Beating the heat?

[Andrea72]

What are some of the ways you guys are keeping your flock cool this summer? Mine does not free range and the temps have really ramped up. I want to keep them comfortable!! Thanks...

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Shade, shade and more shade. Trees, shrubs and shade cloth for anywhere with no shade.
Footbaths. I use Planter bases with a chunk of ice in it. I use those plastic lettuce containers and freeze a bunch of them and put one in each foot bath and in each waterer.
For night time you can hang a frozen water filled milk jug so it will dangle where a chicken would sit on the roost and they can hunker down next to it.
An elevated coop gives a cool spot to hang out under during the day.

 

[StephieSky]

What are some of the ways you guys are keeping your flock cool this summer? Mine does not free range and the temps have really ramped up. I want to keep them comfortable!! Thanks...

I haven't tried this yet (its still too cool here in Oregon) I picked up my smaller kiddie pool at Bi-Mart though Can't wait to see if my hens will use it. They do like mud

 

[Feathers n Fur]

I have a plastic tub from Lowe's used for cement mixing that I fill with sand for a dust bath. I picked up a second one and plan to put ice cubes and water in it to see if they'll frolic.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I don't know what your coop is like, but in addition to all those great suggestions, make sure you have a lot of ventilation in the coop. I like as much excess heat to escape during the day as possible. I also like the coop to be able to cool off in a timely manner, as the evening cools down. Or at least as it becomes less hot.

Otherwise, they have more hours of heat stress in the coop at night, than they would if the coop is well ventilated. We have winter time ventilation, but we really open it up in the warm weather.

I do what a lot of the other people do. We are blessed with a lot of shade, when they're out free ranging. I like having part of the run covered, since we no longer have the tree right next to the run. That helps, if they need to be locked up for some reason. Some of mine like to stand around in a container of water. I also add ice to a bowl of water for them to drink when it's really hot.

 

[dringge]

I have a solar powered roof vent in another shed of mine. I am considering adding one to my coop to move air.

 

[Andrea72]

I am probably going to install a box fan at one end of the coop this weekend. Circulate the air for them. They have a run that is completely shaded but it's still hot. Will freeze some veggies for them too. Florida summers can be brutal!