Any ways to help keep the chickens cool this summer?!?!

[The Chickeneer]

Today it's 108 degrees outside!!! (and thats not even the record temp around here

) And its just too bad that the chickens dont have an AC. I'm sure that a lot of you folks like me here have chickens that are just burning up out there.... so I made this thread so that we could all post helpful ideas we could all use to help keep the coop cool.

Last year seemed like the hottest summer ever, especially for a lot of us on BYC. There were reports of chickens dying from heat stroke while they where laying in their nest boxes!! I dont know about you, but that scared me

. I read so many threads last summer on peoples chickens dying off because of the heat.

This year I'm being extra careful . Now I know some of you people put fans and misters in the coops, but there are other simpler ways I'd like to share with you guys. During the hottest time in the day, i like to spray water in the coop to keep them cool. Now i dont spray the animals directly, I just spray the ground and the walls, but spray so the water comes out like mist not like a squirt gun . It really does help cool down a lot when you do that. If any of you guys have large runs i would recommend putting a tarp or something for shade. I put a tarp on our peacock pen yesterday and I could tell they are really enjoying it

. Plus there's that obvious thing we all need to do, make sure they have plenty of water.

What do you guys do?.... Suggestions? Please post all your ideas, simple or hard. A lot of us (especially the chickens) would like to know what you do in the summer to keep your birds cool. (other than killing one and putting it in the frezer for tomorrows dinner lol)

 

[liz9910]

Wow 108! That's awful. It's "only" 99 degrees here right now. I like to turn on the sprinklers, let the grass/bushes get wet, then let the chickens out. They seem to like that.

Elizabeth

 

[bj taylor]

we've had 105 here & pretty high humidity. i've got a system down pretty good for my birds. the coop has two fans. one to draw fresh air in and one to draw stale air out. it's still pretty tough when they go to bed. during the day, i turn two misters on (barely turn the faucet on) close to each other & create a "zone" under a tree. that's where they hang out unless i've let them range in the back yard. it's made a big difference.
this heat is hard to battle isn't it? we've still got a long way to go before this summer breaks. good luck

 

[The Chickeneer]

Wow 108! That's awful. It's "only" 99 degrees here right now. I like to turn on the sprinklers, let the grass/bushes get wet, then let the chickens out. They seem to like that.

Elizabeth

I never thought of that, using the sprinklers, thats a really good idea. It's just that my chickens aren't out right now, they are locked up with the guineas because the guineas have to be "coop trained". But when i let 'em out this weekend i will definitely try that

 

[ChicKat]

My chickens like to wade in water to cool themselves. Old dish pans, old broiler pans, plant saucers for large large pots. I guess a plastic swimming pool would work too. They wade or stand in the shallow water.

I wet the 'tarp'/canvas over the tops of their runs too.

Make sure the shade is deep shade, and not mottled shade. You can feel about 10-degrees of difference.

I also recommend putting a thermometer in the same area that your chickens are--- even a brooder thermometer. That is the best way to know what the actual temperature is for your chickens...and not what the radio station temperature is, or the temp on the bank downtown. ;O)

If you have a chicken collapse from heat, put her on a wet towel in the shade where there is a breeze. If she is still breathing, put wet paper towels on her legs and wrap them up. Get a dish pan of water fill with tepid or cool but NOT cold water, and hook her beak over the side of the dish pan as you lower her in...to keep her from slipping into it and drowning. There is a chance you may save her if you get there in time. Give her plenty of water and water with electrolytes. She may stagger, and seem disorientated even before the collapse stage. When she is recovering, she may seem disoriented and even partially paralyzed. She can fully recover.

If it gets much hotter plan to put your best chicken in a pet carrier and evacuate them to someplace cooler/airconditioned. If a chicken gets to a temperature of 104+ it isn't likely that she can cool down fast enough to survive. This kind of heat is deadly to chickens.

Good luck to us all to keep our chickens alive for this summer. There is a chart on one of my pages with the effects of temperature on chickens---I will come back with a link.

Here it is:https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/charts-and-quotes

 

[RiddleMe]

My chickens also like to wade in water to cool off, especially my Ameraucanas and EEs, the other breeds, not as much. When it's really warm, I'll give them shallow containers of water and some of them will just stand in the cool water. I also put ice cubes in the bowls and nipple water system occasionally throughout the day to make sure it stays cool. The water is in the shade but... I've actually seen my Am hope in the water pretty quickly after I've added the ice, I think she likes it nice and cold. But she also has the hardest time with the heat.

 

[The Chickeneer]

I heard that people also put frozen water bottles in their waterers. Anybody try this?

 

[ajlynco]

I have a 5 gallon bucket waterer w/nipples and an inverted 1 gallon waterer for 11 chooks. I freeze the 1 gal each night and also put a frozen 1 gal water jug into the bucket waterer. I also put a couple of frozen gallon water jugs into thier shade area for them to hang out next to. I have a 4X8 coop elevated about 2 ft. and the girls all hang out in the 'basement' cuz it has solid shade throughout the day. First thing in the morning I'll soak the basement area down real good and the evaporation plus the cool moist dirt seem to keep em cool enough. When I get home in the early evening I'll let em out to free range for a few hrs. I've got a low spot where I can fill with water to depth of about 3-4 inches and they all play in it like a bunch of pigs. It's funny to watch em scratch n peck at the debris floating in the water. I think it's important not to baby or spoil the girls when it comes to dealing with the heat/cold. Let them become acclimated to thier seasonal environment and they'll be better off in the longrun. Think about the wild birds out in the elements, they do fine and the strong ones survive and propagate. Supply your chooks with fresh cool water, healthy feed, plenty of deep shade, and LOTS of ventilation and the girls should do just fine. Heat is uncomfortable for all animals, but they deal with it, as do humans. Avoid attatching human emotions to animal behavior. Chooks may prefer airconditioning and frozen umbrella drinks but you'll only do them more harm in the long run.

 

[speckledhen]

There are numerous threads about this here, including these:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/683219/keeping-a-happy-healthy-flock-in-extreme-summer-heat

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/683564/keeping-cool

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/685680/keeping-chickens-cool-in-summertime

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/358045/keeping-chickens-cool-in-hot-weather

 

[Paul 1952]

I've got some tarps and umbrellas for shading them... load up the waterers with ice (ice machine is working overtime this summer) ... And then we took some grape mash from the grape juice we made and a variety of other fruit... mango, watermelon and such... put it in a square shallow tray and froze it. They go nuts for that ... and once it gets all warm and sloppy I bag it up and back in the freezer with it until the next day. About time to put that out there now as a matter of fact!