How to keep chickens cool in the desert

[Heather_hodgin]

Hey all! I'm not sure if I am posting this thread in the right place. If not I'm sorry! Okay all, I live in the high desert, and yesterday it was 103, and one of my girls got heat stroke. Ive had chickens for 5 years now, and have done many things to keep them cool. Fans, misters, sprinklers, spraying down the ground in their pens, etc. Ice bottles, frozen treats.

I was wondering if anyone else had advice. Their cages are shaded or they have sail shades. Thoughts?

We cooled the hen down last night with water and Pedialyte and put her in the utility room in a crate where she could be cool.

 

[azygous]

Have you tried ice cubes as a recreational treat? This works very well to cool chickens. They scratch in the ice cubes in a flat shallow pan and that cools their bodies, and they drink the ice melt for hours which cools them internally.

Understand that while excessive heat is very hard on chickens, it's even harder on them to adjust to rapid temperature extremes in either direction. Therefore, when you retire a heat sick chicken to a cooler place, care needs to be given to the temperature spread between that cool place and the outdoor temp. Either avoid the extreme temperature spread or gradually bring the temperature back up to match the outdoor temp the chicken is returning to after the cool down.

 

[Heather_hodgin]

Have you tried ice cubes as a recreational treat? This works very well to cool chickens. They scratch in the ice cubes in a flat shallow pan and that cools their bodies, and they drink the ice melt for hours which cools them internally.

Understand that while excessive heat is very hard on chickens, it's even harder on them to adjust to rapid temperature extremes in either direction. Therefore, when you retire a heat sick chicken to a cooler place, care needs to be given to the temperature spread between that cool place and the outdoor temp. Either avoid the extreme temperature spread or gradually bring the temperature back up to match the outdoor temp the chicken is returning to after the cool down.

Thank you

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

I agree that the transition period between seasons seems to be harder than the actual high temps (at least for my little flock). My birds really like the masonry tub with a few inches of water in it + a few bricks to stand on. They also like to lay under shrubs where the drip emitter has moistened the soil, so I run the timer a bit before I let them out.