Heat strokes lurking!!

[crystalchik]

Im here in central Florida, today it measured over 113*F in open air and it feels even worse in my coops. I dont know what to do. It gets hotter and hotter by the day and I know I am going to start having heat strokes on my hands. The poor things just sit there wings out beak agape panting. We just get staight sun most of the time, hardly ever cloudy or rainy. Today I did the rain dance and it is drizzling now (Im thanking God).
I have two fans set up but just circulates hot air. Even the breezes are blistering hot... its like a convection oven. I thought about spraying the coops down but most would agree that humid heat is worse than dry heat. I tried it once and that was exactly the case, they coops turned into saunas. I want to build my own cooling system for these poor birds because I cant afford an expensive one...any ideas. I had a few heat strokes last year, luckily I didnt lose anybody though.

Thanks for suggestions!
Crystalchik & the flock

 

[chickenzoo]

I have lost a few already this year, even with shade cloth and fans. I would like to know also some suggestions. I thought about misters, but then again the humidity factor. Frozen water bottles in the pen can help some... but with 300 chickens - that's a lot of bottles.

 

[mylittlechickpea]

I had ready a post yesterday that people freeze water in those big 2 liter coke bottles and then put them out in the coop for the chickies to lay against. Hope someone else chimes in, too.

 

[Zahboo]

We've already hit a 100 which is not bad, but with humidity it feels like 110-115. We just use a LOT of fans, LOT of shade and feed frozen fruit, veggies and put ice in the waterers. If you put ice packs in front of the fan it blows the cold air.

 

[MaKettle]

I also heard about the frozen ice in milk jugs or 2 liter bottles. If I am not mistaken, I also thought I read something about frozen molds with treats in them

 

[hipeatall]

Last year I filled some shallow pans up with water to make little pools for the chickens to stand in and cool off. They used these and really seemed to enjoy them... I think it helped them stay cooler and will be doing this again this year.