Heatwave

The end of June on the ranch was brutal.  A nice big high pressure system parked itself over our state for about 3 weeks.  Bringing with it temperatures in the high high 90's to low 100's.  The heat indexes were soaring to the 110 ranges.  It was awful.  Especially for one pregnant girl that I know.

But I wasn't the only one dying from the heat*.  So were our chickens.  Literally.

Yup.  I'm sad to report that 3 of our 4 baby chickens that we raised up from infancy died during a week span.  It was tragic!  Of all the chickens to die - I would have much rather have had the old girls kick the bucket!  They are not very reliable and only lay maybe an egg every 4 to 5 days.  But the babies were regular little gals.  Each giving us an egg a day.  Beautiful olive green and tan eggs.

But, as most of this stuff goes, this was a really good learning experience for us.  Apparently, chickens regulate their body temperature through their feet.  Our theory went something like this:


-  Why are the old chickens surviving while the young chickens are dying?


-  Why are the old chickens constantly kicking their water bucket over?  Don't they know they need to leave that thing alone so they don't thirst to death?


-  Why is the older chickens' water pan constantly dry but the babies don't seem to be drinking as often?

Come to find out, the older chickens were smart enough to kick their water over so they could STAND in the cool water/mud all day.  Meanwhile, the baby chickens were standing on the hot, dry ground soaking up a ton of heat.  They were still drinking, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't enough to cool their body down.

So how did we stop the death and destruction and save that last remaining baby chick?  We put a few pans of water in the coop.  That's it.  Something for the birds to STAND in all day. 


Information we could have used 5 weeks ago!

For now, the plan is to wait until fall and replace the young girls with 6 month to 9 month old chickens.  Some that are regular layers and can immediately start to produce again for us.  I'd love to raise up some more chicks, but it takes 6 months for the eggs to start, plus, I'm going to be a tad busy come fall time.


*The loss coupled with the extreme heat was too much for me to handle, and I found myself needing an escape.  But that's another story.