Hot Weather Disaster, Huge Loss

Well it started out as a promising day. Until disaster struck for the broilers that is. We went to Moorefield about 11 AM to deliver a produce order. Then we had a nice lunch at Aroma's Coffeehouse. The broilers were watered, feeders full, they were frolicking on fresh grass etc. when we left. Our weather had been cool, damp and rain for about a week. Today that changed radically. In Moorefield, the bank sign said 100 degrees, our truck thermometer said 97 degrees. Our weather station said our max temp was 92.7. After the recent rains, the heat and humidity were pretty stifling combination. Anyway, we knew the birds were overcrowded in the single hoop pen even though they forage inside the electronet fence. What happened is that they all went inside the pen seeking shade and their bunching behavior fatally overheated them and also they trampled each other. The Cornish cross bird really bunches up badly when they are distressed in any way. And there was not adequate shade inside the hoop pen for all. Around the back of the pen, there was more shade, but they did not go there. They also would not walk back into the sun to get any water. The total dead was 42 birds. A catastrophic loss. No count of the living but I did move 20 birds to the Salatin pen which leaves about 60 birds or so in the hoop pen. The hoop pen has handled 50 birds just fine so it now a more normal # of birds in that pen/fence arrangement. We rigged up an additional sun shade tarp off the side of the pen for tomorrow as its supposed to be very hot again tomorrow. I expect some losses again tomorrow but hopefully not in the catastrophic range. These are probably the kind of days that make people give up farming as they have consumed almost 7 weeks of their of their 8 weeks worth of feed. At 5 pounds per bird that's 210 pounds of meat lost and $630 worth of revenue lost from the batch today. A very bad day indeed.