How Can you keep chickens cool in summer heat?

[meetthebubus]

Chickens lose heat through their feet so i do ice water container that drips water that they can drink from it drops into a puddle where they will wet their feet and coat it with mud to keep cool

old juice bottles of frozen water where they sit next to in the shade and drink the ice water as it melts

Cucumbers are great bc they are watery and cold

Don't forget to use electrolytes in the water as they drink more and need to retain vitamins

Let them dust bathe in moist dirt

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

Where do you live? I’m just trying to compare to where I live. We don’t have a lot of humidity.
This is my second summer.
The girls have a pen, some hens are heat tolerant, others not. I am learning by observing what each hen likes to do to stay cool. I have six hens.
Here is what my formula is right now:
Pour water into the holes they have already dug - mud holes
Put out a small shallow wading pool and put a frozen water bottle in it-most of my hens will wade now, their second summer
Box fan to create a breeze
Ice cubes in the waterer they like
Cold electrolytes from the fridge if it’s really hot. This seems to perk them up quite

Where do you live? I’m just trying to compare to where I live. We don’t have a lot of humidity.
This is my second summer.
The girls have a pen, some hens are heat tolerant, others not. I am learning by observing what each hen likes to do to stay cool. I have six hens.
Here is what my formula is right now:
Pour water into the holes they have already dug - mud holes
Put out a small shallow wading pool and put a frozen water bottle in it-most of my hens will wade now, their second summer
Box fan to create a breeze
Ice cubes in the waterer they like
Cold electrolytes from the fridge if it’s really hot. This seems to perk them up quite a bit. I only give them electrolytes when it’s above 90.
Misters when it gets above 95 degrees
Free range when it starts to cool off
Leave windows in the coop open and even a small fan on in the coop if the coop won’t cool down by the time it’s time to roost. I turn the fan off about 10 pm by unplugging it from outside the coop.
Interestingly, I used to feed them frozen treats when it was hot. Now I am realizing when it’s hot, they don’t eat a lot so the treats make up most of their diet for the day and that’s causing other problems. I have Kiki’s girls and rebrascora’s words in the back of my mind!
Their second year it seems to be going much better.

wow thanks! I live in Marin it doesn't get humid but it can get hot

 

[BlackHackle]

I have a large shaded barn with a makeshift air conditioner unit in it

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

Th

Chickens lose heat through their feet so i do ice water container that drips water that they can drink from it drops into a puddle where they will wet their feet and coat it with mud to keep cool

old juice bottles of frozen water where they sit next to in the shade and drink the ice water as it melts

Cucumbers are great bc they are watery and cold

Don't forget to use electrolytes in the water as they drink more and need to retain vitamins

Let them dust bathe in moist dirt

anks

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

I have a large shaded barn with a makeshift air conditioner unit in it

That's a good idea.

 

[frostic]

I have a large shaded barn with a makeshift air conditioner unit in it

what do you mean by makeshift air conditioner? how to make one?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Chickens can handle a bunch of hot and very humid air a long as they have shade. As a toe headed boy my mamma's family's hens all nooned under the house where there was plenty of shade as well as multiple dust wallows to cool off in. If the crops were laid by and when I wasn't fishing I was laying on my belly spying on the hens through a crack in the parlor floor. Hot, strong, direct, and unrelenting Sun light will kill an adult chicken in 5 minutes if it takes that long.

 

[BlackHackle]

what do you mean by makeshift air conditioner? how to make one?

A large fan bolted to an open window in an enclosed barn

 

[Backyard Bruce]

The wife was thinking of a small kiddie pool to fill just a few inches on really hot days, any reason this would be a problem

 

[Criticalicious]

The wife was thinking of a small kiddie pool to fill just a few inches on really hot days, any reason this would be a problem

People do this too. The only problem I've encountered is, chickens are afraid of new things. So don't be surprised if they don't use it at first.