..