The Heat: Can I Do More?

[BrindleFinch]

I'm so worried about my babies... I feel so silly, chickens in some states go through this all the time, but I can't help but worry about my girls.

It's only 90 degrees now (granted, the humidity is so bad it's basically visible, haha), but the girls have been panting for a few hours now.

I gave them a block of ice with a little orange in it (it was all we had), and put a fan on one side of the coop.

Everyone is up and moving except one, but they're all panting pretty hard. The one laying down is laying with one wing open, almost as if she was sunbathing?, in front of the fan. I think she's only laying there to cool off, she was up and running around with the others earlier.

I'm just worried that I'm not doing enough... but what more can I do? Ice, a fan, their entire run and coop area is shaded with a white tin roof (less heat, they say).

Plenty of water, plenty of shade. I guess I'm just looking for confirmation that my poor girls will be alright What should I be concerned of if I see it?

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Your doing fine,make sure they have cool dirt.

 

[snow5164]

One of mine was “ sunbathing too I thought she was dead!”

The other thing I’d do is pour cool water on the grass or dirt. I took my watering cans and watered the grass , it didn’t last long but they all stood in it !

Add water to their feed to increase moisture intake, add electrolytes to water cause they think it’s kool-aid and love it

Another thing is leave them alone, if you go see them they get flustered, let them rest you’ve done all you can do

 

[Coolbreeze89]

Living in central Texas, we’re over 100 with heat index pretty much every day mid-May until well into September.... my chickens love their shade, have plenty of water stations scattered about, and a ridiculously well-ventilated coop if they choose to go in it (breeze only, no fans). A few will wade in shallow water pans that are out for my pigs. Haven’t lost one to heat, and they all still jump right up when it’s feeding time! They’re tough birds!

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

You can try watermelon that has been in the fridge overnight and is nice and cool

I have put reflective foil over my coop roof - it will tear, so may be too much of a headache but will reflect heat (our dark green tin roof was a **huge** mistake)

your fan sounds good - hopefully drawing air from a shady not a sunny spot - I eventually cut a hole in the wall near the ceiling and put a little one in to suck the hot air out

and then there is always the - hehem - air conditioner - I actually have one for the coop, a small window unit I bought and keep in the basement just for that with a special stand that I built for in-front-of the coop window - I use it in emergencies and I am actually using it this weekend since I have one sick and several weakened birds that I need to stress out more with parasite treatment tonight and it is supposed to be super-hot today and tomorrow

it pulls out the humidity from the coop nicely: it drips and runs the water out the rear end of the ac - I like that

in the future I would like to run this and actually all our ac in the summer from solar panels to avoid CO2 in the atmosphere to keep us cool - solar to cool would be awesome! we are working on it!

 

[snow5164]

You know the ac is as much of a hot button as the heater we use in the winter. We all decide what’s best in out situations. I would love to see a few solar panels on my yard too, but man are they expensive. Might have to get a few to try it ,

Have fun and I love your green roof , white would have looked silly

 

[Kiki]

You can also fill a water gallon jug half way and stick it in the freezer tonight.
Tomorrow it should be frozen solid.
Place that in the coop so they can lean up against it to keep cool.


I provide ice water to my flock twice a day.
They pant but they are fine.

I can't help but giggle because we live in the heat.
I am 100% sure people giggle at us (Texans) when we freak out when our weather gets below 50 and we think it might get too cold for our birds.

Clean cool water really goes a long way.
One more thing....you could also soak their feed each morning, just the amount they eat in one day to help make sure they are getting enough water and stay hydrated.

 

[silly4buttons]

You can try watermelon that has been in the fridge overnight and is nice and cool

I have put reflective foil over my coop roof - it will tear, so may be too much of a headache but will reflect heat (our dark green tin roof was a **huge** mistake)

a fan?

and then there is always the - hehem - air conditioner - I actually have one for the coop, a small window unit I bought and keep in the basement just for that with a special stand that I built for in-front-of the coop window - I use it in emergencies and I am actually using it this weekend since I have one sick and several weakened birds that I need to stress out more with parasite treatment tonight and it is supposed to be super-hot

in the future I would like to run this and actually all our ac in the summer from solar panels to avoid CO2 in the atmosphere to keep us cool - solar to cool would be awesome! we are working on it!

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I worried about my girls I put water bottles and water jugs in the freezer and put them around so they can lean against them if they want to I also put watermelon or any kind of Melon in the freezer night before and put it out Also soak the ground to it will feel cool in there feet. As someone suggested to leave them alone I do that to but I feel so bad and kinda guilty of me being cool and comfortable while they are sweating there tails off At night I put a few frozen water bottles around them so it will make them a little more comfortable

 

[Kiki]

I don't like the wetting the ground idea.
Hot wet is a great place for coccidia to breed.

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

yeah - I thought I'd get in trouble mentioning ac, but hey - for a small window unit a couple of 2x4s and a little electricity, if it may save my favorite birds by taking stress off them at a critical time, it is well worth avoiding the heart-ache of losing them

heat alone may not do that, but in combination with illness it may

even then, I do use it sparingly and only during the middle of the day to take the edge off the heat effect

when they are all healthy, I use the other methods without air - water, watermelon, shade, fan etc.

excited to watch nessa.morg's video now