Keeping chickens cool in the summer?

[trickettmomma]

If it is a wooded area I would not leave the door open. I have lost too many to coons and foxes and who knows what else.

I have a large coop originally designed for some turkeys, it now has been setup for some dozen leghorns
there is a large person sized door and a chicken walkup door the entire pen and yard out area is 12' by 25'
all enclosed in wire including overhead yard area. my question is, during hot weather is it wise/safe to leave
large door open at night.? the coop sits at the edge of my back yard and is the beginning of a large wooded area.
what is the rule of thumb for "cooping up for night" I have been closing both doors and there is a large screened window
that is also wired for safety

I am also in the process of laying in electricity for lights etc.
can any body help in organizing an automatic door setup remotely or time controlled from about 50 yards away
It was suggested using a 12 vdc antenna but what else do I need thanks in advance Senator Leghorn

 

[ekavi]

OH I Love the pool. How often have you had to change the water? lolol

 

[Kip has chicks]

I followed someone's advice! Made a veggie, fruit, egg Popsicle! Let's just say it is a hit!

 

[Joan71]

We do have a run area and a coop that they can always access (except at night)
Here is a picture of the coop:

The part with the lattice is their run area. It is fully predator proof under, over, and on the sides.
I plan to help build a chicken tractor within the next month I think, but we can't free range until we do because of hawks and other sky predators. I just need some help on how to keep them cool in the interim. Any help appreciated.

Great coop. Only suggestion I have after seeing the layout is that you may have an air flow problem in the run area. You can build a larger run of chicken wire and 2 x 4's, attach it to this coop or make it free standing. Cover the top of the run with chicken wire to keep the flying predators out. This would be their play area for the daytime. To provide shade, a tarp anchored over part of the top will complete your efforts. Even with a tracker, you will have to provide shade, water, feed and shelter in case of a storm. The extra protection from the hill is great for winter time. Hope this gives you some options. Good luck.....

 

[ladycat]

I've been converting a room in the barn into a chick room. This barn has tin sides and when the sun hits it, it gets VERY hot in the chick room.

I've got a swamp cooler I'm only using for the fan, and a garage fan with 3 speeds, and a mister. I can run one fan, both fans, or both fans + mister as needed. The chicks tell me how many to turn on by how much they're panting.

Please excuse the mess, I'm still not finished cleaning out this room and I don't have all the brooders and cages set up yet. (when I finish, it will look nice!)

Here's a front view of the brooders and cages that I have in there so far. You can see the back of the swamp cooler at the lower left.




Here you can see both fans and the mister. The mister is positioned so that both fans can blow on it.



The fans are positioned so that all the brooders and cages get moving air. When I turn the mister on, the fans blow the mist over that whole side of the room where the chicks are, and it stays cool in there even when it's over 100 outside. That mister makes a HUGE difference over just using the fans.

 

[LindaB220]

I've got one out of two, Linda! Shavings for DL in both coop and run, but no FF - yet.

Blooie, easiest decision ever. Here's a good site.

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

 

[MyPetNugget]

Great coop. Only suggestion I have after seeing the layout is that you may have an air flow problem in the run area. You can build a larger run of chicken wire and 2 x 4's, attach it to this coop or make it free standing. Cover the top of the run with chicken wire to keep the flying predators out. This would be their play area for the daytime. To provide shade, a tarp anchored over part of the top will complete your efforts. Even with a tracker, you will have to provide shade, water, feed and shelter in case of a storm. The extra protection from the hill is great for winter time. Hope this gives you some options. Good luck.....

Thank you for your suggestions! It is a great Idea but we unfortunatly don't have much room for a run near the coop.

It doesn't tell in the picture, but right behind it is a a mini cliff that goes down 10 feet or so. But we will be making a tractor in a few weeks that will be tall enough, sturdy, and sky predator- proof. I'll always be within hearing distance, so it shouldn't be a problem.
As far as weather goes, I can easily put them in the coop before it rains, storms, ect. I'll try to get better pictures soon.

 

[N F C]

I get routine articles from Grit magazine in my email and this topic just came today:

http://www.grit.com/animals/beat-th... eNews&utm_campaign=7.4.14 GRIT#axzz36XOoJUAy

Some of the author's ideas I've seen already other places but a couple were new to me. She suggests changing the laying hens from layer feed to grower due to the chickens eating less in the heat. Also, she mentioned changing the coop from deep litter to a shallower bedding.

Might be some new ideas there for others too if you care to read the article.

 

[KieksterChicken]

Taking Floridas' hot weather into account, we built a small coop that houses 6 chickens up on stilts so the floor of the coop is about waist high and the roof is just about head height. We built it in a rectangular shape with a slanting roof using white vinyl siding to enclose the back and for the roof (with 2 built in nesting boxes with doors that open to the outside) , built the front out of wood with 2 wide doors one of which is hinged on the bottom and serves as a ramp for the chickens to get in and out of the coop when it's opened. The bottom and two narrow sides are thick chicken wire to allow for breezes and air circulation, the perches are in the center of the coop to keep the chickens dry and happy and there is still plenty of room to hang a feeder and waterer on each side of the two perches (works great to keep them clean and the feed dry). The coop itself is virtually self cleaning since the bottom is wire. For all intents and purposes it's actually the weight and size of a 6 to 8 bird chicken tractor minus the wheels (subsequently it's design makes it light and small enough to easily move with 2 people into the garage if a hurricane or tropical storm is about to hit so we can safely keep the girls housed and happy).The bottom of the run is sand, the top is topped by chicken wire held together by zip ties (to protect the girls from osprey, owls, swallowtail kites and bald eagles that frequent the area) and enclosed on all sides by a 6 foot tall chain link fence covered in green shade cloth from top to bottom and also further shaded using flexible wood privacy slats woven into the fence. The run narrows into a 10 foot long enclosed cement sidewalk running South to North and shaded by the slats and shade cloth on one side and a cement block wall on the other. Due to the way the sidewalk is oriented it's almost always in full shade and a favorite place for the chickens to lounge in during the hottest weather. To keep them cool during the hottest part of the day I give them sliced up cucumber and fresh sweet corn, tomatoes, watermelon etc that I keep refrigerated. Occasionally I throw them a few scoops of scatter grains that is always cold since I keep it frozen to keep the bugs from hatching in it. My in laws also love juicing so frequently fill a large yogurt container with the left over pulp and juice which I freeze and un-mold in the chicken run for the girls on the hottest days. I also wet down the chicken run occasionally on the hottest days so they can cool off in the puddles and scratch wallows in the damp sand. Thankfully Florida is in it's normal summer weather pattern right now so we have dry mornings and cooling rain showers in the afternoon which is making life tolerable for the girls. I will try the frozen milk jugs of water eventually or perhaps get a large round black rubber feeder bin with low rims I will fill with water and float soda bottles of frozen water in in a few weeks. Hopefully that will work to cool off the girls.

 

[RezChamp]

Hey PrimroseMom1, I like the pipe cleaner/curtain hook idea.
I have pigeons. I take 1 litre(1 quart) juice containers(plastic) that I cut a 1&1/2" hole in about 1&1/2" from the bottom.
I then drill a hole in the cap to put a knotted piece of wire through then hook it on to a nail or screw on a wall stud.
I put the pigeon's vitamin powder in the bottles.
Pigeons aren't really hot weather creatures but I don't have to cool their coops.
My chickens do require coolness though and I am positive they will really enjoy this idea of yours.
Last week we had cold winds from the north that required a heat lamp in the coop(my house furnace even kicked on).
It wasn't so bad but yesterday went all he wat up to +34*C with a humidex of 109, whatever that means. I just know it was really, really muggy.
The cold last week is typical central Manitoba weather ...... FOR EARLY SPRING OR LATE FALL! lol
The heat we had yesterday is uncommon but not unheard of..for here.
However, if this keeps up,I will really need to employ your's as well as others' methods to cool my coop.
Thanks BYC members.