Chickens Are Hot!

[sphillips]

Hi all! So, it's finally summer here in southern New Mexico. Over the last several weeks, it's been in the low to mid 80's, which is cool for late April/May. Well, this week we hit the 90's, 100's for the next few days. Much hotter than usual. My chickens are hot. Went out to check them yesterday afternoon, all are panting. They have lots of shade, and I did put some pans of cool water out for them to stand in. They haven't figured that out yet, but I am concerned. The heat isn't supposed to last but this week, but it will be a very hot summer.
My big girls are Production Reds, about 12 weeks old. I thought they were heat tolerant. Don't seem to be handling this well. My bantams are all lightly feathered breeds, except for the two Cochins I have. They are panting as well. What to do? Should I be concerned? My last batch of chickens were in an old horse barn, and had air conditioning. The barn is gone, and I now have two smaller coops, A/C isn't a option now.

 

[RUNuts]

This is their first time in their life experiencing heat. Let them acclimate? Is the weather just warming up where you are? Mine get hot also when the weather changes, but like us, they eventually adapt. Uncomfortable, but adapt.

 

[lazy gardener]

Several summers ago, my chicks in the grow out pen were about 7 weeks old IIRC. The first warm day of summer like weather arrived. I checked on the chicks, and found several of them stumbling around. My first reaction: Oh no! Marek's dz. has found my flock. Second reaction: What could they have gotten into that would poison them? Third reaction: I've been working outside, am hot, thirsty, most likely dehydrated, and I feel a bit faint and dizzy. So, I came inside, did a quick google search for home made pedialyte or gatorade. Mixed up a batch, drank some, and gave the rest to the chicks and adults. Within 1/2 hour, they were all acting fine.

When birds are hot, they can't sweat. They compromise by drinking more. They then poop more, and it is mainly liquid. This throws their electrolyte balance off.

End to my long story: In addition to their shade, (if you can let them free range, so much the better in a hot situation) you might dampen their dust bath spots, give them some electrolyte solution, but always make sure they have fresh plain water available. Hang a sheet dangling in a water container in the shade, blow a fan across it. The evaporation will cool the air. Try putting some scratch grains in the water pans. Start out with just 1/2" of water. I plan to use a kid's plastic toboggan for that purpose this summer. My birds have never gotten into the "wading" trend. But, I've been putting their feed bowls in the toboggan occasionally, so this will make the toboggan a familiar object. They were standing in it the other day.

 

[Sherry Fay]

I have also heard of people freezing some vegetables or the chickens favorite treats into ice cubes. They will peck it to get to the treats and also get cooled down.

 

[aart]

You should be able to employ misters in your dry climate.
Wish I could here.

My birds are confined with no great deep shade for last half of the day so I have to be vigilant during heat waves. I do have shade cloths up on run, which helps, but still not deep shade.

I put out large shallow pans of ice cubes late afternoon, they walk in and sit on them and sip the water as it slowly melts...used to add water but they would gorge on too much too fast, I have seen a chicken suffer from an 'ice cream headache'.

To help cool down the coop I also have a box fan in the east window of coop, where it's shady most the day, and turn it on late afternoon...blows cooler air into coop and pushes hot air out.

To determine heat stress levels I go by activity level, if panting and wing holding seems extreme, I throw out a few treats to see if everyone is moving well.

Electrolytes can really help.
Had hen suffer heat exhaustion/stroke one summer, she was standing stock still and let me walk right up to her(not at all normal for this bird). I determined she could not see out of one eye at all and the other was dicey. I started hydrating her with Qtip soaked in Sav-a-Chik solution held against the side of her beak, had to rub under her beak and the front of her neck to get her to swallow at first. Did this until she got too stressed, about 10 minutes, put her in a cage with a fan nearby to rest. Repeated this about every hour for half the day until she would drink out of a cup held in front of her. She recovered and I also gave the rest of the flock a dose of Sav-a-Chik solution in an open waterer(I use horizontal nipples on waterers), it really seemed to reduce the heat stress so now do that regularly when the heat waves are extreme and days long. Just a half gallons worth every couple days.

 

[click cluck]

My chickens are about the same age and I have about 100 degree weather outside right now. I have put extra shade in the run and also added a cement mixing tub lined with bricks and water for them to stand in/on, if they don't like being in the water have the water line lower then the bricks, it soaks up through them. I had to put them in it a few times and they figured it out lol. One of my EE thinks she's a duck and loves splashing in the water!
You can try to make a diy air conditioner, I plan to make one of these soon, Ill link one of the best videos I've found,

You can also search on youtube "diy mini swamp cooler". Hope this helps a bit, good luck!

-click cluck

 

[dunnmom]

I like to ice their drinking water which is in an insulated water dispenser with a Tap N Drink installed. I also like to freeze bottles of water, and put them in a wading "pool". My chickens don't wade much either, but they do like drinking out of it, and eating bugs that land in the water. They keep themselves cool by digging deep holes in their run, and sitting in the cooler dirt below the surface. I also keep their treat consumption to mainly greens and bugs so they won't put on any extra weight.

 

[aart]

Ill link one of the best videos I've found,

Agrees. Good design and good video.
Wonders how water tight that 8" duct is?
One of the bad things about swamp coolers is that they add humidity to the air(when open ice is used)....real air conditioners cool the air but also remove humidity.
I don't think I've ever seen a swamp cooler with an internal pipe like that.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Chickens don't sweat but they do pant and by doing so water in their breath expels hot air from their bodies. A panting chicken is only doing chicken things like you and I do human things when we sweat.

 

[Life is Good!]

At some point, the chicks will acclimate to the local climate.

However, until then, maybe some of these 'tricks' will help?
Freeze water bottles (the thicker gatorade ones live longer 'round claws and beaks) and place in shady spot. For our 20hens, I put in at least 5 water bottles - and the hens lay against them if they're really hot.

I've also made home-made Sav-a-chick formula...I think I found the 'recipe' on the forums somewhere (try the search feature). Placed the liquid in a waterer's red base (no top - but it was a large base and at the time I had fewer chicks!) which encouraged chickens to explore and drink.

If you can - get a double window fan (people one with two fans mounted side by side)...put it in the coop's window...one fan blows in, one fan blows out - that cools the coop quickly.

I too have plopped a fan in the middle of the run on high with a frozen gallon of water in front of it...that was a popular thing! We've made the 'DIY a/c unit' out of a 5gallon bucket - which works for small spaces like a coop, but not for the large run.

I've also put out an oversized patio umbrella to increase their shade - I didn't have shade cloth, but I had an old umbrella (a spoke was broken, so it was a bit lopsided - the hens didn't care!). Worked well once they figured out it wasn't going to get them...serious stink eye about that multi-colored stripy 'tree' which magically appeared in their run!

Good luck. It's always a challenge to keep chicks warm or cool. Same as any other livestock (or people for that matter!).