High Heat Index

[Franklin Chick]

I have plenty of shade. Planning to put a fan in the coop and give the girls lots of cold water and some frozen fruit. Other than those things what is the best thing to do for them when it is really hot. I notice that during they day they are still really active. They are still eating plenty and drinking a lot. But tonight when I went out to turn out the lights and close the coop up for the the night I noticed that a lot of them had their mouths open. It is really hot here but it is not so bad at night mid 70s which I think is not too bad. But during the day I am concerned as we are going into triple digit heat indexes. Does anyone use a mister and how does that seem to work during the day?

 

[The Moonshiner]

Ours have lots of shade and we keep cool fresh water out at all times but that's it.
We're expected to hit triple digit actual temps tomorrow.
It is miserable here.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Where is your location? A picture of your set up? Wondering about the ventilation in your coop.

 

[townchicks]

I use a mister when it gets over 95 here. They seem to like it, they don't stand in the mist, but hover around the edges. It also dampens the dirt, and they love to dig a hole and lay in the cooler damp ground. I think it's worth it. We had 104 last week and the girls did fine with the mister going most of the day.

 

[Mimi13]

Ditto to both! Central Alabama has been in the triple digits for heat index for several days now.
Lots of shade and cool clean water seem to make mine happy during the day. I have a fan in the coop, that pulls air through the windows, which seems to cut the thick, humid, still air when they go to roost.
This heat is rough on everything that resides outside. My dogs have a kiddie pool to lay in and my horses love to roll in the outer edges of our pond. In an hour or so mud is caked on them like hippos.

 

[Kathy Golla]

I learned through a post on byc that birds don’t drink water per se to cool down. They prefer cool water if they are going to drink it.
So I’ve stopped focusing a lot on cold water and have turned to what townchicks is doing with the misters. You can get a misting set up for like $25.
My girls do not love the misters ( we just started it the last heat wave), but it sure cools down the area.
Right now cause they don’t love the misters, in the afternoon I turn the misters on for 15 mins every hour if it gets above 90. Then they spend time making holes in the dlm in the pen to lay in.
I also have a box fan pointing into the pen to create some air circulation.
I have have six hens and I have found each hen has her favorite way to stay cool.
A couple of hens absolutely love to wade in a very shallow storage tote lid. I add frozen water bottles to keep the water cool. Hens sweat through their feet.
The people I know who have lost hens to heat stroke have been when the hens go to roost at night and the coop is too hot. I run a small clip fan on them in the coop then turn it off from the outside about 10 pm. I have a thermometer inside the coop and when that reads about 78 degrees I turn the fan off.

 

[micstrachan]

If you spray the ground down with a hose, they can dig down to find cool dirt to sit in. In the shade of course.