CHICKENS AND THE HEAT DON’T MIX
Here’s a few tips that will help you to get through the heat wave
Understanding the Chicken Anatomy:
- Chickens core temp is 107 degrees
- Chickens don’t sweat, but they release moisture through panting, droppings and evaporation
- They can handle heat, but not direct sun
Hot days can cause:
- Low egg production
- Over heating
- Heat stress
- And Death
Things to avoid:
- Stressing your chickens by moving their pens – the last thing you want to do is change their environment.
- Overcrowding
- Poor ventilation – you want good circulation – moving the heat out and the cooler air in.
- Direct sun – they can handle the heat – but not the direct sun
- Keep the drinking water out of the sun – chickens will not drink hot water, and will not go into the sun to drink. They will die of thirst before they trek into the direct sun
- Keep the water fresh and clean. They won’t drink dirty water, even when thirsty
- Avoid Feeding scratch or whole corn, or Carbohydrates of any kind (grains), which takes a considerable amount of energy to digest and raises their body temperature.
In hot days:
- Try to keep the chickens as comfortable as possible
- I only feed bird’s high protein pellets – and feed them in the late afternoon, about an hour before dark – not in the morning.
- Spend the morning cleaning the waterers and filling them with fresh, clean water.
Things you can do to help keep your chickens cool:
- The first thing you want to do is – Prepare in advance for up-coming heat waves
- Start by Providing plenty of shade
- Keep the drinking water at least 10 degrees cooler than outside temp – ice in the water is good
- Keep the water clean
- Keep the water in the shade
- Keep your coops well ventilated
- Don’t overcrowd
- Spray down the birds – During the hottest time of the day –
- Gently mist your coop floors and chickens in a non-stressful way, but not in the brood pens – just the outside runs
- keep an eye on the relative humidity
- Pore water in the birds dusting holes – creating small puddles throughout the pen, which is excellent for dust bathing for cooling down their body temperature
- Give your flock electrolytes in the drinking water (for 3 days on/4 days off)
For small backyard flocks:
- Add ice cubes to your water to cool down the water temp
- Give your flock cold cut up watermelon as a cooling off treat
Tip of the day (Q&A’s from our listeners)
David:I’m have a problem with my Black/Crow Wing Irish fowl. The offspring they are producing are weak and small, and now they are expressing crooked toes. I believe they may be too inbred. The other problem is the cock is getting old, and this is a very rare and hard to find breed. How can I improve the bloodline with what I have, right now?
Kenny:I hear this problem a lot. It is also why I encourage breeders to establish multiple lines within a strain. I’m not a big fan of adding outside blood, and since they are hard to find, you will need to use what you have to create a strain.
I know you said that they are coming weak, small and are showing defects, but the question I have for you is – do any of the offspring show good vigor, good size and are free of defects?
If so, I would attempt to establish another line or multiple lines with those and cull the rest. Make sure the birds you are breeding are free of defects, have good vigor and are the best representatives of their breed and variety.
I would also use a grading program, which can help to purify the bloodline. Once you get birds that are good representatives of their breed and variety, I would then start a linebreeding program.
I’m not a fan of adding or infusing outside blood, but if you feel you need to infuse new blood, you could infuse some of the ginger blood. They are closely related to the black breasted black reds (since they are a crow wing family).
Let me know how it works out, and good luck.
Best regards
Kenny
Breeders Selection
Like I mentioned last week, I want you to send me your pictures and videos, and I will check out your fowl and review them on the show. I will tell you what I like about them and how to improve them as you go forward.
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We hope you join us next time, for another episode of Bred to Perfection.
Well see ya later, bye!
