Monday, August 6, 2012

Surviving the Texas Summer

This spring, we bought some Black Copper Marans chicks. This breed of bird lays very dark brown, chocolate-colored eggs, which I thought would be a nice contrast to the pretty blue and green eggs that our Americaunas produce.

Black Copper Marans is apparently a rare breed and I was happy to have found someone local who had a lot of them for sale. They are black with red/copper coloring on their head and feathered legs. We picked out 10 and took them home to add to our flock.

Since then, they've been dying off one-by-one and only 3 pullets remain. I'm not sure whether they are sensitive to the heat or there is something genetically wrong in the line that's causing their early demise.

Today, I removed the 3 survivors from the hen yard and brought them to my office building to stay cool while it's over 100 degrees outside. I also brought down my Naked Neck pullet who is limping and seems to have a broken wing or leg.

We're all trying to stay cool here while the temperature soars with no end in sight in the forecast.


No comments:

Post a Comment