How to keep chickens cool in the heat. Tips wanted!

[Merryment]

I make sure the gals have a little mud wallow along the edge of their run, and a fan with a bag of 4 Blue Ice blocks in front of that, and a block of ice in their waterer. The other coop gets that, plus a white drop cloth over the run with a little sprinkle running on very low on top. It soaks the cloth, gives a little evaporative cooling, and there's usually a bit of a puddle in one corner that they like to use.That runis on the sunnier side of the house. Everyone gets let out at 4 pm when I get home to roam around in the shade and drink their waterer with chicken gatorade, plus frozen over-sized squash and cukes from the garden. They're miserable - our temperature today is going ot be 111, and 113 tomorrow, plus humidity and heat index.

I don't think I'm being soft on them so much as being a good steward to them by making a bad situation more tolerable. It takes me a little more time in the morning, maybe 10 minutes, and about the same amount of time in the afternoon. Doesn't cost much either, a little water and some box fans don't consume much. My folks grew up in the Depression dust bowl days; they didn't have A/C or even swamp coolers, but they'd put a block of ice in front of a fan, which their Neanderthal ancestors didn't have. And you can bet that they used an A/C once they had one. Fewer old folks and babies and hard working folks die if they can access that coolness for part of the day. If I can provide a small measure of comfort for the chooks so that none of them die, then I feel I've raised them with the respect and dignity all animals deserve. (stepping off of soap box now)

 

[heather15]

See if you can keep your water about 10 degrees cooler than the weather. I freeze ice in old ice cream containers and add it a couple of times a day. I can see the difference in the amount of water that they drink. Also. provide a place where they can take a dust bath. Just a hollowed out trough in the dirt. The dust absorbs oil in their feathers and allows them to fluff which cools them. You will probably see them doing this on their own if they can find a place.

Be careful about using a fan because the dust from a coop can get in the fan and become a fire hazard.

 

[Gwyllion]

I'm here in DFW, TX as well and while I'm sure chickens do fine in hot weather the majority of places this heat does a number on anything. The last 2 days have been brutal, getting up to 110 in many places around the metroplex and I've lost 4 chickens in the past 2 days. It seems in my personal flock that they can deal with anything under about 104 without any extra help from me but above that we start seeing problems. On the advice I've picked up on this and other threads I'm planning on setting up a "chicken beach" in my run tonight under the cover of the cool darkness. I've got a raised garden bed that I'm insulating with a bit of styrofoam then installing and filling with sand. I'm going to half bury some frozen water jugs in the sand and set up a mister nearby. My birds don't seem to like getting sprayed down but seem to love to dustbathe in moist dirt so I'm thinking this will work nicely.

 

[CrestedGirl]

Quote:
I'm so sorry about your losses

, I am gonna try that idea of yours

, we lost one of our Cochins today due to the heat

so far we have lost 3 this week to the heat, I can't believe u lost 4 in 2 days

 

[Gwyllion]

Quote:
We hadn't lost any until the 25th of July. That day the temp jumped up to 108 in my area and I lost 3. Then yesterday I lost one and one was in bad shape. Kinda wobbly on his feet. I kept him inside today and he's doing fine now. Then about 6p when I went to go check on them I had 3 more dead and one more wobbly. He seems to have recovered fine as well so hopefully with the coop modifications we wont have any more losses. I'm so sick of this heat. We are now on day 32 of over 100* temps and our window ac units are just not keeping up. We are all miserable.

 

[revolutionarygardens]

I'm so sorry to everyone who has lost chickens. This heatwave is brutal, and there's no end in sight...Yesterday the forecast said that today would be 115 in my area. They've downgraded it this morning to 109. I never thought I would see the day that I was hoping for 109!

crevecoeurcrazy63--please report back on how the "chicken beach" turns out. It sounds like a great idea.

Everyone keep posting tips!

 

[stilldeb]

Hotter than *&^% here in KY, too. Been doing everything I can think of to keep my chooks cool. Fresh cool water with ice in it, frozen bottles, reflective tarps, lots of shade. I spray the tops of the runs and trees and let it "rain", too. The ones that don't like to be misted don't mind the rain from the covered run or the trees for some reason. I did get some of them to walk into the mist by just lightly spraying it and calling them. Once they got into it, it was like, "hey, this is niiiiiiice". Especially my big Silkie roo, he just looks so hot with all that fluff. Going to try the pans of water for them to play in today. Hadn't tried that one. Thinking my Sultans will like that one - bet they won't stay white for long!

deb g

 

[OKGlocker]

Here in NE Oklahoma we have been above 100 degrees for the last month, with the last week hovering between 108 to 112...
Forecast for today says a high of 115... Whew!
Chickens and guineas are panting pretty good, but seem to be holding up OK...
My coop is totally open on the north and south sides and a pretty consistent south wind blows through the coop and run, so that helps... I set up a personal mister in the coop, and the guineas were the first to try it out... The chickens werent quite so receptive, but when they saw the guineas enjoying it, they moved over to give it try...

Karl

Great thread!

 

[rungirl]

My chickens free range during the day and they found the coolest place to hang out is under the big bushes. The foliage just keeps it naturally cooler and the ground is cool and damp under there. I put a big pan of water out next to the bushes so they don't have to leave their little oasis to get a drink and I water the ground around the area to keep it cool. They still go back to the coop to lay and roost. Inside the coop I run a box fan at night, but first thing in the morning they head to the bush and don't come out until evening.

I've lost 2 meat birds in the heat, but they had to stay in a pen and even though they had shade, a fan and got misted, it was still hot for them. I think the solution to that is just to raise the meat birds earlier in the summer so they don't have to deal with the heat.

Lisa

 

[babalubird]

I appreciate this thread too. I'm in Central TX, also faced 63 days over 100, supposed to be 109 or 110 today. I guess I'm lucky--haven't lost any in the coop yet, but now you all got me scared. I'm new to chickens and have quite an investment in them.

We painted our metal chicken shack with bright white Rustoleum paint. I think bright white makes anything somewhat cooler because it helps reflect heat. It is however still pretty warm in there, just not as warm as out in the sun. They are still panting pretty good. I hope to insulate it with some papercrete soon provided it stays in place and doesn't collapse whenver we move the chicken shack. It's built on skids to be moveable and that part I'm not sure of, if it won't vibrate off and kill some birds.

Our chicken tractor is pretty big, which probably helps too, 14x16. It is wire only on one end to allow for good ventillation as well as the top 6 inches on the other end for cross ventilation to help move the heat out.

I've noticed whenever the ducks splash water out and muddy the ground a bit, the chickens like to lay in that to cool off a bit, so spraying the floor a little is probably a good idea.

Thanks for starting this thread.