keeping chickens cool in summer heat

[Joan71]

Love your AC. My SIL will really laugh.

 

[yarnchick]

Last night I gave my chickens a pan of small chunk watermelon. Cold of course as it was so hot here. They loved it and so did Gertie my goat. I have several tubs of water in the lot for them but I love you idea of frozen water bottle. Will give that a try.DL

 

[Harborview Hens]

My "redneck" cooler is working great. As long as my commercial ice maker keeps cranking out ice, my chickens will be ok. Also put frozen bottles of water with the ice. Got the system going well. Thanks 2manychickenz, if it wasn't for you my girls would be suffering. Who would have thought that Long Island would be in the high 90's to 100's!!!!!

 

[Joan71]

Our rain has slowed down some, still thunderstorms nearly every afternoon. Humid and Hot the rest of the day. Thanks to all of the good ideas and suggestions, I was able to get my girls more comfortable. I placed frozen 16oz drink bottles in their big metal waterer to help keep the water cool. Placed frozen 2 liter drink bottles, in several areas around their pen/run. It made a great big difference. I haven't seem any panting since I made the changes. I took the top to an old bird bath, placed it in one of their holes they had dug and filled it with water. They love it. I watched them walking around and through it this morning.

I started misting their yard around 1 or 2 pm when the heat starts to build up. I removed part of the straw on the ground so the ground would stay cooler after misting it down. The ground and straw are dry by evening so there won't be an mildew. Placed a box fan outside of their pen on medium so to help blow some of the heat out from the under the tarp that covers their pen. Happy girls outside today. Good luck.

 

[remisophy]

also putting ice or a frozen bottle of water in their water helps too

 

[Joan71]

Update on coping with the heat. I placed an old bird bath bowl in their play area and filled it with water. They love it. They get in and out as they want. It gets a little muddy, but they are staying cooler. One of them put her apple piece in the water the other evening and was trying to fish it out. It looked like she was bobbing for the apple. Very cute, we had a good laugh. Planning to add sand to one of their runs. Folks on here explained how much cleaner it would keep the run. I will be able to mist the run, the sand will get damp and the chicks will love the cool ground.

Hope you all have happy chicks. The cooling changes I have made has helped them start laying and they are regular each day.
Thanks. J

 

[TJPENN]

I'm in Greenville, TX so I guess we are neighbors. For those in 100+ degree weather, what are the danger signs you watch for? Everyone is panting; including me, so how do you know when the chickens are reaching a critically overheated stage? We could fry our eggs on the sidewalk today!

 

[MarcoPollo]

I'm in Greenville, TX so I guess we are neighbors. For those in 100+ degree weather, what are the danger signs you watch for? Everyone is panting; including me, so how do you know when the chickens are reaching a critically overheated stage? We could fry our eggs on the sidewalk today!

Panting, having watery poops, and holding their wings away from their body are some ways that chickens try to cope with hot weather. Extreme lethargy and collapse, of course, are an emergency. My chickens still pant when they have ice blocks that they sit next to or they still hold out their wings when they are right by the fan. Sometimes if a chicken is all of a sudden cooperative with being held, then you will know something is wrong. I've noticed too that their "cluck" won't work when they are panting too hard (sounds like they are in panic mode). I had one chicken out in the garden one day, and she would not go under the shaded area. The sun came out and I checked on her a few minutes later and she was clearly panicked. She was panting excessively and kind of croaking instead of clucking. I got her to shade and she went back to "normal" panting shortly thereafter. I am amazed at how well chickens do in cold weather - it's the hot weather that concerns me the most! I'm in MS, and the 100+ temp is brutal, so I know how it is. Keep the cooling options available to them and they should be ok. Panting is normal during hot weather, but you will most likely be able to tell when the rapidity of it means danger.

 

[KilnChick]

Panting, having watery poops, and holding their wings away from their body are some ways that chickens try to cope with hot weather. Extreme lethargy and collapse, of course, are an emergency. My chickens still pant when they have ice blocks that they sit next to or they still hold out their wings when they are right by the fan. Sometimes if a chicken is all of a sudden cooperative with being held, then you will know something is wrong. I've noticed too that their "cluck" won't work when they are panting too hard (sounds like they are in panic mode). I had one chicken out in the garden one day, and she would not go under the shaded area. The sun came out and I checked on her a few minutes later and she was clearly panicked. She was panting excessively and kind of croaking instead of clucking. I got her to shade and she went back to "normal" panting shortly thereafter. I am amazed at how well chickens do in cold weather - it's the hot weather that concerns me the most! I'm in MS, and the 100+ temp is brutal, so I know how it is. Keep the cooling options available to them and they should be ok. Panting is normal during hot weather, but you will most likely be able to tell when the rapidity of it means danger.

Where in Ms are you? I too am very familiar with the Ms heat! It has been crazy hot and today they're expecting a 110 heat index!! I'm so tempted to enclose one side of my pen and put in a window a/c!!

 

[Hypertay]

Where in Ms are you? I too am very familiar with the Ms heat! It has been crazy hot and today they're expecting a 110 heat index!! I'm so tempted to enclose one side of my pen and put in a window a/c!!

Panting, having watery poops, and holding their wings away from their body are some ways that chickens try to cope with hot weather. Extreme lethargy and collapse, of course, are an emergency. My chickens still pant when they have ice blocks that they sit next to or they still hold out their wings when they are right by the fan. Sometimes if a chicken is all of a sudden cooperative with being held, then you will know something is wrong. I've noticed too that their "cluck" won't work when they are panting too hard (sounds like they are in panic mode). I had one chicken out in the garden one day, and she would not go under the shaded area. The sun came out and I checked on her a few minutes later and she was clearly panicked. She was panting excessively and kind of croaking instead of clucking. I got her to shade and she went back to "normal" panting shortly thereafter. I am amazed at how well chickens do in cold weather - it's the hot weather that concerns me the most! I'm in MS, and the 100+ temp is brutal, so I know how it is. Keep the cooling options available to them and they should be ok. Panting is normal during hot weather, but you will most likely be able to tell when the rapidity of it means danger.

I live in Saucier MS so I am sharing your pain! We just integrated our 3 BCM hens with our 3 RSL hens, we've been putting it off because the first 3 just came off being broody and were underweight. We wanted everyone to be laying eggs and healthy and now we get 4-6 eggs a day. When we give them free range time in the evening, trying to get them to sort out the pecking order, they fight a bit and one of the BCMs tries to mate the RSLs! We used to have a RSL rooster that would chase the BCM girls around because they were separated all day and he could see them but not get at them. He went to live on a farm with 2 of his sisters last month. So now one of the marans hens took his place I guess!

We made 2 enclosures for the girls. They are made from pvc, one with hardware cloth for nighttime and one with heavy duty plastic mesh fencing for extra daytime room and they are entirely portable, and they are pushed together during the day. They are covered with silver tarps that are raised on the sides to permit air underneath. In winter we will turn them over to blue and lower the flaps to help keep the girls warm and we are going to install plastic sheeting over the back end by then. Right now, I have a fan pointing towards their nestboxes, and another fan pointed towards their feeder and waterer. So they don't roast while trying to lay eggs in a small box and also so the flies don't have much of a chance to land on their food and water. I also have a metal pan in the run that's intended for feeding large dogs, it looks like an oil pan for cars, and I fill it with fresh cool water when I check them. We go out about every hour right now, through this heat, and we have to wear long sleeves and pants not shorts or we will get drained of blood from the mosquitoes.

(The insects I was wondering about, there are so many of such different types but we have tons of birds. Why are the birds not eating the bugs? It was because I was feeding them too much food! I stopped filling the finch feeder and the big multi bird feeder and the wire cage feeder and the hummer feeders (oh the bee swarms! All kinds of bees no matter what I do!), and the insects are slowly going down. The birds are now flying around the yard, and foraging in the grass, and going from tree to tree looking for bugs and grass/plant seeds instead of the expensive stuff I was giving them. The bees are flying in the flowers and the garden at the bottom of the property. It was a tough decision but I think a smart one because we will soon be able to wear shorts and tanks again. Our chickens eat the crickets and spiders and sometimes ants that get inside their pens and when they free range but the wild birds need to get the flying insects right? The other house on the property has 2 hummer feeders and they don't get near as many bees as we did, so they will continue to feed the hummers. I will return to filling all my feeders when it starts getting cold of course, there will be many many hummers in 2 months. But that is for a different forum I guess!)

Anyway, at the end of the run we have a mister, which slightly hits the tarp, and drips into the metal pan. The girls don't care much for the mister when we are outside but they go in it when we go in the house. I put ice in the pan sometimes and they walk and stand in it. And when we see them panting heavily or holding their wings out, we give them a little soaking with the hose directly. We live on a hill so it drains pretty well. I got inside the coop area today to make sure it wasn't hot in there, it was nice and cool especially by the nest boxes. And when the clouds cover the sun we all breathe a little easier. MS is hell on earth for about 90 days a year and this is our first year with chickens. We really love our girls and them giving us so many beautiful eggs must mean they like us too!