Hey everybody....*imagine hand-held palmetto fan listlessly flopping a greeting here*
I live about 40 miles south-eastish of Paula. My place is in a bit of a hollow and sorta backs up to swampland. As above, we've had temps at 95+ and humidity at 80+ for the last two weeks. EVERYTHING outside gets done here before 11 or after 7, except for water refills around two-ish.
No one gets more than a two gallon bucket of water in front of them, except on my two work days. I'm finding that slimes/molds and mosquito larvae sprout within hours!! *Eeeewwww!!* I'm sure everyone (Spanky, three dogs, cat, and 20 chickens) appreciates fresh water with added electrolytes every 4-5 hours. Even with this humidity, everyone is looking good and staying frisky and alert.
My 20 chickens include:
One white-crested black Polish rooster about 14 months old. Ten twelve-week old Polish in the following colors and sexes; six buff-laced that I think are 3 pullets and 3 cockerels, two silver-laced cockerels :-( , one Tolbunt pullet (fingers crossed) and one REALLY NICE white-crested splash pullet.
Two ten-week old Japanese bantam, pullet and cockerel.
Two twelve-week old Campine (critical list Heritage breed) pullet and cockerel.
Bantam pullet and cockerel, about 7 months old. The little hen, Gretchen, started laying about a month ago. A couple weeks back, they were allowed to start free-ranging. I THOUGHT she was laying every 2-3 days. Imagine my amazement when I found her with a clutch of EIGHT eggs yesterday!! She'd laid them in a large dog crate that I had bedded in shavings, and used when I separated flocks or penned birds in while cleaning. So now I have a broody hen in this heat and humidity, setting a a great, huge PLASTIC crate. Is she going to cook to death?
? Is it possible to relocate her after dark, like I do when integrating flocks or moving them?
I don't want to take her clutch, since she's so generously shared this last month. On the other hand, I also don't want to lose her to the heat.
Gotta run for now, I've still got one outdoor chore to finish. I'll try to post Chickie Piccies this evening. ;-)