It is hot a hell this week! I mean unbearable, cranky 24/7 hot, and road rage hot! What the heck did we do growing up when we had no Air Conditioning I our homes or cars.
I have a number of followers from other countries and I ask you not to judge us as weenies before you ask yourelves: If you live in an area of extreme heat, would you prefer to have air conditioning? Hell Yes You Would.
Many people in the US do not have this luxury either, God Bless them. We did not have AC in my house until I was in my late 20's and none in our car until 15 years later. I'll tell you it is one of the greatest inventions since panty hose.
There are options for folks without AC in our town when the temperature stays so high for so long. The Malls and theaters are all air conditioned, the Senior Center stays open all night so seniors citizens can have a cool place to sleep, and usually a breeze comes up in the early evening ( not this week, but usually).
The temperatures over 100 are predicted to last several more days and I've been asking myself, what do we do to keep our chickens healthy in extreme heat? OK, I know chickens have been around for eons, foraging and pecking in really hot and really cold climates, but so what? I don't want my girls to suffer, get sick or even die because I was laissez' faire about their well being, just like I will break a window on a car with no windows open, and dogs in them, in the heat. I care about my pets and let's face it some people are just stupid about their animals.
So Chickens, how do we keep them healthy in extreme heat. Turns out the Internet has beau coup resources about the care and feeding of chickens, so I found several great articles that talk about this issue.
1. Since our coop is portable, we will keep it in the shady part of the yard. No direct sun on the windows or openings.
2. We will provide our girls with lots of ventilation when they are in the coop, even using a fan when the temperature gets to be 90-100 degrees. We have dry heat here, so humidity problems are usually not an issue.
3. Our girls need adequate, fresh water and easy access to it.
4. Lastly, I had not thought of feeding the chickens different feed when it is really hot, but this is a good point. Just like humans, when it is very hot we need lots of fluids, and light meals so as not to generate to much "internal combustion" or heat through digestion. Chickens can stop laying and even die from being feed to heavy of a diet of things like corn, during very hot days.
If it gets too hot, the girls can come on inside and join us on the couch, right under the ceiling fan, with the AC on 75 degrees. LOL.
And NO, chickens do not sweat!!
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