The Worst Preditor Is:The HEAT!!!!

[austincoopersilkiesies]

They Do Have Shade On The North And East Sides Of The Run We Took A Piece Of Ply Wood And Leaned It Against AThe Front of The Coop And We Used Window Fans But To My Chicks Avail I Rummaged Through The Garages Attic And Found An!!!!!!!!

 

[lonesomerider]

I live in NE Oklahoma, and right now at 10:30 pm, it is still 97 degrees....was 104 today; don't know what the heat index was. I have about 30 three year old hens and 4 roosters,(Langshans, NN's, RLW Cornish, Cuckoo and Black Marans hens, with roosters being Langshan and NN's.) and 40 four month old cross breds of both sexes that will be butchered soon . All are on 2 - 1/2 acres of shaded pasture, going to roost in a lean-to built at the end of a big metal building at night. Door on the shed stays open, replaced by a hunk of cattle panel double covered with chicken wire to keep unwanted visitors out.

At noon, or whenever the temp hits 95+degrees, air temp, I go to a hydrant in the pasture near where they hang out, and turn on the attached sprinkler that puts out a heavy mist in an approximate 25 foot circle, for an hour. The birds come running to meet me when I go down, and then gather around the edges of the circle, and under the mist. When I shut it off, they hunker down in the damp dirt and are handling the heat quite well. Many are not even breathing with their mouths open. I check them about 3:30, and so far, have not had to repeat the misting.

I'm on a rural water line; water is EXPENSIVE, so I can't do what I'd like to. Also, the water lines are only two feet down in the ground and our soil temperature was given as 95 degrees almost two weeks ago on a Tulsa TV station. Lord only knows what it is now. The water is NOT cold; not even cool. But it seems to do the job.
I had a much better system set up when I lived in Montana, and it kept both the rabbits and chickens cool. But, I had my own well and didn't have to pay for water.

As for the rabbits....there are 6 of them; 5 NZW does and a buck. They are in all wire 30" x 40" x 18" cages held up about 4 feet off the ground by a wooden frame, under shade trees on the lawn near the house. The wind goes through from whatever direction. White boating vinyl covers the top of the frame to keep the sun off and reflect it away. Each cage has a large hunk.....3 x 3 feet...of mattress padding that I wet down with the hose a couple of times each afternoon. The rabbits are wet down with the hose too, using a low pressure sprayer nozzle that will put out a good bit of water without also blowing them out the other side of the cages. After the first couple of days, they have settled down and each makes just one trip across the back of their cage, letting me wet down both sides. The buck comes to the cage door to meet me for his shower.

The buck and one doe take the padding, wad it up with their front feet, and lay on top of it. The others sometimes throw theirs around the cage, but don't seem quite bright enough to lay on them.

Each wetting lasts about 2-1/2 to 3 hours before needing to be repeated.

Unconventional? Yup. But so far, I've not had to get my shovel and start digging a hole.

 

[pinkwindsong]

I wet the dirt under their favorite tree.. I have some that are refusing to go inside at night and have taken to roosting in a tree.. ( they figured out how high they had to go so I couldn't get them... but I still have 5 hens that go inside the coop every evening at 8pm on their own.. it was still 93 at 8pm tonight.. its been a long time since its been this hot and humid.. my girls too are not eating as much ion the heat so I make sure I give lots of goodies throughout the day.. from fruit to noodles to sliced zuc and cucs,, anything that they will eat.. I worry more about them and their weight dropping than the heat now.. I think that I have lost the ones to heat that weren't able to take it .. the flockers I have left are showing that yea their hot but they'll make it...

I really wanted to get more chicks this summer but with this heat I have decided to put off buying till this fall.. I would much rather put a heat lamp in for them than loose more to the heat and humidity...

I love my big heavy birds,, I know its tough on them but they are coming thru like troopers...

blessed be to all
)O(
Pink

 

[emvickrey]

I'm in West Tennessee and it's crazy hot here. The humidity sure doesn't help. I also go out several times and refresh their waters with cool water from the hose, spray cool water in the small duck pond for the ducks and they like to stand in the mist from the water hose too. I also use frozen water bottles, gallon jugs and ice cubes. All of mine can get out of the direct sunlight and have cages and pens where they get plently of a breeze. The sizzles are the only ones with a concrete floor and it can get hot so I hose it down a couple times and they also have a fan in their pen. The big coop is the only one that gets hot and their run is in the afternoon sun. So they stay inside and hang out around the water buckets. The quail which are in the shade 24/7 seem to be the only ones panting. I have a broody with chicks hatching that stays in her nesting box. She's in the sun maybe 30 minutes out of the whole day and it is late afternoon by then.

Today was a real scorcher. My outside thermometer that is in the direct sun in the afternoon when it's the hottest read 122 degrees today. And it felt it. It seems everyday i'm just minutes from a heat sroke from trying to kep my birds from having one. I have about 70 birds in 15 different pens, cages and coop. It takes a while to refresh everybody's water. The ducks alone have the pond and 2 water buckets. There are 2 buckets in the coop the others have 1 container in each. My grandson found an egg just a few minutes after I had came in from changing waters and getting eggs and the hen had laid it in the run which was in the sun and it felt as if it had came out of a pan of boiling water it was so hot.

Gotta get some rest for the rerun of today to begin tomorrow.

 

[sassifrassi]

It's hot up here in Canada too! I've been spraying down the coop floor (sand), giving them cold watermelons, and when they look really hot I've soaked them with the hose. I put a table fan by the coop to help evaporate everything. Seems to work.

 

[OkieKristi]

I am also in NE Oklahoma, and my chickens are HOT!

They actually completely stopped laying eggs a few weeks ago. I have since added a small kiddie pool that I add water to every morning, and I spray down their run at the same time. In the late afternoon/evening their only shade is an area behind the coop, where they will all huddle together in the shade. I have added an extra waterer in that area, and in the late afternoons, I go out and spray them with the sprinkle attachment on the hose. They were resistant at first, but now they all stand there and let me spray them, and it stops the panting at least for awhile. They have started laying again as well, and are almost back to normal. I'm really concerned about my next water bill.

It is so hot that even the wild birds are panting. I have been refilling the bird baths in my yard at least once a day, and there are always a few birds sitting at the bird bath panting and with drooping wings. I think everyone and everything around here could really do with a nice long rainstorm.