Heat and chickens - how to manage?

[canesisters]

My girls moved from the brooder to the coop a couple of weeks ago. It's an 8'x8' shed with a wire door (4'wide) and a large wire opening near the roof across from the door, so good ventilation. The coop is in the shade but there isn't a run yet so they have to stay in the building. There is also one window that is open with wire to screen it.
Yesterday (mid to high 90's) I came home from work and went right over to check them. They were sitting in the sand/gravel floor and a few were panting. I topped off the waterers (2) and added ice. Then I hooked up a fan to blow across the floor and set a small litter pan with about 2" of water in it on the floor. I don't know if the fan is really helpful since chickens don't sweat like we do but I thought that keeping the air moving would be helpful.
They had NO interest in the pan of water. I picked up a couple of them and stood them in it - you would've thought that it was full of boiling water the way they screamed and flapped!
Today it's supposed to be just as hot and humid. I topped off the waterers and added ice (I know, the ice will be melted before it even gets hot... ). I also froze a mixing bowl full of water last night and put that giant ice cube in the litter-pan-pool - and left the fan running.
I like the idea of freezing several bottles and leaving them laying around... How long do you suppose it takes them to melt??? I'm not home to check on them all day. I leave around 5am and get back around 4pm so they're on they're own for the worst of it.
I guess that the best thing I can do for them in the Summer heat is going to be getting that run up so they can choose to be inside or out - whatever feels best to them.

 

[Grateful Dad]

yup all good ideas.. my ladys were panting alot yesterday, but they found some good shade in the forsythia and layed about .
they are 12 weeks and getting pretty darn big, all orps and jersey giants.
I especially like the idea of a wading pool to wet their feet in.
stay cool!

 

[Mtn Laurel]

My girls moved from the brooder to the coop a couple of weeks ago. It's an 8'x8' shed with a wire door (4'wide) and a large wire opening near the roof across from the door, so good ventilation. The coop is in the shade but there isn't a run yet so they have to stay in the building. There is also one window that is open with wire to screen it.
Yesterday (mid to high 90's) I came home from work and went right over to check them. They were sitting in the sand/gravel floor and a few were panting. I topped off the waterers (2) and added ice. Then I hooked up a fan to blow across the floor and set a small litter pan with about 2" of water in it on the floor. I don't know if the fan is really helpful since chickens don't sweat like we do but I thought that keeping the air moving would be helpful.
They had NO interest in the pan of water. I picked up a couple of them and stood them in it - you would've thought that it was full of boiling water the way they screamed and flapped!
Today it's supposed to be just as hot and humid. I topped off the waterers and added ice (I know, the ice will be melted before it even gets hot... ). I also froze a mixing bowl full of water last night and put that giant ice cube in the litter-pan-pool - and left the fan running.
I like the idea of freezing several bottles and leaving them laying around... How long do you suppose it takes them to melt??? I'm not home to check on them all day. I leave around 5am and get back around 4pm so they're on they're own for the worst of it.
I guess that the best thing I can do for them in the Summer heat is going to be getting that run up so they can choose to be inside or out - whatever feels best to them.

They seem to love the fan and have been hanging out on their house ladder which is directly in front of the fan.

The big frozen bottles work really well but I don't know how long they take to thaw. I put them in the tractor as they went to roost last night and they were thawed this morning.

As my gals are so new to the tractor, they'd been sleeping in the nesting boxes the last two nights. I want to break them of that so I put a half gallon bottle of frozen water in each nesting box so they wouldn't have access to it. Three went to the roost but one decided to roost on the top edge of the nesting box with her butt right over the frozen bottles! [silly me, didn't put roofs on the nesting boxes]

While I really didn't want her there, I let her be. She had the coolest spot in the house!

 

[TexasLea]

canesisters,

I love the idea of freezing a mixing bowl of water and then popping it out like a giant icecube! I've got several big plastic bowls from Wal-Mart that are soft enough plastic that this idea would work. I'm going to try it. I bet they will all be taking turns playing queen of the mountain on it until it melts.

I usually set my frozen bottles out in the heat of the day and they take a good 2-3 hours to fully thaw. Unless they are right in the sun, they hold some coolness to them for quite awhile even after they are melted.

I agree getting the run done ASAP would be the most helpful thing for your chickens. Once it is up, there is something else you can do that will help them while you are gone during the day. Get a mist system. They sell them at home improvment stores and online. It's a long tube with a series of misting nozzles that you can hang inside a corner of your run. It just hooks up to your water hose so you could turn it on in the morning before you leave and leave it going all day for them. I hang mine in a shady area, but not the prime shady spot. The birds do like it, but they don't want to just sit under it full time.

 

[canesisters]

I set up a mister system last year for the horse - she wanted NO part of it and all I ended up with was a sweaty horse and a big mud hole.. But once I get the run up, I think I'll try it again for the girls. You know, I bet that if Gail (the horse) sees the chickens enjoying it, she'll climb the fence to get to it.

Now that I think of if.. I wonder how long a couple of giant ice cubes will last in the water trough... hummmmm

 

[TexasLea]

I also freeze the regular 16oz water bottles to drop inside the chickens waterers. I bet for the horse you could do milk jugs and use those in the trough. Or maybe just freeze some carrots and apples into the mixing bowls and dump them out in a shady spot for her.

 

[ChickNhood]

I also freeze the regular 16oz water bottles to drop inside the chickens waterers. I bet for the horse you could do milk jugs and use those in the trough. Or maybe just freeze some carrots and apples into the mixing bowls and dump them out in a shady spot for her.

i could see the chickens enjoy this also

 

[chickencowranch]

On a normal day I let mine out at 4pm, but yesterday and today I let them out at 7 am. They have more shade outside the coop and run then in the coop. I set a pan of water near their hangout place so they wouldn't have to go hunting for some.

 

[Kikiriki]

Baking soda in their water can help as well if you do not have the electrolytes on hand. I made the mistake of buying a mix that makes thousands of gallons and have no idea how much to add for a quart of water!

I added baking soda until the water started to taste salty, then dumped a little water out and put in fresh, so it did not taste salty, so I dont have exact amounts. i added a few grains of epsom salt as it helps absorb magnesium (but it is used to loosen the stool, so do not add too much!) (and, no, I didnt drink from their water container, I mixed in a dish in the house!)

I stopped feeding starter/grower because of the high corn content (cant find an exact percentage but it ranges from 45% to 60%). I give them bird seed, human oatmeal, and dried meal worms, plus they spend hours in the yard during the day. They get a lot of bugs in the yard, and all the greens they care for. They get occassional treats, like bread or meat, in the evening, and In a couple of weeks they will start getting crushed egg shell, too. On our hottest and most humid days now they do much much better than they had been before I changed their diet.

There is only a little cracked corn in the bird seed mix and they do not eat it. It has mainly millet, a skinny black seed I cant remember the name of (looks like a thistle or grass seed), sunflower seed, and canary seed whatever that is... It looks like wheat to me. It was $9 for a 20lb bag, so it is more cost effective than the starter/grower we were getting. The dried mealworms are $5 for a quart size container like chinese takeout soup. They get about a 1/4 of a cup a day for all three pullets. (80% protein dried) They have been on this for about a month and are healthy, well feathered, growing well, and not becoming cannabalistic or feather pickers.

When it gets over 94 degrees and there is no breeze I turn on a fan, but they dont like the sound.

I tried doing the ice bottles, but they would not go near them, nor would they go in a "wading pool". They do like to lie next to the back of the house...it is concrete block that never gets direct sun, so it stays cooler than the air.

Expect them to eat less and drink more in the heat. Their poo will be very watery with less solids, but clear so it is not diharea (ok, i cannot spell it!). They may have more white in the poo than usual, too, so dont panic. Our first hot hot day I saw that and was studying the poo chart for days!

 

[Kikiriki]

I've been a chicken momma for not quite 3 days so have been stalking this board like crazy to figure out what to do. My gals are older - just started laying - and are in a chicken tractor. Yesterday it was mid 90's, today it's supposed to almost hit 100. Here's what I did yesterday - any additional idea's most appreciated! 

Tractor is parked mostly in the shade. Tarp over part of run that is getting sun so that entire tractor and run is shaded. 
Cracked open and secured door to nesting boxes to encourage air flow.
Positioned large fan in front of the run. It's blowing air right into and through the tractor.
Have frozen assorted size bottles - large soda, juice, water, half-gallon milk - and put them in the tractor. Take them out when thawed and rotate bottles. You can tell it helps when you stick your hand in there.
Have added extra sources of water including an additional waterer.
Put a large pan of water in run for them to walk through.
Froze cantelope, honeydew, and beans as treats. 
Feeding them mostly in the cool of the morning and laying off the feed in the heat of the day. 
Spritzes of water in front of the fan - makes a misting effect into the run - during the worst of the heat. The gals don't seem to care for getting wet but they'll just have to get used to it! 

I've been watching for panting or any other different behavior that would indicate heat distress but didn't see any yesterday. Fingers crossed that we manage as well today.

I AM SO THANKFUL for this community of wonderful contributing members that have taken the time to write down how to handle this - and other - situations!  

You have lucky girls! You did a lot of really good things. One more you might consider: the tarp makes shade, but heat still comes off it unless it is reflective. You could use some sheets of styrofoam, use the Great Stuff foam in the can, or even bubble wrap or bags of shipping peanuts to provide insulation from the heat under the tarp. You could also just tape down some aluminium foil sheets (shiney side up). Also check the how the shade changes as the sun moves during the day.... You may need to extend the tarp down the sides if it is only covering the top.