Feeding advice for bantams (one broody, one moulting)

[ali-s]

The digital thermonmeter in the WIR is registering 41oc I was wilting a while ago when having a tidy up in there. The girls have headed for Dingley Dell and the shade there.

 

There is not a cloud in the sky, no breeze at all and it is very hot. I have Omlet shades fastened to the sunny side of the run.

 

Now I have a decision to make. I have to go to work at 2.30pm and will not be back until 10.30pm. The rest of the family are out and will not be back until about the same time. Do I chance leaving the girls out and let them enjoy the shade in the Dell and hope nothing attacks them, or do I put them back in the WIR before I go to work and hope they do not die from the heat in there?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

If you've got shades up and plenty of water for them, they should be fine, shouldn't they? Imagine if something did "get" them, if you left them out .

[Lewis]

You could spray the hose on the run to try and cool it down or something like that, might get rid of a bit of heat.

I'd probably put them back in the run but saying that Babs used to free-range all day.

 

Afterall, the eglus are meant to be hot in the winster and cool in the summer

[Guest]

good idea about spraying the run, put some ice cubes in their glug and as long as they have plenty of water and a shady place to sit they should be fine. I gave my girls some cut up cucumber from the fridge yesterday to help cool them down a bit.

[Lewis]

good idea about spraying the run, put some ice cubes in their glug and as long as they have plenty of water and a shady place to sit they should be fine. I gave my girls some cut up cucumber from the fridge yesterday to help cool them down a bit.

I put some ice in their water earlier and they looked terrified of it and wouldn't drink!

 

Good idea about the cucumber. I froze some grapes cut in half last year.

[Redwing]

I have fastened some shades very low down in my run to create some deeper cooler shade, like this but lower as I found that ones attached to the side cast shade but not deep shade:

 

[Egluntyne]

Last time we had a heat wave like this I saturated some hideous old duvet covers and covered the runs with them, and re watered them periodically. The hens seemed to appreciate it.

[ali-s]

Thanks for all the replies. sorry I haven't got back to this topic but I have very limited internet connection. Every time I try to get onto the Omlet forum the internet disconnects.

 

I made the decision to leave the girls out which fortunately turned out alright, I was thinking about them all the time at work.

 

I have decided the WIR is in the wrong place It will be in the perfect spot in the winter as it will catch the winter sun and hopefully be a bit warmer. In the summer (even a Scottish summer) though it gets far too hot in there as the sun is on it for most of the day. I might try taking off one of the plastic roof panels to see if thats make the run cooler first, or the run will have to be moved

 

Ice cubes were put in the glug early in the day and I had watered the wood chips, not easy when you do not have an outside tap so no hosepipe. The hens would not go back to the WIR for food and water which they normally do on a free ranging day even they knew it was too hot in there. The nestbox was ignored as well and I had to root around in the bushes for Daffodil's egg.

 

Right, now to hit the submit button and hope I am not disconnected and then get off to work, I should have left 10 minutes ago

[Budgies]

Are the plastic roof panels those special ones that cut out the UV rays? They allow light through but don't intensify or magnify the rays of the sun.

 

Saying that, I've no idea where you can source them, but maybe someone else does!

[Blackrocksrock]

I had to pull both of my two roof panels on the eglu into one and pull it down the run so that they could get more breeze in too as it was so so hot but they free range outside all the time so it is ok for them unless they go in to lay - they were gasping in the nestbox though. At least to-day it was rather cool after yesterdays heat and the weekend. Tonight the sun came out and it was nice but still cooler. We had a hen in the garden shouting the odds just a wee while ago = dont know what it was all about but maybe she saw the cat.

One of the cats gets cornered with henrietta and its so funny as she has to be rescued as the hen looks fierce looming over this big bengal girl cat of 11 years old. She is also over 6.5 kg so no lightweight either.

[LaPoule]

I have been concerned about the heat too, especially as Picasso hasn't been herself recently - last weekend she was panting and had to be taken into the living room where it's nice and cool! I have turned the tarpaulin covering half the run over, so it's the silver-side out, and pulled back the clear tarpaulin to avoid intensifying the heat. I have now bought another tarpaulin from Tarpaflex, and covered the rest with that, leaving the side near the hedge clear for a nice breeze.

 

I have a south facing garden, and there is no other shade, but this seems to keep it quite cool. I am going to try Egluntine's idea of the wet sheets tomorrow as well. I don't worry half as much when it's cold

 

SusanK - aren't Bengals such wimps? Gershwin weighs about the same as yours (possibly more ), and the ferrets bully him relentlessy, even though they only weigh about 1kg

[Blackrocksrock]

I

SusanK - aren't Bengals such wimps? Gershwin weighs about the same as yours (possibly more ), and the ferrets bully him relentlessy, even though they only weigh about 1kg

 

Very much so wimpish - Zoey is a big laid back lump too and Frodo he shouts all the time and his thing at the moment is to go off round the rabbit burrows for about 15 hours at a time and then come home at 4 a.m. shouting to be let in and then to be fed and then when he comes to bed he shouts again - he is a menace.