# Got 2 new babies



## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

We have 2 new babies today. Rose our favorite NN, hatched out 2 eggs out of 14 total. The first batch didn't work another hen drove her away and cracked all the eggs, so second attempt she was closed up in a cage, and a fan on her during the hot days. She did good out of these last 7 eggs 2 hatched. However we have had 100+ degree weather so chicks came early. I was afraid none would hatch and today it was a surprise of a lifetime. I am adding their photos, and of course one of a sleepy little baby.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Such sweet pics. They're both an ahhhh moment.


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## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

Yeah they sure are sweet, and neither one was an NN. However mom hens, don't care if it is theirs or not they still assume it is theirs. Mom is happy. She finally gets off the hot back porch and out into the fresh air now, along with 2 tiny packages of love. Her sister has been all into wanting to see them so I had to hold her up there to see them.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That high parked over you too. I've been out several times a day hosing down where my birds are to cool them. Once things quiet down around here I'm going to put the misters up that I remembered to bring from TN. 

I just got down rehoming five. It was nice to have chicks around for a bit. But now that I'm not raising them any more most of the time I have to enjoy the ones others hatch.


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## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

Yeah we have lost 4 chickens so far due to the heat and it isn't good. No matter what we do they just can't live in this heat. One of my Legacy girls died along with my last RR. So it hasn't been a good summer. I kept wetting there favorite spots as well. Am now down to 4 Delaware hens and 2 Legacy hens along with my NN's and Buffs. Tomorrow will be back to over 100 again. Lucky for me hubby fixed the big cage for the chicks and mom up high and where they get plenty of shade and air.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

For years I didn't think misters were the way to go with the humidity being so high down here. I finally broke down before we moved from TN and added them. I'm not sorry I did. Its amazing how much it drops the temps. With the old coop my misters were installed on the outside pens, it also helped cool the coop itself. So, I'm doing the same thing here, its around the outside perimeter of their pen and it's doing a good job. I need to find some sort of timer that will come on and go off at regular intervals so I don't have to keep going out to switch them on.

I also have a big, shallow pan with water in it for them to stand in. Some will do it automatically, others are too prissy and I have to put them in. 

My concern is that all of the birds I have left are old and Silkies do not do all that great in the heat to start with. Knock on wood, I haven't lost any yet.


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## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

Well my 2 older RR's I had been expecting for them to finally pass on due to age, and one did and the other one was still going and healthy and then the heat came. She just went down hill from there and 3 days into it she was gone, we brought her in during the days thinking it would help but it didn't work. Night time was still in the high 80's and that still was way to hot for the chickens. But my Legacy she just couldn't hack the heat at all. I think it has to do with their extra down. And the one Delaware she was fine at noon but I found her at 3pm lying dead in the shade of a tree so I knew the heat did her in. When I had gone out at noon I had misted them all down with water, and then she even acted like she was very hot. The heat bothers me big time as well, and I stay inside as much as possible. However the chickens are always #1 high priority for me.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've got one that will turn ten in August and two others that turned nine in April. One of the nine year olds is not feeling well and I don't think I can pull him back. His wasn't heat related as far as I can tell. What all else is left of my flock is over five years old, I think the youngest are now closer to six.

Its hard to lose those that have been with us for so many years. Especially when we know them by their personalities and they know ours.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

I'm so glad I found this thread! I was just about to post regarding installing misters. I live about 25 miles inland from the coast of MS and it's getting pretty danged hot. I went ahead and bought a misting system last week and we got around to installing it on Sunday morning. It worked extremely well at lowering the temps in the coop and I noticed the chickens seemed way more comfortable. 

The question we have is whether it is ok for the chickens to be damp? The misters are supposed to be installed 8-10 feet above the ground but unfortunately for us, the roof is only about 6 1/2 feet high so the ground gets wet. I want the best for the girls but I'm afraid we will begin losing them to the heat if we can't do something. 

There is no power at the coop and no way to run it at this time or a fan would help. Does anyone know of solar powered fans that aren't as high as the national debt?

Thanks in advance!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I don't leave my misters running non stop. They go on when I see anyone panting and turn them off when there's a noticeable drop in temp. The damp ground will help pull the heat from their bodies but it shouldn't be the only place they have to stand. Right now instead of having the mist heads facing down, mine are pointed away from the sides. That way its cooling the area without causing too much of a mess. 

I've never had mine set higher than six feet.


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## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

Yeah losing hens is a bad thing for me because I get attached even when I don't want to get attached. I may end up losing another hen my youngest legacy got out of the yard, and she is very wild. My son went out and had to jump the fence but she ran way down into the horse farm pasture so I may end up losing her. That will leave me with just 1 hen left from that breed.

Next year I may end up getting a new incubator and try and hatch out some more Legacy from Buffy and Stormy however if I lose my youngest one Hope, I will be losing the traits that really are needed in that breed. I also will be needing some more NN's next year to replace the 2 I lost this past spring. My old incubator crapped the bed, and in this heat I am so afraid I will lose more hens. I am going to get me a mister system I think in about a week. That will help to keep them cool if I see them panting a lot, we already spray things down so it helps cool stuff down a bit but even that doesn't help much. Maybe they need their own AC


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## myhppyndng5221 (Apr 4, 2015)

My grandpa put an AC unit in a coop for one of his friends here in pa!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I had one in my old Silkie coop. When all of the birds went in I knew it was time to go turn it on because they learned it was going to get cooler in there. Once I got the misters the AC came out of the coop.


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