Heat in the Hen House is around 103 deg F in the afternoon, would that affect hatching?

[cocopop]

I live in Central California where it can get hot in the afternoon between 2pm and 6pm. The hen house is near shade in the afternoon but it still gets hot in the hen house around 100 - 104 deg F for a few hours. Would this start the incubation on the eggs in the nest box or kill developing chicks within the 4 hours? Any suggestions on making it cooler?

 

[curious chickee]

Welcome, from another Central Valley chickee.

Completely understand, first you need to collect the eggs every day because these high summer temps will begin incubation if left to themselves. It shouldn't kill the eggs unless we get record breaking temps this summer.

Second, ways to keep chickens cool (I know mine were panting this weekend). A fan in one corner of the coop/ run to help circulate air. I also freeze a 2 liter bottle of water, then I place it in a dish in the coop, remove cap and let the ice melt throughout the day, icy water to cool them down, some use misters in a corner of their coop/ run to allow birds to cool down. I have drip/ bubblers that go to my bushes and trees in the run that I run during the afternoon, my chicks love drinking from the bubblers. Make sure they have plenty of water and it stays cool, either in shade or add ice cubes. I use the deep litter method in my run, so my chicks like to dig down to the cool earth and lay down. Final thing I do is feed the fermented feed, it is basically feed soaked in water which turns into lots of great nutrients and probiotics, I feel the wet feed helps keep them hydrated.

 

[cocopop]

Thanks for the advise. I always thought that keeping their environment wet and being hot will cause them to get sick like coccidiosis? I like the frozen two liter idea cause it will keep living area more dry.

 

[curious chickee]

That's why I use drip. Mine runs for about an hour around three o'clock. It is so dry and hot here that it doesn't get really wet just damp around the drip lines. My run is 22' x 23' and the bubblers/ drip irrigation are just at the base of two trees and two bushes so majority of my run is dry. Also the deep litter method helps to create good bacteria and bugs.

 

[cocopop]

Thanks for the reply I am learning new things. So what is the good bacteria created in deep liter method? Do you use wood chips or straw?

 

[curious chickee]

I use wood chips, straw can break down to quickly and can mold.

Here is a link about deep litter

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/deep-litter-method.html

 

[cocopop]

Thank you for all the useful information. I have straw right now so I will replace it with wood chips tomorrow.

 

[FridayYet]

You can put your wood chips right over the straw if you like. Different textures really help to make a good deep litter.

In my 20 x 20 run, which has a tin roof since it used to be a carport, we have about 6-8 inches of chopped cottonwood leaves, grass clippings, weeds, etc that we just started this year. Since we are so dry here, I need to water it down weekly so it doesn't get too dusty but the deeper it gets, the better it holds the moisture. I'm hoping to get a load of wood chips too, and I'll just throw it over the top of everything. Hopefully by next year I'll start seeing more bugs and worms move in.

The chickens dig down to the damp soil and cool off during the heat of the day.

 

[Tomahawk]

Another Central Valley guy here. I've started using a fan, as my run is not yet complete. There was a lot of panting before the fan. Not so much now.