Hot Weather, Treats and Nutrition.... Idea

[Keeperoflock]

My chickens are 15 weeks old and I live in central Indiana. The heat indecies are in the low 100's for the past 3 days with a welcomed break coming hopefully tomorrow.

I was reading on another thread about feeding frozen treats on hot days (which I have been giving frozen watermelon) and their nutritional needs. The thread I was reading said, and it makes perfect sense, chickens don't eat as much when it's very hot. When you give the frozen treats that's all they eat and don't get the nutrition they need which causes a whole host of other problems.

So here's my idea. Let me know if it's ok to do this. Make a mash from their feed and refrigerate it or even freeze it. Will that cause a problem with the nutritional values?

 

[sylviethecochin]

I'd say worth a try, but I'd also keep some normal food nearby. Let them choose.

It's also probably not as effective as you might wish, because chickens, unlike humans, store their food outside their main bodies, so they don't get quite the same cooling effect we would.

Maybe set out a big fan with a bucket of ice in front of it so that it's blowing cold air? Someone (can't remember who) said that they did that and it was pretty effective (have to do it in the shade though, or the ice just melts.)

 

[Keeperoflock]

I'd say worth a try, but I'd also keep some normal food nearby. Let them choose.

It's also probably not as effective as you might wish, because chickens, unlike humans, store their food outside their main bodies, so they don't get quite the same cooling effect we would.

Maybe set out a big fan with a bucket of ice in front of it so that it's blowing cold air? Someone (can't remember who) said that they did that and it was pretty effective (have to do it in the shade though, or the ice just melts.)

Thank you for replying. The food I'm talking about refrigerating is their normal food. They are still on grower starter. I mix the stuff they rake out into a catch box under their feeder with water. This mixture is what I was told is mash. And it's this "mash" that I thought about refrigerating for them. They prefer it every morning but I also have 2 feeders out that has their dry grower starter.

I have 4 fans including one that is a blower motor from a furnace. I wet down their dirt holes they have dug out and I put ice blocks in their water. At night they have fans on them in the coop 2 of which has large ice bottles.