It’s June in Sacramento
That means triple-digit heat–108 degrees Fahrenheit to be exact.
Yes. That’s right. Our neighborhood hit a high of 108 degrees on Sunday. Did I also mention that our air condition is broken?
We have one small swamp cooler for the family room. Unfortunately, the cool air makes it about, oh, ten feet before dissipating. Even though we closed all the blinds and turned on all ceiling fans, it became so hot inside the house that we moved our bedding and have slept under the swamp cooler for the last few nights. Just for fun, we measured the temperature inside the house. It topped 90 degrees.
Animal Cooling Systems Don’t Work When It’s 108 Degrees
Both the S.O. and I were miserable, but at least we could sweat. All The Dog has to cool his 75 lbs is a tongue about the size of a hotdog and the small sweat pads on his feet. At least The Dog could be inside the house with us, panting in 90 degree heat instead of 108 degree heat; the chickens were not so lucky.
Chickens have an even worse cooling system than dogs–an itty, bitty tongue that’s not meant to pant. They can also elevate their wings to allow greater air circulation, stay in the shade, drink lots of water, and dig themselves a hole to rest their undersides against cooler dirt. Our backyard chickens did all of the above, but in 108 degrees it’s not enough–our girls were panting like crazy by mid-morning. We needed to take action.
The Garden Hose and The Dog
The S.O. turned on the hose until it ran cold. I went into the chicken area, pointed at the first victim and told The Dog, “Get the chicken!”
The Dog happily obliged. He chased the panting offender into a corner (in this case, Wanda) and gently pinned her to the ground between his chest and paws until I could pick her up. Don’t ask me how we trained him to do that, because we didn’t, at least not actively. I’d played around with coaching him to ‘herd’ the chickens, but nothing too serious. I can’t remember how or when he figured out how to pin them to the ground (and that he’s only allowed to do it on command). One day he just knew.
Let me tell you, in 108 degree heat that trick sure comes in handy–no sweat and no foolish backyard chasing is fine with me. Well, there was still sweating, but that was just cause I was alive and breathing.
Anyways, I took Wanda from The Dog, pinned her wings to her body so she couldn’t flap away, and then the S.O. doused her with the hose. Once we thoroughly soaked her and offended all her sensibilities, we let her loose. She flapped and sprayed us with a bunch of water, then calmly went back to scratching through the dirt, sans panting.
I called The Dog to pin Flo next, and then Frida last. By the time it was all over, the chickens were soaked and so were the S.O., The Dog and myself. We repeated the procedure once more in the afternoon.
There are other ways to keep your chickens cool in the heat, but in a pinch a garden hose is a great way to keep your chickens alive to lay another day.
Wet Chickens
Have you ever wondered what soaking a chicken with a garden hose looks like? Well, you’ll have to wonder a little longer because it was too hot to bother with a camera. Maybe next time.
