Chickens and the heat......

[ihvpower]

Might seem like a silly question but will chickens cool off in a "kiddie" pool? I've put two new roof vents in my hen-house and there's a nice big window but it is still hot as hell in there! My older girls go outside and seem ok in the run but the younger girls seem afraid to go out with the bigger chickens. They don
t seem to have a problem inside the hen house at all. Today, the temp must have been at 100 degrees inside. I installed a fan to help circulate air but was wondering if they would cool off in water at all? I know they love a good dust bath to cool but still.......

Any ideas?

Nancy

 

[canada-goose]

In my experience, chickens don't like going in water, not even on very hot days. Silly birds.

 

[dichotomymom]

Not that I've ever seen, although if the run gets puddles, they will wade a little for worms (as long as it doesn't get past their legs)

 

[ihvpower]

Thank you..how hot so you think too hot it?? They are doing some good panting and vying for the fan!

 

[elmo]

At the suggestion of our experienced chicken keeping friend, we put out low plastic plant saucers filled with water. The chickens stand in them to cool off their feet. You don't want to make the water too deep, though. We also run a mister.

Boy, is it hot here in North Texas. I'm dreading the rest of this summer.

 

[noodleroo]

We had a chicken killed by an alligator. She would run and play in the shallow water in one of our ponds chasing minnows. It looked so cute. None of the other chickens ever got in the water. I do like the idea of little saucers of water. That might help...

 

[LittleFeat]

I just lost my first chicken today and the only reason I can figure is the heat. She had no other signs on her and had come out and down the ramp to the pen this morning just as usual and a couple of hours later I was playing with my dogs in the yard and glanced over and noticed her lying on her back dead. Of course it had to be my favorite girl too....my little EE Frisbee.

Right now our temp is 97.

 

[Cynthia12]

I have three different waterers in the coop area for my chicks...and plenty of shade that they can get to.

 

[MissJenny]

I'd suggest shade, fans, shallow pans of water and pop bottles filled with water and frozen -- they'll huddle around them to cool off. These temps are high and then poor birds are wrapped in feather ticks.

Jenny

 

[Chicken0Boy]

I built my coop in the shade, and I built a real fan in! The chickens seem to lolove it in our 90-100 degree summer days.