Heat and chickens - how to manage?

[serama breeder]

just make sure they have fresh water at all times and also mist them with a hose

 

[stormylady]

Even though you just put them in their coop, are they used to spending the day outside? If they aren't used to being out all day I'd only do a short time in the morning hours and then bring them back in to the basement. If they have been spending their days outdoors though I have some advice to help them with the high heat.

Make sure there is plenty of shade for them and loose dirt for them to dig a cool spot in. Normally, I wet the ground for them when it is super hot, but I skip it when it is that humid because the extra dampness makes it hard to breath. If you have any empty 2 liter bottles, milk jugs or even regular sized water bottles, fill them with water and freeze them tonight. Tomorrow in the heat of the day you can set those around the run for them to lay against to cool off. I place the frozen 16 or 20 oz bottles inside the waters so they have nice cool water all day. Set up a box fan so that they can lay in the path of the breeze if they'd like. Provide cold treats- watermelon is a favorite. You can also add the animal electrolytes from the feed store to their water if you have any handy.

Thats a great idea about putting the frozen bottles of water in the waterers! Thanks

 

[wherry]

Brought them back in for the hottest day -0 didn't want them to get the double shock of heat and a new home... Been outside since and seem to be acclimating well. Were going to get some more heat over the weekend so it will be nice to see how they have progressed. They are 8 weeks old now so ...

 

[wherry]

The temps are up again and I have a few more comments/questions:

1. Even though the chicks have a large covered run they seem to want to stay inside the coop during the hottest part of the day. The chicken door is open and it seems to be "breezy" but should I shut the door so they can't get back in or just let them self-regulate where they want to be during the day? It concerns me that they go inside and start panting...

2. Still having issues with the heat with my silver laced wyandottes. Doesn't matter if they are in or out the poor things just seem "hot" all the time.

3. Been giving them ice in the waterer - changing out the water twice a day, giving them cool watermelon in the afternoon. Should I be doing more? Don't have a mister or electricity in the coop to run a fan and the area is generally breezy and only gets sun 1/2 day. They DO NOT like pans of water to soak their feet in so I stopped doing that. They are almost 11 weeks so I am not concerned about egg production. But still I want to keep them healthy and not so stressed by the heat...

Thanks to all who posted - it is awesome to have this resource.

 

[CT_Todd]

How about a cheap redneck air conditioner?
Place a few 2 liter frozen bottles of water right in front of a blowing fan...For those that are doing the fan solution and using frozen water, why not combine the 2?

 

[TexasLea]

I do the fan and water bottles but I often place the ice behind the fan as well as in front. I set the frozen bottles against the back of the fan and then about 3 -4 feet away in front of it.

 

[centrarchid]

The temps are up again and I have a few more comments/questions:

1. Even though the chicks have a large covered run they seem to want to stay inside the coop during the hottest part of the day. The chicken door is open and it seems to be "breezy" but should I shut the door so they can't get back in or just let them self-regulate where they want to be during the day? It concerns me that they go inside and start panting...

2. Still having issues with the heat with my silver laced wyandottes. Doesn't matter if they are in or out the poor things just seem "hot" all the time.

3. Been giving them ice in the waterer - changing out the water twice a day, giving them cool watermelon in the afternoon. Should I be doing more? Don't have a mister or electricity in the coop to run a fan and the area is generally breezy and only gets sun 1/2 day. They DO NOT like pans of water to soak their feet in so I stopped doing that. They are almost 11 weeks so I am not concerned about egg production. But still I want to keep them healthy and not so stressed by the heat...

Thanks to all who posted - it is awesome to have this resource.

Allow them to self regulate. Even though ambient air temperature maybe hotter inside coop, they are staying out of direct sun since they absorb more heat from direct sunlight. Even light colored birds might as well be dark when it comes to absorbing sunlight.


Some breeds are more heavily feathered than others and wyandottes are poorly suited for high heat environments because of all the feathers.

 

[Kikiriki]

One thing I have not seen anyone post is putting shrubbery in the chicken run. The benefit is that green leaves absorb 3/5 of sunlight greatly reducing the amount of heat on soil. The chickens will dig out a hole into the cooler soil under shrubs, too. Hibiscus is not toxic (check varities, though), it goes dormant over winter, so in the cold they will still get sunlight. The down side is that it does have shallow roots that can be more easily damaged by scratching. A mulberry could be kept pruned to a nice shape. Philodendren is toxic, but I have two and my chickens like to hide under those giant leaves in the dirt and have not eaten them, but thay have access to better greens all day: if that was all they had avaiable, I would worry about them eating it. Those might be better for outside your run, if they grow in your area. Crab apple is safe and would also give them limbs to roost upon. Apples can also be kept easily pruned to a shape you like. Areca palms are safe, too, make nice shade (but will survive in full sun to full shade) and you could keep them in pots to move into the house over winter...i'm in central Florida and mine got hit by a bad cold snap: they did come back from the roots. You can half bury the pots to keep them stable, and keep the soil in the pots from drying out. You could even do them as a removable pot inside a permanently buried bigger pot, so they can just be lifted out.

Keeping a plant in pots has a benefit that if the chickens start to take off leaves, you can swap out the plants and let them recover from being chicken pruned!

 

[centrarchid]

Plants can be very effective in deflecting heat but poultry will damage roots in run by digging even if they do not peck directly at plant. Plants would be very effective if grown to shade from outside the run / coop.