Hot Hens

It's hot today. It was hot yesterday.  This heatwave is interesting. 😰

This was going to be a post about the Environmentalist Badge, but instead I'm going to write about Clause 8 of Animal Lover. "If you have a pet, make a proactive change to their lifestyle to improve their current way of life."

We have three chickens, Peggy, Amelia and Lavender.  Chickens don't like hot weather, their bodies can't handle sudden changes in temperature in either direction. Once the temperature reaches 32C, it's too hot for a hen.  A neighbour recorded a high of 39.8C in her back garden yesterday, so yes, we have baked chickens.

I'm very scared for them at the moment, and I am most definitely counting "keeping the chickens alive" as the scary thing I've had to do this week for the Carpe Diem Badge.

I have made them frozen treats, chunks of watermelon, ice pops made from sweetcorn, raspberries and cucumber.  Their run was watered frequently throughout the day, and I'm doing that again today.  Wet towels have been hung around the run creating shade and cooling from evaporation.

Another suggestion was putting a fan on the outside of the run to create a breeze for them.  They didn't like that one bit! I have placed a bottle of frozen water into their waterer today to act like an ice cube.  Chickens don't like warm water, at least, mine don't like it if you give it to them, but will happily drink from a warm muddy puddle. 😲

They also need to be dunked in cool water to bring their temperature down.  By the evening they were more relaxed about being dunked, they certainly prefer it when my daughter does it.

Peggy being cooled down

 

So, while I'm here, I'll do a quick update on the Animal Lover Badge.

1. We have had chickens for over a year, so this Clause is complete.

3. "Learn about three animals which are close to extiction.  What can we do to help protect them?" I will be doing this Clause (it overlaps with Environmentalist!), but I haven't chosen my animals yet.

5. "Visit a zoo, farm or animal sanctuary." Over the summer holidays we will be staying on a farm and visiting The Wild Place Project.

7. "Take an initiative which improves conditions for wildlife - e.g. planting bee-friendly plants." we have a bag of bee-bombs ready for next year, it's a bit late to plant them now.  However, our Residents Association has started a number of "greening" projects to help our local wildlife.  The Council have chosen our street as one of a handful in Cambridge to be a "Bee Friendly Street".  We haven't had our weeds sprayed this year, and it shows!  Wild flowers are gowing all over the place, window boxes have seeded the little spots of soil at the bottom of walls and we have happy bees.

The Residents' Association has helped with supplying window boxes and hanging baskets to as many neighbours who would like them, and we have rewilded a couple of uncared for spots of ground along the street.  Between us we have made bee boxes and cut runs through the gardens for the hedgehogs.  We have a lot of hedgehogs.

8. See above with regards to keeping the chickens happy! I also tried growing wheat grass for them, but the stuff REEKS!  That definitely needs to be grown outside, so it will need a rethink. They did enjoy it, though, so it's worth making the effort.