Hot weather advice?

[BFeathered]

Do any of you eggsperts/old timers out here have any advice for food/water in the lovely broiler that we call Texas? I've been putting ice cubes in the 2gal waterer in at lunchtime, and put out a gallon jug of water that's been in the freezer overnight. Should I give them different type/amount of food? My "kids" are about 12-14 wks old now. They do have a reflective tarp over the run for shade, and free range whenever possible, but man.... I'm melting, and the feathered ones are panting as much as my dogs! Thanks for any advice.

 

[Swbuda]

I'll be glad to see what kind of answers you get.. I live in Temple, (central Texas),

, and am having the same trouble.. Been HOT hasn't it??

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Many people here freeze 2 liter bottles and throw them around the coop and that keeps them pretty cool I hear. I tried that when we got hot here (not near as hot as you ppl in tx) and my birds LOVED it. They laid next to them

 

[TexasVet]

Same here in Bellville! I added a few tarps to the side of the dog kennel panels to shade them from the morning sun, and I go out a couple of times a day and sprinkle the run with water.

I've got a flexible "mister" that was designed to wrap around patio furniture and awnings, and I'm thinking about hooking it up in the chicken run. It gives a very, very fine mist, like you find in the amusement parks. Figure it'll cool the area down without creating puddles.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com

 

[sriston]

I have been doing the same thing for our chickens that I do for our outside dogs- I freeze water in empty butter tubs and those plastic water bottles. I put them in their water bowls and it keeps the water cool for a while. I usually do this twice a day. I use the frozen plastic water bottles for the chickens, for the dogs I make their ice chunk in the butter tubs and the super ice cube slides right out easily. The dogs especially love them. I can't put the plastic bottles in the dog water bowl because they will drag them out and play with them, LOL.

Susan, Southern Illinois

 

[TammyTX]

I want one of those misters!! But for now I put the water sprinkler on in the mid-afternoon in the chicken yard. The birds don't stand under it but the mist does cool the surrounding air just a bit and it keeps their grass in good shape. I usually leave it on until early evening and then the chickens love to scratch around the wet grass.

....if we could just get several days of rain to cool things off to oh, maybe 90 or so, I'd be so happy! Yeah, in my dreams.

 

[txredneckmedic]

I just make sure they have enough shade....mine are doing fine and its been almost 110 here for the last 2 weeks

 

[kycklingmamma]

Mine are dying as well, or at least they are acting like they are. We live in Houston, Tx so heatwave is long before it is gone. We have a fan on in the coop, our coop is an A-Frame with horsepanels instead of wood walls, so very open. I have a shade tarp over the run and I also freeze large bottles of water for them to lay next to or roost on. Once a day we do rain on the run..i.e I hose it off, and it seems as if it does lower the temps a bit..

 

[Scoot58]

I am going to send some of our rain down to you guys and you can send some sun and heat our way. I am in New England and it has been raining and cool all month!

I am reading your suggestions for when summer finally hits us!

 

[KelliV]

I live in FL and I have an 8x10 open side coop with a good amount of shade, and I recently put some patio type concrete blocks in one corner. They seem to stay a little cooler. Not sure if this is the best idea or not, I'm new to this, but it seems to work ok.