What's TOO hot?

[Atchurch]

So we're new to this. We got day-old hatchlings on March 2nd of this year. We have 3 RIRs, one of which is our rooster and 6 BRs, all girls. They have 200 sq ft of what we call the big run and about another 25 sq ft in the little run.

It's already hitting triple digits in North Central Texas and I'm wondering what would be too hot for our babies.

Coop and runs are covered by mature trees, but the air is just heavy.

We've had a fan on them, but they don't seem to like it and I gave them watermelon pieces from the fridge. I add ice to the waterer, but I still think they're too hot. Any suggestions?

 

[SueT]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/poll-time-cool-the-coop-chickens.1584593/#post-26922526
Here are some good suggestions in the link

 

[Atchurch]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/poll-time-cool-the-coop-chickens.1584593/#post-26922526
Here are some good suggestions in the link

Pretty much what I've been doing. Just wish they liked the fan.

 

[Mrs. K]

Check your shade at different times of the day.

Shade, space, and enough water. I really would not put ice in it, it can cause shock. Just a lot of water. Sometimes I wet the ground, I have mostly sand, and they like to dig and mud bath in that.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

We've had a fan on them, but they don't seem to like it

A fan won't cool a chicken like it cools our sweaty skin.....it can help keep bugs away tho.

 

[RubelliteRose]

We typically have heat indexes of 115-120 in July and our chickens seem to do well. We make sure that they have plenty of shade and cool water to drink. If the water gets warm, I change it out in the afternoon for fresh cool (not cold) water. On the hottest days, I sometimes put an electrolyte mix in one of the small waterers. Make sure your coops have a lot of ventilation. We fully open all the doors and windows of our coops and use a USB charged fan to move the air if there is no breeze. We set up beach umbrellas to add more shade to our run, but your run looks nice and shady already .

 

[Atchurch]

Check your shade at different times of the day.

Shade, space, and enough water. I really would not put ice in it, it can cause shock. Just a lot of water. Sometimes I wet the ground, I have mostly sand, and they like to dig and mud bath in that.

Mrs K

Well, it's the OverEZ Nipple Waterer, so there's a lot of water in it. The bowl full of ice doesn't make it cold. It barely even drops it a couple of degrees. But even in a shady area, it still gets to be pretty warm water, so I just am barely cooling it a degree or two. As I said, we're already in tripple-digits and the heat index goes up to the 110° or more mark. So, just trying to make them as cool as possible in this North Central Texas heat.

OOO! But a new development is that I guess they got used to the fan after a few days! I saw them laying right in its breezeway yesterday. I thought they would keep avoiding it, but looks like they just needed to get used to it and the low roar of the motor and all.

 

[Mrs. K]

Moving air, shade and water is what is key.

But you are right, different places, different heat, different humidity all make a difference.

I would never even think of a fan, the wind in SD is pretty steady, sometimes hard enough to move a log chain!

 

[aldarita]

We are going into our third week of 95-100F here in South Central Texas. This is not heat index temps and the worse part is that this is to continue until who knows when. This year I added the terra-cotta trays for my 10 week old chicks. I got this idea from a poster here in BYC. I couldn't believe how cool the water keeps on these trays as long as I place them on a shady area. I have to change the water twice a day because they stand on the water, which cools their feet but they also poop on the trays.
I keep fans in my coops 24/7 to continuously move the air specially during the hottest time of the day and at night when the radiant heat makes it very hot inside even if it cooled down a little outside. I have been adding more ventilation on their coops in a manner of openings so the hot air can circulate. I also give them electrolytes. They have shady areas where they hang out.

 

[FunClucks]

I don't even have a coop, I have a covered run, and mine live in that. To make a coop, I'd have to basically remove the top half of the walls of the entire shed I was planning to convert. So I just add plastic to the outside of the greenhouse frame run come winter to cut down on wind and remove it in the summer so the run can catch the breeze.

I'm in north alabama, where it's hot and humid. Awful stuff, like walking in a sauna. But my chickens do just fine in the summer.

One thing I'd suggest is increase your shade. Take a good quality solid color tarp (silver if you can find it for reduced heat load) that the sun can't get through at all, and cover at least half your run with it, over top of your current tarp. You have a cover, but it seems somewhat translucent. An area of good heavy shade throughout the day will help reduce the heat your chickens see. My coop is basically under moderate shade all day, since it's under a bunch of mature trees, and it's shadier than your run. I think having solid shade blockers helps, even if that shade moves around as the sun does.

At the hottest part of summer, I put ice blocks out in the run when I'm home or in the morning before work. Like an old ice cream pail full of frozen water, set it in a large tray or dish, and the chickens peck it, drink it, and walk on it. Lasts about 3-4 hours if it's big enough. I use 5-gallon buckets with horizontal nipples for waterers, and put ice in there if needed. Like a frozen gallon jug of water, just setting it inside the bucket, it will melt as the day passes. Take it out in the evening, wash and dry the outside, and freeze it overnight so it's ready for the next day. Keeping the waterers in heavy shade keeps them from getting hot so quickly as temps increase during the day.

I put a pallet with almost no gaps between the boards up on several cinderblocks so it makes a platform. Shavings from the run filtered into it, so no sun gets through now. The shade under there is solid. Chickens love to hang out under there and enjoy the through-breeze while scratching and dust bathing.