My chooks are fretting, so I have soaked the soil beneath their favourite tree for them to lay on cool ground, changed their drinking water every two hours and added iceblock (see bottom photo) to keep it cool for longer. They have had water sprayed on them to help keep their body temperature manageable. Still they puff and pant with the soaring temperatures. Then there is Snake our cat (no longer the sweet kitten) who is absolutely panting with heat stress. We have bathed him twice and he is now laying on a tray with a wet bath mat in an attempt to combat dehydration. Although he is weaned, I even resorted to giving him some electrolytes in a bottle just to boost his hydration.
Meanwhile, inside the house I am melting with no airconditioning. Don't really like or believe they should be used if some more natural alternative is available. So I have a large beach towel over the back door and continually wet it to make the breaze that comes in cooler. A bit like an old coolgardie safe that my grandmother had for her meat in the old days. I have a Chilli Band around my neck, they are wonderful for reducing personal heat stress and am only glad I had a few left from my original sale stock. I originally designed these and began production back in the early 1990s, have sold so many lost count and if it wasn't so hot would be at the production table right now to make a heap for this season. (perhaps when it cools a little)
Whilst all this goes on, parts of QLD and Victoria are still going through the recovery process from floods as the second of two cyclones is due to collide with the QLD coast and there are fires raging across NSW.
Yes, we are a resilient lot us Aussies, no doubt.
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