How do you help chickens beat the heat in summer

[NatJ]

I’m pretty new at all this and trying to reconcile recommendations for cold treats with things I’ve read about growing pullets really needing to only eat their grower feed for fear of nutritional imbalances so my compromise was to make them “chicken ice cream” which is their regular grower food mashed up with chilled Rooster Booster electrolytes (not a ton, just enough to moisten) plus a few chopped frozen blueberries to keep things cold. Sometimes yogurt instead of the Rooster Booster. It’s mostly their regular food, though. They still go wild for it like it’s the most incredibly delicious stuff and making their regular food cold and slightly differently flavored still seems to make them feel like they’re getting a really exciting treat.

Try it with just cold water and chicken food-- in my experience, chickens go crazy for it that way too. It's even easier to make, and no worries at all about un-balancing their diet.

 

[Parront]

I moisten their food at least once a day. Just add water to the regular food, they chow it down. It keeps the water cleaner, too. They drink less if they eat wet food, unless they really need water. Then wet food helps keep them hydrated.

 

[DaisyG2317]

I live in Oklahome where the summers are jot and very humid. What types of things can you do to help chickens survive and thrive during smoldering hot days. Their coop and run is 90% shaded, I make them ice treats and have a small pool that I fill a couple inches with fresh cold water daily to stand in. I was thinking of placing a misting hose along part of the fence, has anyone done that before?

Watermelon! My chicks devour it and it keeps them nice and hydrated.

 

[centralcaligirl]

I can't find a picture right now but a few years ago we had a terrible heatwave and several days in a row of 105-110 degree temps. I tried a bunch of different things to keep them cool, but what worked the best was frozen gallon bottles of water, but opened at the top and tipped downward toward a little depression in the ground in the run. As the ice melted it leaked out and created a cool muddy spot in the depression for them to stand in. Some chickens preferred leaning right up against the frozen water bottles, others preferred standing in the mud. It was a way to give them multiple options for cooling.

I also learned that my freezer isn't all that efficient, lol. Bottles of water frozen for 48 hours lasted longer than those frozen for 24. It may just be my old fridge, but knowing that I started rotating the bottles through the freezer every other day.