Hot weather, thin growers :( Please help

Hi all,

It's been really hot here recently, over 100f and my chickens are looking/feeling rather thin. They aren't eating as much as they should be because of the heat.

I wondered if switching them back to chick starter instead of grower might help? It has higher protein which I thought might help since they are eating less feed.

They will dive on the layer grain they get as a treat (only a handful between the 10 of them) but I don't think feeding more of that would be good because they only pick out the grains they like and leave some grains and the pellets so what they are eating would be much lower protein than what they should be getting.

I had wondered about giving them BOSS, plenty of fat and protein but I think I read something about being careful not to give them to much of that for some reason on here? Not sure.

They are 11 - 12wo and look bright and alert, racing around, chasing bugs etc but they are eating less now than they were before the heat hit and I'm worried about them.

They get each day: Ad lib grower pellets, a few salad greens from the garden, all the bugs they can catch plus any I can find for them and a handful of layer grain morning and night. They only eat the BOSS, wheat and corn from the layer mix.

Any help appreciated.

Oh, and meat bird, game bird, turkey feeds etc aren't available locally (that I know of) but I will be going somewhere I can get some of those on the weekend if something like that would be good for them.

 

Thanks ddawn, I tried the water pan, the more adventurous ones seemed to like it. They need to teach the others it's ok. I also wet down a section of ground for them and they had a great time digging chicken creators and sitting in the cool dirt.

Their pen is under some huge old trees so the only summer sun that can get them is in the late afternoon just before it drops behind some other trees and I bought 13 feet of 90% shade cloth to cover where that comes in. The gap was supposed to be covered by climbing beans on a frame over summer but they all got fried.

Unfortunately I have no way to get power out to the pen thought if we do end up buying this place (renting atm) I do want to get it run out there.

The hottest I've measured here was when we were still in town and it was 118f under my carport last year. If I'd had chickens then I think they would have been in my air conditioned lounge regardless of DH's protests.

 

Oh yes! Floating treats is a great idea. Have to try that tomorrow, I bet it will be hilarious to watch!

 

dewey - 140+ ground temps? Wow! I have been wetting down part of the pen for them, they like that. That area is now covered in chicken creators lol.
Nicola - I tried spraying them, they don't seem very impressed though they do seem better afterward. I tried them with watermelon today, they had an absolute party!

HEChicken and dianaross77 - I tried the ice on the ground, used to do that for my bunnies years ago. Chickens ran away from it. So I put it in one of their waters instead and they really like an icy cold drink.

I really want to be able to let them out so they can come up around the house and hide out under the shrubs but I don't trust my Lab and Retrever cross around them. The young fellow just wants to play with them but looks like someone tried to gun train the old lady Lab at some point because she takes great delight in delivering anything she catches straight into my hand.

One surprisingly positive thing, I got them a different brand of grower pellets because my usual store was sold out and they seem to like these better and have been eating a lot more. Looks like I'll be sticking with this new brand