May 19, 2008
Hot Weather Alert
In May we usually get our first really warm days, up to 100F. This stretch heat saw my first chicken heat fatality in some time. She's gone into our "Chick-n-barn" to get out of the sun and expired, I suspect.
When it's warm here my new chicken yard offers some shade from a couple of volunteer bushes that I built the yard around. A small mulberry tree and a volunteer native 'gooseberry' plant provide a brushy, shady corner of the chicken yard. Usually I go out and water those bushes heavily mid-day to offer a cool spot for the girls to sit.
If you live where it's hot, make sure and provide a shady spot for your girls to get out of the sun and cool off when its hot. I've used misters in the hen yard, which the girls loved. You can also just provide shade and I've even also put in a small flat pan filled with water that they can stand in. Sadly, they also tend to poop in the water and then drink it. ... 8-P
Because of that, I've taken to just wetting down an area until its muddy and letting the girls lounge around on that. It had been a long time since I lost a hen to heat, often it is the overweight girls who just can't keep cool enough.
Something about this recent warm weather inspires cleaning in my heart. My mom was not a "spring cleaning" type, but yesterday's heat inspired me and I tidied, dusted and mopped the house. It dried in no time.
It was great to wake up this morning to a clean house.
Cheers for chickens!
Allison
