Help With The Heat!!!

[Amber902]

I really need help for my girls. Where I live we have very little water and it is always hot. It has been over 100 degrees for the past two weeks and is only getting hotter. This weekend will be 112 and Monday will be 116. My girls are panting and suffering. They have all stopped laying eggs at this point.

Their entire run is covered by shade cloth and there are several watering stations for them around. I also have a misting system that covers half of the run. Please help me, today I went out and one of my girls scared me with how bad she looked. I’m new at chicken keeping and just don’t want them suffering. One of my girls, Cayenne, has already passed from the heat. I don’t want to lose anymore.

 

[Eggcessive]

Where are you located and what breeds do you have? Are any overweight? Is your coop shaded, open, or have a lot of windows for ventilation? Pictures can help. That is hot weather for any chickens, but shade and ventilation is very important. I place shallow shaded pans of water half full of water for the chickens to stand in and cool off. Many use frozen water bottles in the waterers to cool them.

 

[alinas2010]

We freeze Treats for them in water, I wet down the ground surrounding their run to try to cool the air, freeze big jugs of water cover those with a damp towel and put out for them to lean against. We put a couple frozen jugs of water in their coop at night, too, to try to cool the air. Fans help circulate air. Sometimes shade cloth doesn’t quite shade enough and something less transparent is needed to provide shade. We spray down bushes and low tree branches that they sit under to provide some cool air, too. I’m sorry your girls are suffering, the heat is terrible this summer

 

[Amber902]

Where are you located and what breeds do you have? Are any overweight? Is your coop shaded, open, or have a lot of windows for ventilation? Pictures can help. That is hot weather for any chickens, but shade and ventilation is very important. I place shallow shaded pans of water half full of water for the chickens to stand in and cool off. Many use frozen water bottles in the waterers to cool them.

I live in California in a Zone 10 area. I currently have a Silkie, RIRs, an Ameraucana, and two Marans. The coop is shaded and I am planning to change theirs to a more open one this weekend to hopefully get more airflow to them.

I have placed frozen bottles around for them but I’ll definitely add some shallow water pans now! None of my chickens are overweight but all of them have stopped laying which has concerned me. I read that the heat can do that but I am still scared.

 

[Amber902]

We freeze Treats for them in water, I wet down the ground surrounding their run to try to cool the air, freeze big jugs of water cover those with a damp towel and put out for them to lean against. We put a couple frozen jugs of water in their coop at night, too, to try to cool the air. Fans help circulate air. Sometimes shade cloth doesn’t quite shade enough and something less transparent is needed to provide shade. We spray down bushes and low tree branches that they sit under to provide some cool air, too. I’m sorry your girls are suffering, the heat is terrible this summer

Thank you! I’ve given them frozen bottles but I’ll start freezing some jugs now for them too

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

I run my sprinklers again at around 2:30. I spray down their dust bathing area. I give them Kirkland frozen blueberries (less expensive) at the heat of the day around 5:00 pm. It's super-hot today but the breeze is keeping the air moving and they don't seem as stressed. Can you get a fan in the coop. I am going to add one if the breeze goes away in the next few days.

 

[Eggcessive]

Watch out that shade cloth doesn’t get too dusty or dirty, since that can decrease the ventilation air holes. It can be hard to keep chickens in such hot environments. The folks in Arizona probably have a lot of those issues as well.

 

[Amber902]

I run my sprinklers again at around 2:30. I spray down their dust bathing area. I give them Kirkland frozen blueberries (less expensive) at the heat of the day around 5:00 pm. It's super-hot today but the breeze is keeping the air moving and they don't seem as stressed. Can you get a fan in the coop. I am going to add one if the breeze goes away in the next few days.

There’s no outlets nearby so I was planning to buy one of those battery powered fans for them. This way I can pull it out every summer