Poorly chicken

[mullethunter]

Nothing like your extremes, but last Saturday the temperature went from 21 to 12 in half an hour as the weather changed. Sunday was wet and grey all day, unti, the cloud lifted last thing and there was a pink rainbow!!

[Beantree]

That's a great photo @mullethunter and it's so green!

Talking of temperature changes, earlier in the week Biarritz (Far Southwest) went from 42.9C to 23C in a few minutes.

It has occurred to me that I can't leave the debris netting over the tomatoes because they can't be pollinated. So I'll haver to take the risk of hail damage and take it off until Sunday, which is forecast at the moment to be a terrible day.

[Daphne]

Lovely photo MT.  You can tell we are starved of green!  At least I am surrounded by evergreen trees, but at ground level it is all a shade of gold (or brown).  Your landscape looks like a lush tropical paradise!  And what an unusual rainbow, was Monday a lovely day?

[Luvachicken]

On 6/21/2022 at 9:46 PM, mullethunter said:

Nothing like your extremes, but last Saturday the temperature went from 21 to 12 in half an hour as the weather changed. 

DD and I found that drop in temperature extremely cold - we still had our shorts on and it was freezing when we took Bonnie out.

I watched the rain fall yesterday thinking how exciting it was to actually see some rain and watch it on my weather station only to see that it was actually only 5mm altogether - not an awful lot really, but better than nothing.

[mullethunter]

On 6/22/2022 at 10:22 AM, Daphne said:

Lovely photo MT.  You can tell we are starved of green!  At least I am surrounded by evergreen trees, but at ground level it is all a shade of gold (or brown).  Your landscape looks like a lush tropical paradise!  And what an unusual rainbow, was Monday a lovely day?

No it didn’t herald a lovely Monday sadly

[Daphne]

With the blisteringly hot week many of us are in/facing, I just wanted to wish you all well with your birds.

[mullethunter]

28 here in mid Cornwall today so very warm but nowhere near as hot as some places. My gang are coping well so far - they had some frozen peas in water this afternoon but then my oldest girl Amy was sunbathing so what ya gonna do?! She’s such a sun worshipper.

I spent the morning at my happy place 

[Daphne]

OMG - is that Cornwall?!  I thought it was Greece, I've not seen water like that around the UK coast, it looks beautiful.  I also think your fish picture is absolutely brilliant, are you tempted to have it on your wall, or send to the countryfile calendar or something?  Also, assuming that's you, you look like my BF, in the words of Siouxsie Sioux a strawberry (blonde) girl!  She is a Devonian, and the sea is her happy place too.

[Beantree]

Lovely photos which remind me of holidays on the Isle of Mull. Wish we were there now because it's too hot here and getting hotter by the day. Peak temperature is forecast on Monday at 41C, a temperature far above just watering runs down to cool chickens. So we have 4 dog cages in the house to bring all of them in from early afternoon. The Cou-Nu in the top enclosure are a  bigger problem, because of their size. Fortunately we have a secure outside room at the back of the house which has recently been given an insulated roof. The result was the maximum temperature in there dropped from 38C to 28C and will now be fine for chickens. It's 25m2, has been emptied of stored stuff and has had perches and nest boxes put in it. We'll bring them in Friday afternoon and they can stay there until Tuesday morning.

[mullethunter]

On 7/12/2022 at 10:20 AM, Daphne said:

OMG - is that Cornwall?!  I thought it was Greece

I thought it was Greece too and I was looking at it! But yep - it’s Cornwall 🖤🤍 And yes that’s me - glad I made you think of your friend 😊

Thanks for saying nice things about my photo’s - I just post them on my Instagram but you’re right I should put some on the walls. They’re just taken with a GoPro - they’re very clever little camera’s.

Stay safe in the heat everyone.

Edited July 12, 2022 by mullethunter

[Beantree]

Brought things forward a day and the Cou-Nu are in the back room. Can't say they are happy about it though and they may be there for a week or more?

Big Bird is complaining next to me as she has cooled down now and wants to go back out. Ermintrude is behind me with a nest box; she went up the coop steps to lay and nearly fell off she was that disorientated.

Heard the UK gets their hot Sunday 'ish?

[Daphne]

Local weather station posted hottest ever temp yesterday: 42.2.  Its hotter there than our house as we are higher.  However, today is even hotter!  Its not unbearable, we just don't do anything after about 11am.  Have used a fan last 2 nights, and OH just switched one on downstairs, but best remedy is to watch Tour de France, which is in the Alps, and thank goodness you aren't one of the riders!

The cats are spending all day flopped out.  You'd think hens would be the same.  Fingers crossed for all featheries.

[Beantree]

We're up at 6.00am @Daphne and all physical work stops at 9.00. So the wood store is being arranged but getting the wood to it may take a week. The Cou-Nu have hay to play with. We're giving a lot of consideration to long term as these hot spells are likely to be more frequent. Shuffling projects around means we complete the bread oven insulation but forget the window enlargement. A mezzanine level in the wood store clears an area to park the car free from hail. Still need the storm drain though so it's still firefighting all the time because the climate is changing so fast!

The big problem in the UK is going to be the size of their windows and their insulation standards are absolutely terrible anyway, based on previous cheap fuel and cheapest building costs. Time to take the European approach and put shutters on the outside of windows and limit the size to 5%, so no more patio doors.

[Luvachicken]

 

@mullethunteryour photos are amazing and just want to make me paddle my feet - sadly I only have the canal and Fleet Pond, neither of which I would even want to go in.

Bonnie is just figuring out that heat means it's not time to play - I think she has finally got it.

Not looking forward to next week and still being in school.

Why is it always so hot for the last few weeks of school and then rubbish weather for the summer holidays?

Also, what is rain ...................?

[Cat tails]

Temperatures likely to reach 38 degrees here today. Not looking forward to that! Yesterday reached 32 degrees in the garden. Chickens were fine, but I did hose done their run last night, so the soil has some moisture in it today, for dust baths. And I add an extra parasol to the coop/run, to keep the worst of the heat out of their coop.

Also gave them some frozen peas in a bowl of water yesterday, which kept them amused for a bit, but they weren’t overly impressed.

[Beantree]

They all look very happy in there @Cat tails. It hit 41C here in the shade yesterday, at which time all the chickens were brought in and stayed overnight because despite heavy run watering they couldn't cope. They were very well behaved and just settled down in their cages and remained quiet, so no sleep disturbance for us. Downside is the stink in the morning; windows and doors open and all the cages are cleaned out and papers replaced. Cloudy this morning and only 36C predicted, so hopefully most will remain out. The Cou-Nu go back up to their enclosure tomorrow morning because the afternoon peak is just 33C, so that room will need a thorough clean out as well.

[Cat tails]

It’s 36 in the shade in the back garden, 33 in the front garden, but that is on the west side of my house. Chickens don’t seem bothered much. I gave them some watermelon, which they mostly ignored. And Gerda just decided to sunbath in the little bit of sun getting in their run. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[ajm200]

This was the indoor temperature last night at 7.30pm  after keeping all doors, windows and blinds closed.   Currently 39.5 outside

Humidity left.  Temperature right 

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by ajm200

[Luvachicken]

With everything shut we have managed to stay 10degrees cooler in the house.

Sadly in class today, it was 33 degrees - just so hot for all us to be working in. The children were shattered.

Fortunately, we have all been able to wear what we like to keep cool but none of this finishing early business.

I walked home under my umbrella but even my 10 minute walk just seemed to take forever..

Think my weather gadget got to 38.

It's even harder when it is the same temperature in the shade and in the sun (I have a few weather gadgets )

I want to see some rain ........please.

[Cat tails]

On 7/19/2022 at 6:14 PM, Luvachicken said:

With everything shut we have managed to stay 10degrees cooler in the house.

It currently is 23,5 indoors for me, but I have a ground floor flat, so the upstairs neighbours take the most heat. Have every window covered in shade tarps though.

On 7/19/2022 at 6:14 PM, Luvachicken said:

It's even harder when it is the same temperature in the shade and in the sun (I have a few weather gadgets )

I’m guilty of this too! 😅

The coop thermometer is now at 34,3.

[Beantree]

We hit a record temperature in the house of 26C ( been here 5 years), but that was 24 hours after the peak temperature outside. It just shows how long it takes heat outside to arrive inside with 2 feet thick stone walls.

We have an Ozone layer down here most of the time, which means we don't get severely burned. But we don't have much air pollution so the temperature in the sun can be 15C higher. So I had heat stroke yesterday, which means I couldn't walk and had little idea of where I was. Keep safe everyone and think about more insulation next year, because it cuts your heating bills as well.

[Cat tails]

Oh gosh @Beantree, hope you are okay again!

My dad actually got a special foil put on the windows last week. It will keep 60% of sun heat out, but also 30% of your own heat in. So also beneficial in winter. And it’s compatible with double glazing and near invisible once on. 

I’m getting my sun screen installed beginning of August, in front of my living room window. One less faff with tarps.

[mullethunter]

On 7/19/2022 at 6:22 AM, Cat tails said:

Also gave them some frozen peas in a bowl of water yesterday, which kept them amused for a bit, but they weren’t overly impressed.

Mine have these too and they love them!!

We were fortunate in Cornwall that the maximum temperature here was yesterday at about 32. We live in a dormer bungalow though and it was 34 in our bedroom last night.

For us it’s not the short term heat that’s the worry on this occasion but the fact that we’ve had such little rain and the reservoirs are low.

[Daphne]

I sincerely hope you are OK Beantree.    For everybody else, I am glad you have survived, hopefully unscathed.  Its a real barrier, the UK breaking 40 degrees, I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime. I am equally as shocked by the news that somewhere in Normandy was 32.8 at 3am on Monday night.

[Beantree]

Been outside for a while but have come in because I'm feeling giddy. Now that might be due to the smoke from the fires to our NW? Seems this heatwave in England has been a bit of a wake up call, on the basis that they will become the norm. We've had three heatwaves already this year and we are questioning what we can do to stay cooler; we spend too much time outside dealing with overheating chickens that's for sure!

I remember painting the greenhouse windows with a chalk paint to keep the heat out and then wiping it off in Autumn. Perhaps that would work? Easy here because all the windows open inwards. Problem is closing the curtains doesn't do that much because they get hot and that heat is already inside the room.