105 degrees

I am new to chickens but ..for rabbits we freeze a big water bottle and then set that out in their shady part of their pen for them to lay against. I wonder if chickens would do the same?

Quote:

Originally Posted by PuffyChick 

I am new to chickens but ..for rabbits we freeze a big water bottle and then set that out in their shady part of their pen for them to lay against. I wonder if chickens would do the same?

I have seen were people do similar for chickens.... go suggestion. 

Put ice in their water, pans of water to walk in......  ice in that too would not hurt.  Good luck!  Sorry for you loss.

I feel bad for you so I am just tossing ideas out.

Plus I am scared of the heat issue myself once my girls are big enough to be in their pen.

Can you maybe rig a small fan out in their pen to give them so air flow?

Here's what we have done for the extreme heat in Texas and it works very well...  

I was loosing chickens also last year due to the heat since some days it got up to 110 degrees.  We went to Lowe's and bought some of the misters that people use on decks and you sometimes see them at restaurants that have eating outside.  You can buy the kits for about $25.00 or you can buy some PVC pipe and just purchase the misters separate, which is what we did.  We ran a row of PVC pipe over their run far enough away from their food so that it wouldn't get damp.  We drilled holes in the PVC pipe big enough to insert the little misters and then put an end cap on one end and threaded a PVC joint that will allow you to hook up your garden hose to it (the sales representative can help you there).  Then we just turned on the water hose (VERY VERY LOW).  Just enough pressure to give you a mist coming out.  It will drop the temperature in the run by 10 degrees definitely!  My chickens at first were scared of it, but I just left it on and when they got use to it, they eventually went and laid down under the mist during the hottest part of the day.

I have also put water in those little plastic kiddie pools and put ice cubes in it.  Some chickens will get in it and other won't.  If you start them out with it at a young age and they start to drink out of it....they will eventually get in it.

I have also frozen 2 liter bottles in the freezer and put that in their 10 gallon waterers to help cool the water.

Also, if you'll get some sand and put in the run and keep that wet....they will lay down in it too!

Hope those ideas help.  The misters are what worked the best for us and didn't cost a fortune in the water bill!

Last year the heat index got pretty high here, and I lost one old gal to heat stroke, and one I had spray down with cold water because she was on the verge. After that, I froze a ton of treats (watermelons and lettuce mainly) Every few hours, I would go out and give them some of it. I cut the pieces small enough so that they could just swallow it whole. I think it did a pretty good job of lowering their body temperature fast. I also froze some water bottles and dropped them in their water container.

For my location, it does not get that hot that often, so I did not invest in anything. If your temp gets that high regularly, you might want to invest in the misters. Also, consider getting a shade cloth to attach to the run. If you make a section that is completely shaded, and then use that area for the misters, I don't think you will have any problems.

Make sure they have some deep shade and plenty of dirt. They like to dig holes and get dirt in their feathers not only to keep mites off but it seems to keep them a little cooler laying in the shady dirt. You could also run the hose in part of their pen or use some shallow dishpans if you can't get a whole pool into there. I agree with the cold treats. I tried using a mister here but with the humidity so high already they didn't really seem to like the misters and I think it just ends up leading to other fungal type problems in our Florida environment . 

So your chickens liked the sprinkler? I sprayed mine gently the other day and they ran!!