Well last Friday and Saturday is was hellishly hot, and I was so worried about the girls. We did get a fan that goes on automatically in their chicken yard, and they have ample shade and water when out in the yard, but we close them in the chicken yard at night which is shady, but still hot when it's a scorcher. I decided last weekend that I would bring them in if they seemed to be suffering. Then I thought, hey, I can't stand to go out of the air conditioned house, so they must be suffering.
So first I wetted down the floor of the chicken yard and the patio. The lawn had already been watered. That produced negligible relief. I then got a great idea for these kinds of emergency situations. I brought our large dog cage in the house. It is on wheels and is designed to transport dogs on planes etc. I place newspapers on the bottom, and Cal brought in the girls one at a time. We put them in the dog carrier, in the entry way to the living room on the cool tile. I put their water in with them and waited for any reaction.
The only reaction we got was blissful cooing and cococcoing as the girls enjoyed the joy that is air conditioning. We are so fortunate to be able to have and use A/C. We kept them with us through the hottest part of the day and/or until they pooped twice. Then I moved their fan so that it blew right into their coop. It wasn't as cool as the A/C, but a whole lot cooler than the ambient air outside. I put ice cubes in their water containers, and they did fine.
The only difference between having a house cat, and a house chicken is pooping issue. And lets face it, those of us who have had cats know they don't always use the litter box. And I am sure with enough time and effort I could teach the girls to use a litter box. But I digress.
Since then Carl, my brother in law and fellow chicken wrangler, told me about setting out a large shallow pan of water in the shade that the chickens can stand in. Apparently cooling off their feet by standing in the water helps them tolerate high heat. Come to think of it, it does the same thing for me.
So now I have a plan for the future very hot Summer days.
Next.
Several months ago, in fact right after we got Mabel and Barbara, I read that chickens liked yogurt and that it was a good source of protein for them. So I bought a big container of non-fat strawberry yogurt. I carefully set out a bowl for them to try. They walked in it. They did not even try it. So Cal and I ate strawberry yogurt for several weeks. Oh well I thought, they eat raisins, cherry tomatoes, and mandarin oranges. Can't have everything.
Let jump forward to last week. I am sitting happily on the patio in the morning, drinking coffee and reading the paper, while the chickens cruise around the lawn. I have a lovely bowl of nonfat Greek blueberry yogurt ( fruit on the bottom) over diced fresh cantaloupe. Mabel comes running. jumps up on the chaise lounge, walks up my legs right up to my bowl and stairs over the rim of it at me. I get nervous. Is she turning Veloceraptor on me? Gingerly I took some on my spoon and offered it to her.
She went nuts and as the picture shows she literally got it all over her beak in her eagerness to eat the yogurt. Clearly this was the end of my meal for the day as she an Annie finished off my breakfast.
Why did she eschew it when I bought the girls their own yogurt? What changed? Here is my theory. As with pets in general, anything you are eating they want. And, now that the girls have learned to be social and to trust us, she was no longer afraid to barge into my breakfast by lying up and walking on my legs. What ever caused the change, it was hilarious.
Also found a chicken sitter to the girls for when we go on vacation. That is a load off my mind.
I think that is all the pertinent facts for now. plus dinner is ready, so off I go. Ciao
amici.
