I was in Brooklyn, NY yesterday, dropping my son off at a summer program. The forecast was for 100 degree temperatures. It was slow going, moving him into a dorm. The air had a physical presence – like an unseen character in a sci-fi movie. I had parked in the sun near a grassy common. After lunch, I said my goodbyes and turned on the car. It’s outside thermometer (which is always accurate) read 108 degrees. I had to pour water on the steering wheel to make it cool enough to touch. I headed out of the city, watching the temperature gauge, thinking it’d go down now that the car wasn’t baking on pavement. I got on the Bronx-Queens Expressway. Overheated vehicles were in the breakdown lane, their owners squinting in the sun, waiting for help. My car’s outside thermometer read 109 (Fahrenheit, that’s 42.7 C.) I did not want to be in one of those stalled cars. It’s never relaxing driving out of NYC, but this time it was scary. Far out of the city, in Connecticut, the thermometer remained in the triple digits. I knew things were bad when I saw ten tractor trailers, pulled off and parked in shade on the side of I-84. I kept going. I texted my husband from the rest stops. How are the animals? Steve was home and doing all the right things. Everyone was fine- but it required effort and attention.

People often ask me about how chickens handle the cold here in New England. I always respond, it’s not freezing temps you have to worry about, but the heat. Chickens don’t die from snow, but they do die of heat stroke. However, they can handle high heat if you manage their housing right.

The HenCam coop doesn’t have cross-ventilation, so I’ve put in a box fan, facing the nesting boxes. Here’s Lulu, cooling her bottom in the fan’s breeze.

Coops should be sited so that some of the run is in the shade. Chickens will scratch out a depression in the dirt to lie in to stay cool. Of course, they need water. If the chickens are hunkered down in the shade, they won’t want to cross a hot, sunny dirt patch to get to water.  So, have a source of cool water nearby. One trick is to fill half the waterer, freeze it, and then top off with water before setting out. Or, simply fill with ice cubes and water.

If your coop is in the sun, you might want to hose it off. I know poultry people in Texas who keep a mister in the run during the hottest days of the summer. Evaporation lowers the air temperature, and the water keeps the dirt damp and cool.

Give your chickens plenty of leafy greens. Reduce the amount of scratch corn – which raises body temperature (good in the winter, bad in the heat.)

Heat-stressed chickens pant, and I think they have panicked looks in their eyes. If your hen goes limp, quickly get it somewhere cool. Immerse her in a tub of cool water. She might just survive. But, your best bet is preventative, by making sure there’s drinking water and damp dirt in the shade.

Rabbits suffer heat stroke, too. They’ll die suddenly, before you have a chance to help. When I saw the forecast for humid weather in the high-90’s, I set up a rabbit hutch indoors, and brought her in on Monday morning. Candy misses hopping around outside, but I think she’s enjoying the change of scenery. Candy will be back outside when this dangerous heatwave is over, which should be by Friday.

Meanwhile, the air conditioner in my son’s dorm room broke, but he’ll have to deal with that on his own.

The goats loved to be groomed with a stiff horse brush. They would like to sit in my lap when I brush them. Too bad they don’t fit.

This weekend, the weather and the light was just so, and I was stopped in my tracks by this:

Here is what made the shadow:

This has been an especially hot early summer. Usually, I don’t do well in the heat, but it’s also been quite rainy, with storms pushing through and leaving sunny and clear, breezy days. Glorious, really. Perfect garden weather. Except for the peas. I ate my first snap peas yesterday. Delicious, but there won’t be many of them. Peas need a cool spring in order to produce.

Lettuce is also a cool-weather crop. This is the last of my spring planting. I’ve sown a variety that is supposed to tolerate summer’s heat. It’s not up yet, but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to have lettuce until the first frost. One never knows.

The zucchini love the heat and the rain. I think there will be a bumper crop. I’ll be freezing vegetable stew to eat this winter.

Flowers are in full-bloom. This is the clematis decorating the vegetable garden’s fence.

The hydrangeas have done especially well this year. Although the blue hydrangea’s blooms aren’t as large as usual, it’s making up for it with quantity.

I love the colors of this one. It turns from lime green to pink.

But my favorites are the naturalized oak leaf hydrangeas. They’re the perfect plant for a woodland border.

The goats have been eyeing them. Pip tells me that they need pruning.

I tell him that the hydrangeas are not on his menu, but that he can browse on the black raspberries after the harvest.

I’m hoping he’ll wait.

I’ve had chickens for over fifteen years, and yet they still confound me! I think I know what I’m doing, and then I get that one bird, doing that one, odd thing, and I scramble around for answers. Readers of this blog ask me for advice. I know the answers to some, but not all of your queries. When that happens, the first thing that I do is check my shelf of  chicken keeping books, which includes the standard by Gail Damerow, and new references by Christine Heinrichs and others (see my site chickenkeeping.com for more details.) There isn’t one book that covers everything. I have a collection of vintage books, from a time when farmers kept free-range poultry of various breeds, and before the advent of miracle drugs. They often have the best information.

There are two new books on the market with similar titles – Raising Chickens For Dummies by Willis and Ludlow, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Raising Chickens by Belanger. Belanger has been a self-sufficient farmer from way back. His book reflects his practical, lifelong knowledge. The perspective is from someone who raises chickens with a purpose. There’s an excellent section on culling and butchering. Ludlow’s book reflects the newer crop of chicken keepers. He writes about meat birds, but also about layers and hens as pets. I have some quibbles about the details in his book (for example, the section on lice is incomplete.) Neither address the issues of broodiness that we’ve been discussing on this blog. Neither have comprehensive illustrations. But, both books are useful. Of the two, Belanger’s book is a good starting point for the new chicken keeper.

After looking through my library, I’ll do a web search, with, as with all web searches, a hefty dose of skepticism. There are chicken forums on the web, like BYC. It’s a great community, and there’s some good advice, but there’s also a lot of guess work and erroneous information being dispensed. Some of the state agriculture commissions have useful information. On the other hand, some are geared to commercial farmers, and the advice is wrong for the backyard keeper. I’ve got an annotated list of some good sites on chickenkeeping.com.

Ultimately, I take what I’ve gathered and make my own conclusions. I keep chickens for eggs, but also for pets. My hens are individuals to me, and each one is valuable. I’m not breeding for show, and I’m not a farmer worried about one ill animal destroying a flock of 10,000. I don’t eat my birds (but would if I had a rooster to dispense.) In short, I have my own perspective. After years of being around these animals (and, going way back, to getting a BS in animal science from UNH) I have an ability to cut through the masses of information out there and find the bits that work for me and my hens.

I’ve learned so much from my readers! I learn from what you know and what you don’t. Asking me questions gets me to delve deeper into the resources I have, and to find more. It makes me more observant. One of the pleasures of backyard chicken keeping is getting to know the animals in my care. The more you ask, the more I see.

So, what question haven’t I answered yet?

(BTW, I’ve got FAQs here. I need to add to them. Broodiness is next! What else?)