Hot weather care for chicks

[kragadox]

Greetings,

This is my first post! I live in Bakersfield, CA and we are currently experiencing our first extreme heat wave of the summer. Our highs over the last few days have been between 105 and 110°. The lows at night are only down to the low 80's.

I have 6 chicks in a brooder box in my garage. I have 2 lavenders which are 31 days old. 2 bantam frizzles which are also 31 days old. And 2 barred rocks that are about 20 days old. My garage is not climate controlled and it's getting into the low 90's during the day. The problem is it's not cooling down at night. The bantams and barred rocks are not showing any distress from the heat yet. The lavenders are larger and have been panting. I have observed all the birds sitting down with wings out during the heat of the day.

I have provided both a nipple waterer and a regular chick waterer with ice in the water to help them cool down. I have a fan running on them but it's not very effective. I also put a piece of blue ice wrapped in a towel in the brooder box for them to sit on. Of course, they're scared of it at the moment. Is there anything else I can do? Should I move them into the house?

I took the brooder/heater plate out of the box a few days ago because it was so hot and they weren't using it.

I don't want to put them outside during this heat wave. I may do so next week when the weather will be in the 90's during the day.

Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

 

[formerchickenlass]

Kudos for removing the heat plate. I lost a young bird last year that crawled under a heat plate during hot weather and perished.

If you have a shade tree in the yard (or canopy, etc), you might think about putting the birds out in a cage under the tree. It'd probably be cooler than in the garage, get fresh air, etc. All my birds pretty much live under trees in the summer. It's noticeably cooler. And while they're out, you could open the garage and air it out.

Other than that, I'd say the panting is akin to us sweating. It looks distressing and can definitely be a sign that they'd like to be cooler, but you'll always see some panting in the summer. My large birds are even panting in the evening these days and I'm up in Oregon.

 

[Hackle Master]

I would say ur doing just fine, someone may disagree with me but as long as they have fresh water and are out of the sun they should be fine with the fan and maybe put a small sand box with some loose dirt in it they may dust off in. Just keep checking on them and if u notice anyone not doing so well maybe bring them in side the house for a little bit to cool off

 

[sevenfatcows]

I agree with the poster who suggests putting them out under trees. I live in the high desert of Southern California, between the Colorado Desert and the Mojave. It is very hot, but I have chicks outside and they do just fine as long as they have plenty of water and shade. Ours also live under the shade trees. Presently, we have chicks ranging from 10 days to 12 weeks and two hens with their broods, and all are outdoors 24/7, except for the youngest, which we bring into our mudroom at night.
If you have snakes about, be sure to have mesh small enough to exclude them. Of course, you will want some type of protection over the top as well. Our big problem is roadrunners which show up looking for a chick dinner whenever we have them out.
For water, we have found that vessels shallow enough to wade in are helpful, and the babies have figured out that wading is cool. I do check on the birds frequently, and in the hottest weather I wet the ground for an evaporative cooling effect. It is also helpful if the ground is not too hard-packed and they can dig down a bit. Good luck!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @kragadox Welcome To BYC

Do you have your coop and run ready for them? Any photos?

At that age, they should be able to transition just fine to their permanent housing. Provided that there is adequate ventilation in the coop, shade provided for the run and they have a fresh supply of fresh cool water.

 

[kragadox]

Hi @Wyorp Rock
Here is a picture of the coop. It's ready for them and it's under a sycamore tree in the corner of my yard. It should get shade most of the day. Our house is not very old and the back yard was completely unlandscaped as of 2011. I still need to build the run. I was just waiting for the heatwave to pass...

I think I will still play on moving them out there next week. They seem to be hanging tough in the garage. I have been giving them water with ice in it a couple of times a day and checking on them frequently.

 

[formerchickenlass]

Looks good! If the tree isn't enough to shade it throughout the day, you can supplement with an umbrella or canopy and they should be fine.

 

[jeria]

That looks so pretty!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

That's a lovely setup, I'm sure they will enjoy that space

 

[Frijole]

Greetings,

This is my first post! I live in Bakersfield, CA and we are currently experiencing our first extreme heat wave of the summer. Our highs over the last few days have been between 105 and 110°. The lows at night are only down to the low 80's.

I have 6 chicks in a brooder box in my garage. I have 2 lavenders which are 31 days old. 2 bantam frizzles which are also 31 days old. And 2 barred rocks that are about 20 days old. My garage is not climate controlled and it's getting into the low 90's during the day. The problem is it's not cooling down at night. The bantams and barred rocks are not showing any distress from the heat yet. The lavenders are larger and have been panting. I have observed all the birds sitting down with wings out during the heat of the day.

I have provided both a nipple waterer and a regular chick waterer with ice in the water to help them cool down. I have a fan running on them but it's not very effective. I also put a piece of blue ice wrapped in a towel in the brooder box for them to sit on. Of course, they're scared of it at the moment. Is there anything else I can do? Should I move them into the house?

I took the brooder/heater plate out of the box a few days ago because it was so hot and they weren't using it.

I don't want to put them outside during this heat wave. I may do so next week when the weather will be in the 90's during the day.

Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

HI from Bakersfield, too! We beat the heat for our flocks by freezing ice in dollar tree plastic bowls. In the afternoon we drop a big chunk of ice by the coop (for our free ranging flock) and in the dust bath for the quail pen. They also love mud... provide wet dirt and they will scratch that up. Also be sure they have shade, and that your watered is out of the sun. Isn't looking like we're going to get much relief here soon!