California - Northern

[ronott1]

Ok. It's hot here in sac also. I make sure they have cool water and some frozen fruits. How big is your flock? What breed?

Woodland is similar to Sac, but we get a bit less of the Delta Breeze.

I have 7 hens, 6 are Pita Pinta and one is a blue egg layer.

I have a vent fan for the coop, a shade umbrella and a misting system for the run. I also make sure they have lots of fresh water.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I have a vent fan for the coop, a shade umbrella and a misting system for the run. I also make sure they have lots of fresh water.

All great ideas!!!

One thing we do when we get really high temps is spray/drench the ground under the raised coop. This creates a really great shaded spot with evaporative cooling that lasts throughout the hottest times of the day, and the girls seem to love it under there.

 

[Sylvester017]

Summers are brutal in So Calif w/ humidity which I don't understand since we're so far from the coast. If it gets unbearable for the hens we will bring them indoors this year. I lost two great Dominiques in the past to heatstroke while they were laying and we vowed never again. We're zoned for only 5 hens/no roo's so losing a hen (or more) to senseless heatstroke is a blow to our small flock. Yes, that means this year a Dominique & 5 Silkies in the kitchen but its worth it to us.

Fans, misters, running sprinkler, popup canopies and shade trees were not enough to save our two heatstroke victims. When our temps get over 85 we move a laying hen to an indoor dog crate to lay her egg.

If a hen is panting in a nestbox in cooler temps we'll prop open the nestbox lid for more ventilation. Also, we trade out the barn coop floor for the dog kennel wire floor in summer.

Wire coop floor

Patio roof over barn coop to shade coop house and nest box lid propped open for ventilation

For the last decade our heatwaves started in late April. This spring year we have had reasonably moderate temps. Once every July however the Mexico storms give us high humidity levels and even a day or two of summer rain -- hot and humid and miserable.
We don't look forward to Calif summers at all! Hope all you Northerners fare well this year!

 

[ronott1]

All great ideas!!!

One thing we do when we get really high temps is spray/drench the ground under the raised coop. This creates a really great shaded spot with evaporative cooling that lasts throughout the hottest times of the day, and the girls seem to love it under there.

That is a good idea!

 

[ronott1]

Summers are brutal in So Calif w/ humidity which I don't understand since we're so far from the coast. If it gets unbearable for the hens we will bring them indoors this year. I lost two great Dominiques in the past to heatstroke while they were laying and we vowed never again. We're zoned for only 5 hens/no roo's so losing a hen (or more) to senseless heatstroke is a blow to our small flock. Yes, that means this year a Dominique & 5 Silkies in the kitchen but its worth it to us.

Fans, misters, running sprinkler, popup canopies and shade trees were not enough to save our two heatstroke victims. When our temps get over 85 we move a laying hen to an indoor dog crate to lay her egg.

If a hen is panting in a nestbox in cooler temps we'll prop open the nestbox lid for more ventilation. Also, we trade out the barn coop floor for the dog kennel wire floor in summer.

Wire coop floor
View attachment 3865274

Patio roof over barn coop to shade coop house and nest box lid propped open for ventilation
View attachment 3865275

For the last decade our heatwaves started in late April. This spring year we have had reasonably moderate temps. Once every July however the Mexico storms give us high humidity levels and even a day or two of summer rain -- hot and humid and miserable.
We don't look forward to Calif summers at all! Hope all you Northerners fare well this year!

We have had a hotter than normal May and June so far!

 

[MayBerg]

Now I am scared for my chickens. They are only abt 3 month old, so not laying anytime soon. However, I work and my husband don't care abt chickens really. So they could be dying and he won't even know. So I'll have to put a plan in place for the upcoming hot days. For now the coops are placed in a shaded area and they can hide under the coop, it's really cool. I am probably gonna have to separate an area in the garage for them for when it gets too hot.

 

[MayBerg]

How do you guys do the mist thinggy ?

 

[MayBerg]

Woodland is similar to Sac, but we get a bit less of the Delta Breeze.

I have 7 hens, 6 are Pita Pinta and one is a blue egg layer.

I have a vent fan for the coop, a shade umbrella and a misting system for the run. I also make sure they have lots of fresh water.

Oooo what's pita pinta?

 

[Sylvester017]

Now I am scared for my chickens. They are only abt 3 month old, so not laying anytime soon. However, I work and my husband don't care abt chickens really. So they could be dying and he won't even know. So I'll have to put a plan in place for the upcoming hot days. For now the coops are placed in a shaded area and they can hide under the coop, it's really cool. I am probably gonna have to separate an area in the garage for them for when it gets too hot.

Our garage gets hotter than the house even with the garage door open so it's not an option for us to put chickens in there.

My DH chose to have chickens so he takes care of them w/me. I fell and broke my arm big bone in May so he took off work to care for me AND the chickens this past month. I type w/ one finger for now.

I put up 3 popup canopies in the chicken side of the yard and planted pomegranate and lemon trees for chicken's shade. I buried the canopy legs in the ground so they don't blow down in the wind -- the covers tear but the canopy frame stays in place. Then we re-cover the frame top with tarp and giant grip clips every year. The buried canopy frame legs are buried permanently in-ground so not possible to fold up the canopy to put on new expensive fitted canopy covers so we just get cheap tarps and it works well for over 10 years.

Re-covered canopies with tarps & grip clips


I made two raised garden beds out of paver stones

And under one 10'x10' canopy I used a 4'x4' cedar wood raised garden bed to make a sandbox for chickens to dust bath in the shade or have dry sand if it rains.

Sand box dust bath. Some people use a plastic kiddie swim pool filled with sand in their coop.

We bought two Orbit Misters from hardware store and it was a waste of money. The small mister holes got clogged from our hard Calif mineral water and the clogging made the couplers leak bad, so we switched to a much cheaper sprinkler we put in the shade of a canopy & ran water real slow all day for chickens in heatwaves. They like the dripping water and stand in the puddles to cool their feet.

Every owner, every chicken, every environment is different and each of us figures what works best for our chickens. It helps to talk with others to see if any of the ideas can work. For me the misters didn't work while others like them.

 

[MayBerg]

Our garage gets hotter than the house even with the garage door open so it's not an option for us to put chickens in there.

My DH chose to have chickens so he takes care of them w/me. I fell and broke my arm big bone in May so he took off work to care for me AND the chickens this past month. I type w/ one finger for now.
View attachment 3865884

I put up 3 popup canopies in the chicken side of the yard and planted pomegranate and lemon trees for chicken's shade. I buried the canopy legs in the ground so they don't blow down in the wind -- the covers tear but the canopy frame stays in place. Then we re-cover the frame top with tarp and giant grip clips every year. The buried canopy frame legs are buried permanently in-ground so not possible to fold up the canopy to put on new expensive fitted canopy covers so we just get cheap tarps and it works well for over 10 years.
View attachment 3865909

Re-covered canopies with tarps & grip clips
View attachment 3865893

I made two raised garden beds out of paver stones
View attachment 3865899

And under one 10'x10' canopy I used a 4'x4' cedar wood raised garden bed to make a sandbox for chickens to dust bath in the shade or have dry sand if it rains.
View attachment 3865920

Sand box dust bath. Some people use a plastic kiddie swim pool filled with sand in their coop.
View attachment 3865926

We bought two Orbit Misters from hardware store and it was a waste of money. The small mister holes got clogged from our hard Calif mineral water and the clogging made the couplers leak bad, so we switched to a much cheaper sprinkler we put in the shade of a canopy & ran water real slow all day for chickens in heatwaves. They like the dripping water and stand in the puddles to cool their feet.
View attachment 3865923

Every owner, every chicken, every environment is different and each of us figures what works best for our chickens. It helps to talk with others to see if any of the ideas can work. For me the misters didn't work while others like them.

Sorry you broke your humerus. Hope you are healing well and fast.
Both my coops are under shaded trees. I am thinking abt putting a shade cloth over the rest of the run to keep the area cool. If it's not a dog, my husband doesn't care. He doesn't know anything ant chickens but often find himself giving advice on how to deal with my chicken eventhough my mom raised chickens all her life and I grew up around chickens. I find it amusing since his advice do not translate to chickenese But he built the coop, I can't be too rough on him.

I bought the small one from TSC and he built the big one.

Since this pic was taken, he changed the roost bars to 2×4 and cut the back of the coop added chicken wires to create more ventilation.