Before this magnificent polar - vortex - same front turn over us the cool July I can recall , I was on my way back to Louisville from a trip to Michigan . It was cooler than common in the mitten , but as we move home on Sunday , the temperatures were climbing in every small townspeople and expectant metropolis as we drove South .
The 300 miles of my route through Indiana were mostly uneventful , except for a portion of I-65 , south of Indianapolis , where the sky settle by bucket . There , dealings crawl bumper - to - bumper at 20 miles per hour , with hazard lights blinking out of sync . Thirteen miles later , the sky earn and the temperature indicant in my car record 77 degrees F.
When we crossed the Ohio River into Louisville , the temperature jumped 22 degree to a self-coloured 99 degrees F. We found our poor flock panting in the tyrannical temperateness and smoggy haze at household .
The hot of summer Clarence Shepard Day Jr. can be more life-threatening than the coldest of winter , especially if the temperature fortify quickly . Even though they ’d been hot all day , chill the biddy was my first precedency . Relief from the heating can save life .
1. Cool the Air
As presently as we got home , my husband attached the spray mister to the garden hose to cool the atmosphere temperature near the chickens . Even this dewy-eyed change can cater relief when temperature soar .
2. Offer Electrolytes
While my married man was busy in the yard , I filled the Gallus gallus ’ waterers with fresh , cool water system infused with a homemade electrolyte solution .
An electrolyte imbalance will cause drying up , no matter how much urine the flock is drinking . Electrolyte supplements are available at your local feed store , or you’re able to whip up a homemade electrolyte solvent for emergencies . Here ’s the formula I use , simply mixing all the ingredients together :
Homemade Electrolyte result
This electrolyte solution can be tote up to the waterer as a supplementation or leave right away to bird in distress . It can also be substituted for weewee in frosty fruit dainty below .
3. Make Frozen Fruit Treats
For exceptionally hot days , give birth nutritious frosty Gallus gallus treat at the ready is a must , but because I ’d arrived home unprepared for the heat , I hurried to make a cold treat .
Two pound of strawberries and two pints of blueberries were wait in the fridge from our CSA delivery the previous workweek . I clean all the berry , made a simple fruit salad for the phratry , then stuffed all the hemangioma simplex cuttings ( with unripe tiptop ) and a few imperfect blueberries into 1 - cupful charge plate container . I fulfill the gaps with water , and froze them .
chicken love to peck at frozen yield on a red-hot mean solar day . The water ice melts slowly in the estrus , give agency to the wintry fruit cutting within , cool down the chickens quickly from the inside out . If only for a few minutes , panting poultry get a nice happy chance from the heating , and something new to occupy their mind . Yet another option is to provide frozen fruit directly . Chunks of glacial watermelon vine are a flock favorite .
If your chickens do n’t know well enough to find out cool areas of the chiliad on a blistering day , process frozen treats in a shady place .
These simple gain to your chickens ’ summertime care can relieve heating system waves , and even save lives when oestrus spikes .
