Hot Hot Hot

[bburn]

Someone on here posted this summer when it was hot to freeze plastic milk jugs and put them in the coop. I did it and would put a couple in every day in the hottest part of the day. THEY said it lowered the temp in the coop by several degrees.

I did the ice in the water. I put chunks of ice in the run in pans. My DH laughed at me and told everyone. I will do it again this summer if I need to. For me, it was the only thing I could go to help them get through. We also have a wonderful cross breeze that goes through the coop in the summer.....so that helped too.

 

[MTopPA_18707]

Yes, have the coop itself in the shade.

With those kinds of temps perhaps at least one wall of the coop should be 100% wire [open] - pick the side away from the sun and wind.

Ice in drinking water.

Spray coop roof with water . . . have a light colored roof.

If no electricity in the coop for a fan, install one of those vertical vents that spin and suck heat out of the top of the coop.

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Wow Perth [ usually has really nice weather ! ] . . . . we should all come down for a visit !

Best of Luck,

Xriva

* The average temperature in Perth, Australia is 18.2 °C (65 °F).
* The average temperature range is 11 °C.
* The highest monthly average high temperature is 30 °C (86 °F) in January & February.
* The lowest monthly average low temperature is 9 °C (48 °F) in July & August.
* Perth's climate receives an average of 889 mm (35.0 in) of rainfall per year, or 74 mm (2.9 in) per month.
* On average there are 128 days per year with more than 0.1 mm (0.004 in) of rainfall (precipitation) or 11 days with a quantity of rain, sleet, snow etc. per month.
* The driest weather is in January when an average of 7 mm (0.3 in) of rainfall (precipitation) occurrs across 3 days.
* The wettest weather is in June when an average of 192 mm (7.6 in) of rainfall (precipitation) occurrs across 17 days.
* The average annual relative humidity is 52.3% and average monthly relative humidity ranges from 43% in January & February to 63% in June, July.
* Average sunlight hours in Perth range between 4.9 hours per day in June and 10.5 hours per day in December.
* There are an average of 2906 hours of sunlight per year with an average of 8.0 hours of sunlight per day.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Interesting statistics there...but I think some are incorrect. Perth gets way more daylight hours than the average stated. Even in the middle of winter they still get a touch over 10 hours.

Suburban- Have you tried hanging bed sheets or similar cloth up around the coop and hosing them down. It works like evaperative cooling. The breeze passing through the wet sheet will be cooled.

 

[TheWaddler]

I took a spin off the frozen jug and ice in water bit. I use the larger 3 gallon waterer and I can fit a 2 liter bottle of soda in it. So I freeze this and put it in their water jug and it usually last anywhere from 8-12 hours because of the fact its a block of ice and not a bunch of cubes (windy days mean you have to use more ice). I have 2 bottles I rotate out daily, with one freezing while I use the one for the day. I don't have to go back out in the middle of the day and add more cubes because the block stays frozen all day. I also live in central Texas and it breaks 100 here all the time, sometimes for a week+. My coop is off the ground and no matter what other shade "devices" I use they just hang out under there throughout the heat of the day. Doesn't seem to have the best ventilation from what I can tell but they don't seem to mind it a bit.

 

[greenSearcher]

I used a mister, one of those "Cobra" things and it cooled the girls but it really bumped up the water bill. I had the choice of dead chickens or high water use. I saved 1 hen, but lost 2, even with that. I am careful in the breeds I select. I like Marans, but they literally drop dead from heat. It is heart breaking. Even with gallon jugs of ice that they could lay by under the coop (coop is elevated about 2 ft off ground) I really fretted.

Keep plenty of Oyster Shell out. They exhale extra calcium when they pant, I had a problem w/ thin shells then.

This next summer I am going to put each coop and run (4'x12') under shade cloth. I have no trees other than the mesquite trees which the chickens avoid. I am also thinking to plant millet or sorghum along the south side of their yards (30'x30') to give them shade and snacks once the grain is ripe. Bushes will be planted too, but won't do much good this year. I'm in Texoma (north TX near OK) and last summer at least half the summer exceeded 100F and it wasn't a hot summer.

 

[RedfogsFlock]

Being in the middle of the AZ desert here what we did for our girls was...

1. got a misting system and strung it the length of their coop about 3 feet off the ground
2. We used a fan blowing from one corner to the other opposite corner
3. put frozen milk jugs of water in their coop. (even tho I never saw anyone using them)
4. put same frozen jugs in their drinking water.
5. gave them ice cold fresh veges everyday

Hope this helps! We didn't lose one chicken, and laying never slowed down!

 

[suburban]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions.
Have a freezer full of ice ready to go. I'm going to hang the wet sheet too. Great idea.

Mtopa, we definitely get more sunlight than that. even in winter I'd say 10 hours.