Temperatures are rising!! How do you keep your chickens cool in the coop, run, and or brooders?!?!

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

Here is my coop and run with the prefab coop inside. All facing south. Under the coop is a great place for them to hide, Now the rest of the year is shady all around and the chickens do move with the shade. They were under the cherry tree when I took the pick. They all came running. BTW they run the backyard all day. That red coop is going to be an oven for laying.

 

[Barb Root Hinkkanen]

It hit 98 degrees yesterday and today it will be even hotter. It's only May!!! We have set up misters, we have fans, we have tarps running all across the runs for shade, I give frozen fruit and vegetables, and I make sure they have cool fresh water (often with ice added) several times a day.... AND THEY STILL SEEM LIKE THEY ARE ABOUT TO PASS PUT FROM HEAT EXHAUSTION!! We have several breeds, white leghorns, Wyandottes, Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, Easter Eggers, and Golden Comets... the Orpingtons seem to be taking it the worse. They will NOT go under the mister no matter what treats I lay there, and I read this morning that misters weren't healthy anyways. Its crazy bc the research I did while building pur run said misters were essential for hot weather areas . I've also read small kiddie pools with water could cause drowning. So how do you keep your chickens cool?!? Our brooder is on our covered, screened in porch and I have 3 fans running and constantly change their water so it is fresh and cool and when it's not raining they are in their "playpen" outdoors under shade with the fans running too so their not so cooped up. Still the babies seem like they're TOO hot! I give them the same treatment as the ones in the run and coop as far as mister, frozen fruit, etc. GIVE ME ALL THE HACKS, IDEAS, AND HELP PLEASE!!! Picture of some of our babies happy to out in the yard! View attachment 3115761View attachment 3115762View attachment 3115763

I have added solar cloth on the sides. I learned quickly to leave a gap between the screen and solar cloth. I tried stapling it but it didn’t let much air through.

I also have fans, ice water, and frozen treats.

I make my chirpies “popsicles”. I start with a container from Dollar Tree, fill half full with feed, add any leftovers, fruit, sunflower seeds, (anything but corn, which raises their body temperature), frozen fruit and veggies, (also from Dollar Tree), fill with water, and let it freeze overnight. Put a couple out, during the day to help keep them cool.

You can also add ice water to a big bowl of food, it will swell, and keep them hydrated.

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

Will putting up this reflective shipping material work? The red coop is where they lay eggs and it's HOT in the heat of the day.

 

[3KillerBs]

Will putting up this reflective shipping material work? The red coop is where they lay eggs and it's HOT in the heat of the day.

Can you open up more ventilation?

Add shade? A cheap picnic pavillion or even a tarp strung on a clothesline would probably help more than mylar bubblewrap.

 

[alicia-TX]

My husband dug me a little chicken pond which I put cold water in daily. I keep frozen jugs in and around the pond to keep the water cool and allow them to sit by the jugs. I freeze a bowl of water every night for drinking water. I also let them out to find their own shade because it is too hot to keep them confined to the run.

 

[alicia-TX]

Also everyone is on corn free feed

 

[Boppo]

That frozen jugs of water idea is just great. I started doing that in our heatwave up here. I ran across it in another post from Texas, where I figure y'all KNOW. I don't have room for a jug in my freezer (how do you freeze whole jugs???), so I freeze pint Gatorade bottles that I rinse & refill with water. 3 or 4 for the chickens and one apiece for each quail pen. They really liked it and it did work like bird air conditioning!

My birds have a lucky setting where they mostly get shade in the heat of the day, and then the chickens and one quail pen has an extra tarp over the top to add more shade . Dropped the temp in there by about 15 - 20 degrees compared to the sunny area just outside. The chickens camped in the spot under their prefab (awful) plastic coop which I am using as a handy cupboard for storing feed, grit, tools, etc. It was like a chicken hideout under there with the ice bottles.

 

[Sammi_0411]

Ice cubes with corn inside so they peck ice to get to corn cools them down I mist the coop make sure plenty cold.fresh water on hand open up all coop doors and windows tarpaulin along side one run panels to make shad sharp sand so they can dustbath so far so good xx

 

[Chikwhisperer]

A fan, a mini apple shaped shallow pool with a sq blk to stand on if prefer, added drkst tint plexiglass to tall run 1/2 way dn to blk Fl sun since they cleared the wooded lot next door & are bldg a house on it ice in wtr but corn idea is great Can float in pool encourage entry/splashing (its not deep! )they think it’s a big drnkg dish.

 

[Hennypenny1984]

It hit 98 degrees yesterday and today it will be even hotter. It's only May!!! We have set up misters, we have fans, we have tarps running all across the runs for shade, I give frozen fruit and vegetables, and I make sure they have cool fresh water (often with ice added) several times a day.... AND THEY STILL SEEM LIKE THEY ARE ABOUT TO PASS PUT FROM HEAT EXHAUSTION!! We have several breeds, white leghorns, Wyandottes, Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, Easter Eggers, and Golden Comets... the Orpingtons seem to be taking it the worse. They will NOT go under the mister no matter what treats I lay there, and I read this morning that misters weren't healthy anyways. Its crazy bc the research I did while building pur run said misters were essential for hot weather areas . I've also read small kiddie pools with water could cause drowning. So how do you keep your chickens cool?!? Our brooder is on our covered, screened in porch and I have 3 fans running and constantly change their water so it is fresh and cool and when it's not raining they are in their "playpen" outdoors under shade with the fans running too so their not so cooped up. Still the babies seem like they're TOO hot! I give them the same treatment as the ones in the run and coop as far as mister, frozen fruit, etc. GIVE ME ALL THE HACKS, IDEAS, AND HELP PLEASE!!! Picture of some of our babies happy to out in the yard! View attachment 3115761View attachment 3115762View attachment 3115763