my long lost piggie...........

[Denisemomof4]

it's a blessing that he's gone. He would have NEVER survived this heat wave. I've cancelled all plans this week (have guests coming today, and I haven't slept all night! Grrrrrrrr!) and am on overtime hosing down animals, checking waters, adjusting fans, etc. I have a fan going in each stall. If Oreo were still alive, unless I was constantly out there hosing him down, even through the night, he simply could have never survived this. Even in his stall, even in the shade. Heat always caused him to collapse. I have all my animals locked up in the barn during the day, opening it up in the early evening to let them out. The stress of that alone would have caused him to collapse. My animals are not happy, but I pray they all make it through the next two days.

 

I sure do miss him, but I think it was a blessing in disguise. He had a good, short life.:crying::crying::crying:

 

I *HATE* summer. I sure do wish I could go for a hike in the woods, with SNOW on the ground, NO bugs. It's invigorating! So refreshing! Summer, summer, GO AWAY!!!

:leaving:

[BridgeTea]

Denise, Oreo's short life served a great purpose: I have been hyper vigilant trying to keep my chickens (and dog, and cat) cool enough in this weather. I think of him when I'm caring for my own critters, and I would bet I'm not alone in this. I don't know if there's a chicken version of Oreo's condition or not, but I don't want to take any chances.

 

I agree, I think Oreo's early demise spared him some miserable days in this weather. I hope you find some comfort in knowing that. :grouphug:

[Denisemomof4]

Denise, Oreo's short life served a great purpose: I have been hyper vigilant trying to keep my chickens (and dog, and cat) cool enough in this weather. I think of him when I'm caring for my own critters, and I would bet I'm not alone in this. I don't know if there's a chicken version of Oreo's condition or not, but I don't want to take any chances.

 

I agree, I think Oreo's early demise spared him some miserable days in this weather. I hope you find some comfort in knowing that. :grouphug:

 

:crying::crying::crying: Thank you, sweetie. You're right - I've been so vigilant. I'd like to think I still would have been anyway, but I've never had an animal die from heat so I'm EXTRA cautious right now.

 

I think the chickens will be fine. I never heard of them dying of heat. As long as they have water and shade........ and the dog and cat - I'd limit their time outside. I had a cat sneak out a couple of hours ago.

[Impish]

:grouphug: I missed the original post about Oreo, but I'm sorry.

 

On a side note, its odd to hear of heat waves when I'm still wearing a jacket in the ams. :001_huh:

[BridgeTea]

Yeah, the chickens always have shade but now I've added more. :) The water gets changed 4x a day right now, instead of 2x. I pulled weeds from around their run just in case it was blocking a breeze. I've even sprayed water on portions of the run to help lower the temperature. If chickens liked sprinklers, I'm sure I'd set one up for them to run through!

 

See what you've done, noble Oreo? Brought out the crazy in the internet lady, and maybe saved the lives of a bunch of stupid chickens!

[FaithManor]

I hear you Denise, on top of everything we have on our plate getting ready for three huge 4-H events, I'm at the farm twice a day to shower horses. We've come up with a good plan for the llamas....we leave a sprinkler going in the arena barn where they come and go. We find them taking turns standing in the sprinkler....it's made for some of the best farm photos yet!

 

The sheep have been shorn, and I am sure they are VERY HAPPY ABOUT THAT, and so we just have to provide a fan for them...thankfully, the breeze has been coming out of the west and they use the west end of the barn. So, we leave that barn door open and mount a fan by the door which helps pull the breeze in. We find them all congregated in front of the fan. If they weren't so ugly from being shaved, it would make a great picture too.

 

The chickens just don't seem to mind so we have a small fan circulating in their coop but they are free range during the day so we only occasionally find a chicken in front of the fan and usually it's one of the roosters. They fight over the fan and I think it has less to do with the desire to be cooled off and more with everything is a territorial argument with Cassanove and Don Juan.

 

The ducks are molting and so they are probably cooler. But, we can't keep their water pans clean because they will bathe in anything right now. So, there's feathers in their water pans even though they also have bathing pans....grrr.....I guess they'll have to drink feathers because frankly, I can no spend all day constantly changing out the water.

 

I am a spring and autumn person....I do very, very well during those seasons. I do okay in the winter....I am barely able to keep my brain functional in the heat of summer.

 

Faith

[celticmom]

I have started using a very large flower pot to provide water for my large dogs. They are rather talented at knocking over anything smaller.

 

I know someone with alpacas and I belive she provides bins or buckets full of water that they can put their feet and legs in. I think the leg fleece suffers but the animals stay happier.

[Veronica in VA]

I didn't know about Oreo - sorry. I have a rabbit outside but today he is an inside bunny. I have dogs and cats so he has to be in a closed room in the basement, but it is air conditioned. Usually I have a fan going, and the bunny gets ice water bottles, also, but this heat is just too much. At a farm a friend owns, she has all the barn fans going, and all the animals stand in front - they are not dumb!

[Pippen]

Our bunny is outside in her shaded run with fans running, plenty of water, and a big ice pack to sprawl on if needed. She also has the option of burrowing into the ground on hot days. We check on her frequently and will bring her in if it gets above the low 90's.

 

We lost a chinchilla due to heat when I was a girl so we're careful with her.

[Denisemomof4]

Yeah, the chickens always have shade but now I've added more. :) The water gets changed 4x a day right now, instead of 2x. I pulled weeds from around their run just in case it was blocking a breeze. I've even sprayed water on portions of the run to help lower the temperature. If chickens liked sprinklers, I'm sure I'd set one up for them to run through!

 

See what you've done, noble Oreo? Brought out the crazy in the internet lady, and maybe saved the lives of a bunch of stupid chickens!

 

:001_smile:

[Denisemomof4]

I hear you Denise, on top of everything we have on our plate getting ready for three huge 4-H events, I'm at the farm twice a day to shower horses. We've come up with a good plan for the llamas....we leave a sprinkler going in the arena barn where they come and go. We find them taking turns standing in the sprinkler....it's made for some of the best farm photos yet!

 

The sheep have been shorn, and I am sure they are VERY HAPPY ABOUT THAT, and so we just have to provide a fan for them...thankfully, the breeze has been coming out of the west and they use the west end of the barn. So, we leave that barn door open and mount a fan by the door which helps pull the breeze in. We find them all congregated in front of the fan. If they weren't so ugly from being shaved, it would make a great picture too.

 

The chickens just don't seem to mind so we have a small fan circulating in their coop but they are free range during the day so we only occasionally find a chicken in front of the fan and usually it's one of the roosters. They fight over the fan and I think it has less to do with the desire to be cooled off and more with everything is a territorial argument with Cassanove and Don Juan.

 

The ducks are molting and so they are probably cooler. But, we can't keep their water pans clean because they will bathe in anything right now. So, there's feathers in their water pans even though they also have bathing pans....grrr.....I guess they'll have to drink feathers because frankly, I can no spend all day constantly changing out the water.

 

I am a spring and autumn person....I do very, very well during those seasons. I do okay in the winter....I am barely able to keep my brain functional in the heat of summer.

 

Faith

 

wow! It sounds like you may have more animals than I do! We need to compare notes! What general area do you live? I'm in NH, affected severely by the heat.

 

I'm going to set up a sprinkler for the llamas. I just read about that. I think the horses may use it, too. Thanks!

[lovemywhirlygirls]

Oops! Sorry!! Meant to start a new post. Perhaps I should go to bed instead!!!

Edited July 8, 2010 by lovemywhirlygirls
posted a reply instead of starting new thread

[katemary63]

Gosh, this sounds like a nightmare. We are in AR and we often get into the triple digets in the summer here and I've never lost an animal to heat except a couple of rabbits one year. I don't even put up fans. I do provide shade and fresh water and we often hose down the pigs and horses, but not because they'll die if we don't. We do it just because they like it. In other words, I don't HAVE to go out twice a day to hose down animals. We've got 30 head of cattle, 13 horses, 15 goats, 2 pigs, a sheep, lots of ducks, chickens and rabbits and of course dogs and cats. They all do okay, although I'm sure they don't like it when it's over 100.

 

How hot is it there? I'm thinking it just must be much hotter then usual for your area? Ours must be used to the humidity and heat and aren't as negatively effected. Hope all yours make it through till it cools off.

[Denisemomof4]

Gosh, this sounds like a nightmare. We are in AR and we often get into the triple digets in the summer here and I've never lost an animal to heat except a couple of rabbits one year. I don't even put up fans. I do provide shade and fresh water and we often hose down the pigs and horses, but not because they'll die if we don't. We do it just because they like it. In other words, I don't HAVE to go out twice a day to hose down animals. We've got 30 head of cattle, 13 horses, 15 goats, 2 pigs, a sheep, lots of ducks, chickens and rabbits and of course dogs and cats. They all do okay, although I'm sure they don't like it when it's over 100.

 

How hot is it there? I'm thinking it just must be much hotter then usual for your area? Ours must be used to the humidity and heat and aren't as negatively effected. Hope all yours make it through till it cools off.

 

My you have a lot of animals! LOVE it!!!

 

It's 90 and extremely humid, but it was 100 a couple of days ago. Record breaking temps and extremely high humidity. I read that llamas don't do well because of humidity. I think they're pretty tolerant of the heat.

 

I'm just hypervigilant right now because I lost the one pig, but I'm quite certain that he had PSS. After reading about it I feel convinced. Still, I'm scared of losing another! I cancelled all plans for the week, other than driving the kids to their friends, or having friends over, so I can be here to catch and help an animal in distress, should that happen.