Colorado

[samsr]

WATER drink lots of water. Man I do not envy you having to do all that in this heat. All of my chickens are wilted in the shade right now. Try not to over do it in the sun! Heat exhaustion is miserable. Be careful and take care of yourself in this endeavor.

I definately have the water thing down really well. Being ex military and having been raised in the south where you can cut the humidity with a knife. I much prefer the normally dry heat here. Dont get me wrong i dont like the heat but this beats the humid heat of TN anyday.
I got the food truck, car and my pick up moved and then tackled the coop/shed with the help of my truck. My wife thought i was nuts. It didnt take too long. I have the feeder hanging up in there also. I put the coop next to my shop so the run will get some shade in the afternoon.
I spent the last three hours of daylight trying to take care of some mowing that has needed done for a while now. 5 acres of weeds is a bit much for the old riding mower. It had quite a work out going through the tall weeds. I think i will borrow the neighbors tractor and brush hog and take care of the rest.
There is way to much to do and only one of me to try and accomish it. Wouldnt change it for the world. Country living is far better than living in the city.

 

[COChix]

How to beat the heat? Ours love a green drink of frozen kale and cucumber blended to their liking , but they're a bunch of Boulder chickens. We have done it before and they love it.

I saw this on Pinterest, never tried it but I would think it would work.

Cut a hole big enough for a pop bottle in the roof of coop, freeze water bottle and then place in coop in evening to help reduce the heat inside the coop. This shot shows the same concept also adds natural light into the coop as well.

You could reach the same outcome by freezing gallon size jugs and just placing them into the coop at dusk. Should drop the temp a few degrees. Saves the roof!

 

[21hens-incharge]

COChix,
Glad to hear they are all doing well. Nice looking birds there. Today should be a bit cooler thank goodness. I may have to do some jug freezing since the coop was still over 80 degrees at 9:30 last night. Poor girls were still panting and hanging the wings wide. I am going to try and rig up a fan in the window today. I think if I make a frame and set it in that they wont be able to knock it down. I will have it pulling air into the coop.

samsr,
You have far more gumption than I do for sure. The heat was brutal. Nice to have the shade for them chunky kids you are getting.

Try and stay cool everyone.
I actually made myself a little sick in the heat yesterday and I was inside before noon. I am such a wimp in the heat.

 

[COChix]

COChix,
Glad to hear they are all doing well. Nice looking birds there. Today should be a bit cooler thank goodness. I may have to do some jug freezing since the coop was still over 80 degrees at 9:30 last night. Poor girls were still panting and hanging the wings wide. I am going to try and rig up a fan in the window today. I think if I make a frame and set it in that they wont be able to knock it down. I will have it pulling air into the coop.

Try and stay cool everyone.
I actually made myself a little sick in the heat yesterday and I was inside before noon. I am such a wimp in the heat.

Thanks, I have a gallon jug in the freezer as we speak, I am going to put two of them in the main coop tonight since the youngsters will be joining the adults tonight. They got evicted from their cushy digs with Mamacita and chicks. Anyway, put a hygrometer in the coop again so I can monitor the temps. I will post results of test run.

Also along the line of beating the heat......get small plastic water bottles and freeze, then pop them into the chickens waterers on hot days. Cold water encourages them to drink more, which is a good thing. Also you can freeze electrolyte mix in a chunk (I use small jello molds) and then plop into water containers as well. I have seen people provide a small shallow dish of cool water in the shade for the chickens to stand in. I have never done that so not sure if that works or not. At least we are only suppose to hit high 80's today.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Just saw this thread and the Chicken AC DIY: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/992622/are-my-chickens-overheating

Depending on how much of a paycheck I get next month, I think I might try making one of these.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Thinking I could do that pretty easily Uzi. Thanks for the link.
Gonna have to dig some soda bottles out of the recycle anyway.

 

[nate1the1great1]

Hello fellow Coloradians.

We have some Grass hay for sale for $8 a bale, here in Penrose. It is first cutting hay, and has about 10% alfalfa mixed in it since our goats and sheep and cows ate most of it. Plz pm me for more info.

 

[cluckylady812]

Hello fellow Coloradians.

We have some Grass hay for sale for $8 a bale, here in Penrose. It is first cutting hay, and has about 10% alfalfa mixed in it since our goats and sheep and cows ate most of it. Plz pm me for more info.

I'm just south of you in Rockvale. I will pass along the info

 

[uzisuzuki]

Sure glad today was cooler than yesterday! That heat is not something I'm ready for. My little sub flock of chicks integrated themselves today while I was at work. That was a surprise when I got home, all 5 of them together & not looking like they were in Thunderdome. That definitely makes things easier at night for me (don't have to set up a travel crate inside the coop for the youngest 3). I do think there might still be problems putting the 2 males together & am considering keeping each set of 5 separate. No fighting yet, Memnoch still flies away from Odysseus, but he keeps trying to dominate Odysseus's hens & that's gonna be a problem I think later on. Memnoch is heading towards being much bigger than Odysseus & I'd just rather they not kill each other. I might put the 2 of them in a bachelor pad since that'll probably be easier for me to build on my own than another coop. Just trying to think ahead since I kinda lost that ability with the brain injury.

Also, I'm sorta regretting having my photo of Lila on the front page now. I could do without condescending comments about how I can't take care of chickens if a dog ate one of my chicks. I mean, I already felt bad about that, I still feel bad about that. I don't understand why people do that. I appreciate the kindness & tact everyone has shown me in this thread. It's helped immensely in difficult times & when I've had newbie questions & when I just wanted to talk about how much I enjoy my chickens & didn't have anyone else to do that with. Thank you.

 

[nate1the1great1]

I'm just south of you in Rockvale. I will pass along the info

Thank You