More heat

I haven't wrote in awhile so figured I better try and catch up. I hate starting out over and over about this heat, but hey it really sucks. Over 45 days of 105 degree and higher temps. It is hard on people, and real hard on my chickens also. All my pens have shade and are set up where any breeze will reach them. I change water twice a day to keep cool water in front of them. I wet down the dirt in their pens so they can scratch and peck in cool dirt. To date I have only lost 5 chickens to the heat but that is 5 too many. The old saying, only the good die young holds true with chickens also. The ones I have lost are some of my better hens. The heat has also slowed down the egg production. I am still getting eggs but not like before. I guess that don't mater to much, I am about done hatching it seems. I have a few eggs left to hatch in a borrowed incubator from a friend, but this year has been a little bit of a bust. I said I wouldn't go into much detail on the custom built incubator until I found out how well they stood behind it. Their service seems to be the same quality as their construction. If it wasn't so damn far to Marlow I would drive their and throw the worthless POS in their front yard. I sent email after email and phone message after message and they will not answer any of them. Only thing one of them answered one email and said,"everyone else seems to be happy with theirs". $385 dollars out the window. I could have bought a good used GQF for that or even 5 or 6 of the little 50 eggs hova bators and hatched alot more eggs. When it cools back down I will tear into it and see if I can do anything with it to make it more dependable.  Custom Incubators of Marlow Oklahoma. I highly do NOT recommend anyone using these guys.

I have been to 4 more chicken auctions since last posting. I have several guinea keets now, a few older guineas, some more naked neck chickens, and some very nice bantam white leghorn chickens.

 I drove to a mans house a week back and looked at some awesome fowl there. I left his place with 3 more pair of large shamo fowl that are about 4 months old.

Got 2 stags in the barred color like this one, then one black stag. All the pullets are black. But then I got a bonus. I got 2 pair and 3 trios of juvenile Ko Shamo......... From Ultimate Fowl Wikipedia
......................................................................................................................................................
The Japanese are masters in minimizing objects and living things (bonsai trees, chickens, fish) The geographical conditions in Japan promote this skill. On the main island Honshu, there is almost no space to build, except on the East coast margin, as Japan is mostly a country of hills and mountains. To enable the keeping of game fowl in very small spaces they have created the Ko Shamo, a small game breed still in possession of a game character. A trio of these birds can be kept in a space of 4 square feet. Despite these conditions fertility is excellent, as is their laying ability and hatch rate. Chicks also grow without problems, however overcrowding can lead to problems as they display their game "killer" instincts at an early age.

.......................................................................................................................................................

Weights Cock 1000g (2lb4oz) cockerel 800g (1lb12oz) Hen 800g (1lb12oz) pullet 600g 1lb6oz)

As you can see, they are small, yet very proud. What I like about them, it doesn't take large pens to house them in. My health seems to be worse, or its this heat (again with the heat). It is nice to have some birds that I can take care of with out having to carry water and feed along ways. I have these guys in some cage battery's set up in the garage where I can use fans to keep them a little cooler than the outside birds, and they are all in one spot where care is easier.