help chickens cope with very hot weather!!

[Nutcase]

I live in a very tropical climate so the humidity is almost always very high. I'm afraid my chickens might overheat. They have adequate shade and water supplies but they are still hot during the day. I want to help them so please post your tips!

PS I just had a thought. The coop has plenty of shade but the roof is corrugated iron. Metal conducts heat - right?

 

[sumi]

I lived in South Africa in a semi-dessert region for a few years and the temperatures there went up to and over 130* occasionally. We didn't have a problem with our hens in the heat. We made sure they had plenty shade, we put up shade cloth to reduce the direct sun on their coop, made sure they had plenty water and I also made puddles in their run for them to cool their feet. They loved the puddles. If your hosepipe reaches the run put it in there and let the water run for a minute. Don't be alarmed if your hens eat the mud LOL. Mine loved it for some reason. You can feed them watermelon for treats and put a fan in the coop if it's really hot in there. If the sun shines on the coop's roof paint it white. It will reflect the sun's rays and reduce the heat inside. (We did that with our outbuildings in SA. It made a huge difference)

 

[Nutcase]

Thankyou! I'll see what I can do

 

[swproject]

Being in Darwin you should know all about "Tropical Roofs", put up some 90% blockout shade cloth or another layer of tin about 150mm (to allow ventilation and air to circulate) above the existing roof, essentially shading the coop - I am in Broome and you see lots of the permernant caravans set up like this.
The fan is a good idea too, perhaps you could get a small solar panel and invertor from a camping store to run it, or they may even have solar powered fans already set up for sale.