Full Quiver Farm Blog

Yesterday we fought against the terrible heat, 101 (heat index 110!!!!) In this type of weather we start losing animals, immediate steps must be taken to cool them down, we spent most of the day outside tending to the them. Water and shade are two of the biggest factors in keeping the animals cool enough, they don't eat as much in the hot weather, but constant water is a must! For the broilers and layers we set up a sprinkler system which is suspended from the roof of the pen and sprays a low steady spray of water around their shelter.





For the turkey poults and pullet chicks we set up fan in front of their doors, they like to gather in front of the fan to cool off.







The cows got a sprinkler too!





Today was not so hot, though we still turned on the sprinklers, if the birds are panting, we turn the sprinklers on. We processed some broilers and we also integrated the older pullets in with the layers, clipped wings and banded their legs with color coded bands so we can tell the ages of the different ones, (as they're all the same color!) As I mentioned in earlier posts, we've had fox trouble so Dad counted the pullets as he put them in with the layers, we started out originally with 200, we are now down to 135! This means war with Mr. Fox!!! We're thinking up different ways to get them, as hunting and trapping have as yet, been unsuccessful. We might try a fox caller........ Any suggestions?:)

-Morgan