My 4 older hens live in a 13 foot by 7 1/2 foot enclosed chicken coop.
My 6 young peepers (age 13 weeks) live in a 8 foot by 30 inch chicken tractor. Half of the chicken tractor is completely enclosed, the other half is screened in so that air can go through.
I have had a metal fan (not some cheap plastic one) in the hen's chicken coop for some time. There is also a small metal fan in an enclosed area that the chickens cannot get to, blowing air inside the 6 foot by 3 foot plywood nesting area where their nests are "hidden."
I have had a decent (but not great) plastic fan at the end of the enclosed area of the chicken tractor. It is a perfect size for the tractor and takes up very little of the tractor's footprint for the amount of air it circulates within.
And, of course, we provide plenty of fresh water in their waterers.
But this set up has not been enough. We live in Memphis, and we are now officially under an Extreme Heat Warning, where temps are beginning to hit the triple digits and the heat index is even higher than that. (I didn't even know there was a NOAA category called "Extreme Heat Warning" till I was listening to the news this afternoon. It is the highest alarm the weather service can sound, according to the weather forcaster on the TV).
I went out last night and bought two heavy duty metal fans (over $100 per fan), and put one right outside the screened area of the chicken tractor (blowing in in such a way to provide them maximum relief), and the other one inside the older hen's chicken coop.
And we provide them with ice water in all of their waterers at least twice a day -- today, it was three times.
I had some peaches on my tree that were not all that great (several had worms in them), so I refrigerated them (worms and all) and cut them up for a treat this afternoon. Both groups of hens got two bowls of cold, cut up peaches and worms.
But all of this is just not enough in this excessive heat! You can see the pain of the heat on those chickens' faces, in the way they pant, and in the way that they just about do not move. They just sit there, the peepers in direct path of one of the two fans, and the older birds in holes they dug in their pine shaving flooring.
Please, do you have any ideas as to what else I can do for these chickens?
Thank you in advance.
My 6 young peepers (age 13 weeks) live in a 8 foot by 30 inch chicken tractor. Half of the chicken tractor is completely enclosed, the other half is screened in so that air can go through.
I have had a metal fan (not some cheap plastic one) in the hen's chicken coop for some time. There is also a small metal fan in an enclosed area that the chickens cannot get to, blowing air inside the 6 foot by 3 foot plywood nesting area where their nests are "hidden."
I have had a decent (but not great) plastic fan at the end of the enclosed area of the chicken tractor. It is a perfect size for the tractor and takes up very little of the tractor's footprint for the amount of air it circulates within.
And, of course, we provide plenty of fresh water in their waterers.
But this set up has not been enough. We live in Memphis, and we are now officially under an Extreme Heat Warning, where temps are beginning to hit the triple digits and the heat index is even higher than that. (I didn't even know there was a NOAA category called "Extreme Heat Warning" till I was listening to the news this afternoon. It is the highest alarm the weather service can sound, according to the weather forcaster on the TV).
I went out last night and bought two heavy duty metal fans (over $100 per fan), and put one right outside the screened area of the chicken tractor (blowing in in such a way to provide them maximum relief), and the other one inside the older hen's chicken coop.
And we provide them with ice water in all of their waterers at least twice a day -- today, it was three times.
I had some peaches on my tree that were not all that great (several had worms in them), so I refrigerated them (worms and all) and cut them up for a treat this afternoon. Both groups of hens got two bowls of cold, cut up peaches and worms.
But all of this is just not enough in this excessive heat! You can see the pain of the heat on those chickens' faces, in the way they pant, and in the way that they just about do not move. They just sit there, the peepers in direct path of one of the two fans, and the older birds in holes they dug in their pine shaving flooring.
Please, do you have any ideas as to what else I can do for these chickens?
Thank you in advance.
