keeping chickens cool in summer heat

[azjustin]

living in the very dry desert I have tried A LOT to keep my chickens cool. I have found that fans are the best even with a very little moisture in the air the circulation of the air keeps them more happy. Lots of water to drink and move the air. blowing it at them. IN Arizona the mister with a fan is the nicest for the chickens. the size of the fan depends on how may girls you are trying to keep cool..
they will huddle up to a small fan.. they need room to get some air in their feathers. Windows are nice because you can secure the fan to keep it out of reach of wings and beaks or poop deposits.
My fans are just on the other side of the chicken wire. Some people don't have electricity to the coop but in the hot months we run weather tough extension cords out to the coop to keep the fan running. cover the connections with plastic bags to avoid moisture at the junctions (rains etc).. we also provide frozen treats; wading water and always fresh clean water to drink. Think about what keeps you cool when you are too warm.. Air baby.. lots of air

+1!

We buy the 20" wallyworld box fans, usually $15-$16. Turn them on when the temps hit 95, turn them off in October. Have never lost a bird to heat!

 

[ta2d]

Another great idea, bags of frozen fruit or veggies.
A cool healthy snack. Cut back on your scratch feed as it can dehydrate them.


Also, if you do a pool, cover the bottom of the pool with sand and put about 2 inches of water above the sand.
This gives them traction and enough water to cool down without drowning.

 

[Looneytoonsfan]

Thank you for your advice. Someone mentioned that I should make some open type walls on the south and east sides still protective for them. She said that would get more air flow. What do you think? My coop consist of 4plywoo walls , radiant barrier ceiling and 5 windows. We recently added a fan blowing all day not sure how much it's helping. Please if anyone has anymore ideas or any suggestions on modifying the coop for more air flow.
Thans a bunch for all my fellow chicken lovers
Looneytoonsfan

 

[mclanea]

@Looneytoonsfan Any way you could post a picture of your coop and also tell us a little about where you live? Also, are they in a run all day and just sleep in the coop or are they in the coop all the time? Free range? Any of that helps know what to recommend for you.

 

[dana0710]

I'm in east Texas. We just can't keep the chickens cool this year. The humidity is killer. We have a 4x8 coop with two big windows. I ended up taking our one whole wall because it's too hot. They are in a shaded run, with cool water and a fan and still pant most of the day. When I'm home I spray down the coop ceiling and the run floor to cool things off. I also freeze chunks of watermelon to pass out periodically.

 

[harriscolorado]

We have one week old chicks (we're first timers) with temperatures forecasted in the mid 90's, but it shot to 99° already today. We have no large shade trees (yet, they're growing) the coop is an elevated shed styLe with good ventilation and a box fan in the upper window exhausting hot air so not to blow air on the little ones, their brooder is the bottom third of an appliance box with sand for bedding, but I'm still worried they will overheat. They're still so little, so I put a couple ziplock baggies with ice cubes, wrapped in paper towels and taped. They jump up on them and can cool off a bit. To the touch they aren't all that cold and melt quick. Then I toss them and the sand underneath is cool for a while. Seems very safe and the chicks find it interesting.

 

[bobby2170]

When the temperature gets warm here I get canned fruit and pour it in icecube trays. then I was put a little water on top and freeze them. the chickens love them! I also have a small tin bin that I put water and ice in for them to drink and stand in.

 

[mclanea]

Continuing to monitor temps in our shaded run as well as Coke up with fun & cheap ways to keep them cool.

By far, the go to is chunks of ice placed between patio blocks.

Today I got a USB powered fan and am powering it with a USB solar panel I use when I work in remote areas. This is giving me ideas... Could easily/cheaply mount a full-sized panel to operate fans.

 

[beccaWA]

This year summer has not been that bad here, but last year was blistering. (Eastern WA state).

I have found that those mister hoses that you can get at Home Depot are life-savers. I string them up in the big spruce tree that the chickens like to get under. It brings the temp down 20 whole degrees.

 

[plm6846]

We lost 7 hens this summer and we have at least two months of heat to go! A string of 115+ days did our girls in for sure...we had ice in pans in runs, ice bottles added to their water buckets every day, free ranged them as often as we could and this year was our largest number loss!

I really think that our chicken tick invasion assisted in lowering their immune systems and made them weaker than it would have been ...the hens we have left (15) are getting stronger, gaining weight and feathers are returning..come winter please!