How do you help your flock with heat?

[Driley62]

How does everyone help their flocks beat the heat?

I found a way of taking a 60 cent bag of frozen veggies and freezing it in a bowl of water and giving it to them to peck away and eat the veggies!

Anyone else have any nifty ideas?

 

[Carol1463]

How does everyone help their flocks beat the heat?

I found a way of taking a 60 cent bag of frozen veggies and freezing it in a bowl of water and giving it to them to peck away and eat the veggies!

Anyone else have any nifty ideas?

I soak sunflower seeds in ice water . They gobble up water & seeds, or give watermelon & canalope ? Put ice bottles in their water

 

[Driley62]

I soak sunflower seeds in ice water . They gobble up water & seeds, or give watermelon & canalope ? Put ice bottles in their water

Both fantastic ideas! This post is more so for EVERYONE to get all sorts of ideas to change it up from time to time!

 

[K0k0shka]

I dump a large bucket of cold water in their run to make a puddle. They love sloshing around in it and scratching through the damp bedding after the water soaks in. It cools their feet. I've tried the sled method (where you fill a plastic sled with water for them to walk in), but they wouldn't step in it. I tried other wide shallow containers (tray, large planter dish), but they don't like any of them. If the water is directly on the ground though, they love it. So now I do that instead. And then the usuals - ice in their waterer, refrigerated watermelon, etc.

 

[K0k0shka]

P.S. I always dump the water in the same spot, so the water soaks in deep and the soil stays moist underneath even if the top layer dries up. The chickens know this and love digging deep trenches in that area to reach the cool damp dirt underneath, and then they lie in the cool trench. The rest of the run can get quite dry and they dust bathe there, but they love their cool damp trenches when it's hot!

 

[JCinNM]

It’s 107 here today. I am very familiar with keeping the kids cool.

• A/C in coop to keep coop around 80F if possible.
• Large frozen ice blocks with fruit, veg, scratch, all flock pellets. The pellets seem to be the favorite.
• Foot bath pans made of XL pot saucers and food pans for dogs, goats, etc. They LOVE to stand in the water to cool off. Some even squat to put their belly in the water!
• Frozen jugs of water. Place under favorite bush, in foot bath pans, coop floor. Change twice a day.
• Frozen melon rinds in foot baths
• Spray and soak run to try to cool things down. But sometimes this will only make it muggy. And spraying water sometimes causes stress.
• Keep them calm and prevent stress and running.
• If someone seems overly stressed by the heat I have blankets and towels that I wet down before putting in the freezer. I take those to the coop and cover with a towel so they can lay on them. Or I make a lean-to for them to go inside/under for a bit.
• If all else fails they can come inside the house and watch a movie. They prefer Chicken Run, Chicken Little, and Barnyard.

 

[El Paso Linda]

I soak sunflower seeds in ice water . They gobble up water & seeds, or give watermelon & canalope ? Put ice bottles in their water

My Silkies have free range of my back yard. They go into the dirt area next to the fenced garden and dig a hole and nestle into it to keep cool. I also have a slow drip coming out of the outdoor faucet that they drink from. The drip also makes a small puddle and they lay on the cool ground in the shade.

 

[parvani]

Our chickens have nipple waterers because when we gave them open pans, they'd dunk their heads, splash around, and walk in them.

But that's just what they need to do today and tomorrow when it's expected to get to 113F. Their coop doors are wide open, and they all have jumbo dishpans full of cold water... plus, of course, clean water they can drink from their nipples if they want.

I figure the dangers of drinking dirty water are nowhere near as acute as the danger of heat prostration this week. We'll just change the water once or twice a day, or as often as we ourselves can stand to be out in the heat.

 

[Huntmaster]

It was hot and humid early here this morning so I picked some large zucchinis and froze them. Gave them to my turkeys this afternoon when it was really hot. They really went to town on them. They all stopped panting after that so I know it gave them some relief.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I just make sure they have access to plenty of water. Other than that they are in their own. Mine usually go into the woods on really hot days for the shade.