hot hot hot! Chickens panting

[bendystar]

Hi, this is my first Summer with Chickens and it's hot here today! About 100 degrees. Not much breeze. My chickens have mostly shade. I froze a water bottle for them and put it out there, but they seem clueless- I put a shallow dish of ice cubes (which melted in about 3 minutes) and I hosed down part of the run. Fresh cool water and ice in the water...Anything else I can do for my poor hot gals? Will they be fine in the shade?

 

[LarryPQ]

100 degrees aint nothin'

You are doing everything right. Frozen treats, water to wade in, and possibly a fan could also help.

 

[jjthinkagain]

Fans, fans, fans - get that air moving. And frozen/cold fruit such as watermelon.
JJ

 

[elmo]

It's awful, isn't it?

In addition to all the things mentioned, I've been bringing my feather footed chickens indoors for an air conditioned breather at the hottest part of the afternoon. And the one hen that is still laying in this heat, I let her lay indoors in our bird room. She really seems to appreciate being able to sit in an air conditioned nestbox!

It isn't practical to bring all of my chickens indoors, though. The thing that seems to help most is to put our tractor in the shade, and hose it off every hour or so (I let the chickens out into the yard first before I wet everything down). When they go back inside, they seem to appreciate the bit of coolness on their feet.

 

[bumpershoot]

If you can get your hands on some vit/electrolyte mix from the feed store it might help them to not get dehydrated. So far it's worked a treat for my meaties.

 

[Arcane Araucana]

Quote:
It might seem like a good thing to do to bring your girl(s) into the air conditioning, but you might just be creating a bigger problem by not allowing them to adjust to the heat. Just like people going in and out of air conditioning, they can get a cold. The best thing to do is to allow them to naturally acclimate by providing shade, frozen water bottles (several in a circle that they can lay in under the shade), cold treats, fresh clean water, and maybe a misting fan. But moving them in and out of air conditioning can't be good for them.

Yesterday it was 120 in the shade at 5 p.m. (I kid you not!). I changed frozen bottles 4 times throughout the day. My birds hang out under the coop in their ice fort from 10 in the morning until 7 when it gets down to a brisk 105. They have food and water right next to their fort in the shade of the coop. At around 4, I bring out an ice water tray for them to drink and wade in. Yes, they pant like dogs and it breaks my heart, but the roadrunners, dove, mocking birds and other birds that hang around my house are going through it too. Chickens are much more adaptable than we give them credit for. And if they stop laying; well its the least you can do to allow them to adapt without creating an artificial environment so that they continue to lay.

I don't mean to be harsh, but sometimes we have to trust in the adaptability and instincts mother nature has endowed us with.

 

[Karen_at_LittleBrook]

I tried the frozen water bottle idea last week during our heatwave and my girls wouldnt have anything to do with them. I froze fruits such as blueberries and strawberries in a thin layer of water, gave chilled raw corn on the cob & watermelon, fresh cold water.... in addition to misting down the run every hour. I finally gave in and took out a box fan and aimed it at their favorite shady corner of the run set on med. they loved it!! It did cool them down despite the humid hot air. I could tell they felt better which made me feel better! In the evenings when it was getting close to their bed time I locked them all into the run and opened up the man-door to cool the coop and once they were in on the roosts I put the fan outside one of their windows. I also had my DH drill more ventillation holes along the bottom and top of the coop which we covered with those $1.78 vent covers from Lowes... The coop already had a 3 ft x 6" vent bar and a 12"x12" vent window but the new vent holes made a big difference!

 

[Armageddon]

It was 106 here yesterday and I got 10 eggs and 10 more today but today was cooler....

I work all day so they dont get cool treats until I come home and by then the heat of the day has passed....

Im a newbie but it sounds like youre doing great!

 

[Arcane Araucana]

Quote:
Just proof that they can survive without air conditioning and all our special pampering. Of course, if you must pamper - so you must.

 

[Tala]

The only thing I do for mine is put ice in their water. I water in open 8qt buckets, so it's no biggie to drop a frozen 2L ice-bottle in them once, or maybe twice a day.
It's hard on them, but it's just part of life here in Arkansas.