How can I help them stay cool in a hot climate?

[Chullicken]

Some folk hang up a Mister.periodicaaly sends a short shower of mist down.
Best,
Karen

Those things are the devil...I love them so much. lol

 

[Chullicken]

Really the key is to provide access to a cooler, shaded area of your run (If you use a run) so they can get into the cooler earth. Freshwater is a requirement at all times.

 

[Farm life101]

You shouldn't need to dig holes for your chickens, they have no problem doing it themselves.

No like dig a small hole and put a little cold water at the bottom so the water will soak in or put it in an existing hole that they use

 

[Chullicken]

No like dig a small hole and put a little cold water at the bottom so the water will soak in or put it in an existing hole that they use

You really don't have to do all that, they'll dig just fine. More than likely changing their hole they won't even use it in my experience. My chickens don't like change and prefer to do things their way. lol

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hello everyone. I live in a hot climate with most days around 32 to 35 C (about 92 to 96f) for three quarters of the year.... There is a large tree which gives them some shade from the sun. They can go back in the coop for shade. There is at least one section of their enclosure in shade at all times of the day...

Chickens are able to withstand a LOT of humid heat. After all the domestic chicken is descended from the Red, and Green Jungle Fowl. These two species are tropical and are highly adapted to living in hot climates. You are doing something right. The word "Jungle" brings to mind shade and a lot of it and you seem to have plenty of shade going on.

 

[aart]

Hello everyone. I live in a hot climate with most days around 32 to 35 C (about 92 to 96f) for three quarters of the year. I just have the 3 Orpingtons girls. There is a large tree which gives them some shade from the sun. They can go back in the coop for shade. There is at least one section of their enclosure in shade at all times of the day. But the actual air temp today for instance is 34C (93f). Is there anything I can do to cool them down during the worst of the middle of day heat? I have their waterer packed with ice to keep their water cool. Any other advice?

Welcome to BYC!

This is what I do:
My birds are confined with no great deep shade for last half of the day so I have to be vigilant during heat waves. I do have shade cloths up on run, which helps, but still not deep shade.

I put out large shallow pans of ice cubes late afternoon, they walk in and sit on them and sip the water as it slowly melts...used to add water but they would gorge on too much too fast, I have seen a chicken suffer from an 'ice cream headache'.

To help cool down the coop I also have a box fan in the east window of coop, where it's shady most the day, and turn it on late afternoo...blows cooler air into coop and pushes hot air out.

To determine heat stress levels I go by activity level, if panting and wing holding seems extreme, I throw out a few treats to see if everyone is moving well.

Had hen suffer heat exhaustion/stroke one summer, she was standing stock still and let me walk right up to her(not at all normal for this bird). I determined she could not see out of one eye at all and the other was dicey. I started hydrating her with Qtip soaked in Sav-a-Chik solution held against the side of her beak, had to rub under her beak and the front of her neck to get her to swallow at first. Did this until she got too stressed, about 10 minutes, put her in a cage with a fan nearby to rest. Repeated this about every hour for half the day until she would drink out of a cup held in front of her. She recovered and I also gave the rest of the flock a dose of Sav-a-Chik solution in an open waterer(I use horizontal nipples on waterers), it really seemed to reduce the heat stress so now do that regularly when the heat waves are extreme and days long. Just a half gallons worth every couple days.

Here's bunch more threads on how to handle hot weather:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/17642541/?q=hot+weather&t=post&o=relevance&c[title_only]=1

 

[Cathy Carr]

Get a shallow kids pool. Put several inches of water in it. Add a couple of frozen gallon bottles of water and let them was in it. Use once a day in the hot afternoon.
Find one of their dusting holes. Hopefully in the shade . take another gallon of frozen water. Bury it in the bottom of the hole and lay a towel over it. Let the birds nest on it.
Don't feed corn, it raises their metabolism.
Karen

Oh, I didn't know that about the corn . Alan has set up the garden sprinkler in there for them this morning so I can run the sprinkler at very hot times. That is a good idea with the cold water & towel in their dust bath. TY.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Welcome to BYC!

This is what I do:
My birds are confined with no great deep shade for last half of the day so I have to be vigilant during heat waves. I do have shade cloths up on run, which helps, but still not deep shade.

I put out large shallow pans of ice cubes late afternoon, they walk in and sit on them and sip the water as it slowly melts...used to add water but they would gorge on too much too fast, I have seen a chicken suffer from an 'ice cream headache'.

To help cool down the coop I also have a box fan in the east window of coop, where it's shady most the day, and turn it on late afternoo...blows cooler air into coop and pushes hot air out.

To determine heat stress levels I go by activity level, if panting and wing holding seems extreme, I throw out a few treats to see if everyone is moving well.

Had hen suffer heat exhaustion/stroke one summer, she was standing stock still and let me walk right up to her(not at all normal for this bird). I determined she could not see out of one eye at all and the other was dicey. I started hydrating her with Qtip soaked in Sav-a-Chik solution held against the side of her beak, had to rub under her beak and the front of her neck to get her to swallow at first. Did this until she got too stressed, about 10 minutes, put her in a cage with a fan nearby to rest. Repeated this about every hour for half the day until she would drink out of a cup held in front of her. She recovered and I also gave the rest of the flock a dose of Sav-a-Chik solution in an open waterer(I use horizontal nipples on waterers), it really seemed to reduce the heat stress so now do that regularly when the heat waves are extreme and days long. Just a half gallons worth every couple days.

Here's bunch more threads on how to handle hot weather:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/17642541/?q=hot+weather&t=post&o=relevance&c[title_only]=1

X2 on the shade cloth, they aren't very expensive I got a 70% shade cloth on amazon that was 8x10 for around 19US delivered.

edit-Also I let the grass in the run get about 3 foot tall that they enjoy hiding in under the trees as well during summer.
edit#2- My neighbor thinks my tall run grass attracts rats and even offered to mow my lawn twice last year so there can be secondary benefits! I know it was wastefull food shoveling from my hanging feeder so no longer am restocking it with food in their coop.

 

[Ohmyheart]

I have two fans. Two in the coop one for the nights and the other directed at the nest boxes to help keep air moving. Then one under the coop for the days. We get some 110+ days with wicked humidity, without the fans it would be rough. I also lock them up at night so a fan in the coop is much appreciated by the girls.

I also do the frozen fruit in the afternoon or ice water with sunflower seeds for them to fish out. I have one RIR who likes to stand in the tub to fish out the seeds.

 

[Chickens like to peck me]

lots of watermelon