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

[PoultryPedia]

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Sounds like so much chicken fun!!
Maybe you could also add a ramp inside the pool so they can climb out when they want as well as for safety, and add a ramp outside the pool for them to climb up that joins with the inside ramp. Kinda like providing free swimming passes

 

[revolutionarygardens]

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I love it!

 

[Gwyllion]

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A little bit off topic but this reminded me so I had to share. Last September on labor day I went into labor to have my twins and the following day while we were in the hospital it positively poured. The hospital had leaks all over the place and trees down and such. It was crazy. In the afternoon John (hubby) went home to check on my chickens and got quite a shock. The base of our run is made up of 2x6s flush with the ground and it had filled up to the top with water (so 6" of water) and our chickens were floating around in it like ducks. I wish John had thought to take a picture, but he panicked and frantically dug a hole to let the water drain. Being new chicken owners neither of us had even realized that chickens could swim!

 

[Mama_Bear]

We never expected this kind of heat when we decided to try to keep chickens. We started freezing milk jugs and placing them on the top of the coop in the afternoons to create a cooler patch of ground for them as the ice melts and drips to the ground.

Sometimes they walk under the drip, mostly they like to scratch around the cooler dirt. I also started tossing them a handful of frozen peas and cool vegetables in the afternoons. We're lucky we have a decent amount of shade in our yard; but this heatwave this summer has been the worst I can remember.

 

[groundpecker]

I live in an area that has many commercial chicken farms. I went to the local commercial chicken supply store and bought "a fogger setup". This system uses a fine mist of water that lands on the birds and helps keep them cool. My chickens are panting very little, and i have not lost a bird in 2 days "when i installed it". Before installing i was losing at least one chicken a day and even lost 9 in one day, the past month. It is made of 1/2 inch pvc pipe, fittings, and fogger nipples, that hooks up to a water hose. It cost less than $10 for the whole setup.

 

[jjthink]

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Yikes, that is awful

JJ

 

[kpsullivan]

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My birds LOVE frozen peas!

 

[nikchic]

I have one of those personal misters set up, and the chickens were all afraid of it for a few days. Now they love it! They will go stand under the mist for a while and get all wet, then wander off. It also makes the corner of their coop wet, and they go dust bathe in the damp sand. It's aimed so half of the mist is in the run, and the other half is in the end of their coop. When we first put it in and they were afraid, we put it about 6 feet from their coop. Once they started acting like it was part of the scenery, we moved it closer.

Before that, I was just spraying down the coop and the shade cloth every couple of hours ... this works better

Where do you get a personal mister? Do you just have it running all day long?

 

[roostersandhens]

This is what I do when it's hot, I put ice in my chickens water, I make sure they have access to shade, and I fan them with a battery powered fan.

 

[redrstr29]

I need to get that battery fan !! We just hit 95 in ct today and the girls are hotttt!! wings low and pating, I gave them layermash mixed with ice water....lol... and put ice in their waterer!