How Can you keep chickens cool in summer heat?

[Hanathehappyhen]

Summers here and it's getting hot so does anyone have some plans to share with me? I've tried hosing the coop,using sprinklers and misters,yogurt,ice,fropen fruit,smoothies. All of them seem to work but don't last very long. If you have any ways to keep them cool for longer please share with me. Thank you!

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Just provide cool water and shade and they pretty much do the rest them self.On occasion I give something cold or put frozen water bottles into a dog bowl for them.

 

[Criticalicious]

Mine love frozen peas and I freeze various treats in ice cubes. Fill up the waterer with ice cubes and encourage them to drink plenty of water. I also read, don't stress them out or bug them when it's hot. Let them hang out and chill.

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

Thanks for the help!

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

Ok thanks The peas idea sounds great.

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

I do those same kind of things too. Cool fresh water throughout the day, frozen bottles of water, frozen veggies if needed, an area to dust bathe. My girls HATE my mister so I stopped wasting my time with that. Their run is under a tree so nice and shady. When I let them out of the run I put bowls of water throughout the property in shady spots.

My teens who are locked up inside the coop get fresh water throughout the day and I put a frozen water bottle in front of a fan to keep the area cooler.

 

[Ohmyheart]

I have a couple fans for them. 2 inside the coop and one under the coop. I also get a container and put ice water with sunflower seeds in it. They love to go after the seeds, I have one hen who will stand in the water too.

 

[Kathy Golla]

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.

 

[frostic]

Mine love frozen peas and I freeze various treats in ice cubes. Fill up the waterer with ice cubes and encourage them to drink plenty of water. I also read, don't stress them out or bug them when it's hot. Let them hang out and chill.

My chickens only like 4 things to eat. their normal feed, corn on the cob and mashed potatoes and hotdogs. they wont eat any veggies like letus or greens. they don't even like grass lol very strange chickens. lol

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Put water in an empty bottle or even a plastic ice cream tube and freeze it.