How do you help chickens beat the heat in summer

[Parront]

Got the misting hose up and it really seems to be helping. Not seeing the beak breathing and it's hot and humid today. Woohoo!!

Mine used to lay under that mister like pigs rolling in mud!

 

[ladybrasa]

Any suggestions for someone who has to go to work early morning and back close to dusk? I don’t have anyone that can tend to chickens during the heat of the day. Or leave on anything electrical or water turned on for 10+ hours unchecked. If I set ice out in the morning Most likely it’ll be gone or nearly so by the worst of the heat. My old chooks are panting and wings lifted pretty regularly now. Also ordered various NOT heat hardy breed chicks this year that will be suffering next summer ... ... I like the big fluffy girls ...

 

[aart]

If I set ice out in the morning Most likely it’ll be gone or nearly so by the worst of the heat.

That's the best bet tho, put it in the shadiest spot.
EL's can really help them balance their water needs overall when given once a week...
....won't stop them from panting tho.

BIG(9x14x2") chunks of ice last all day for wading, sitting, and sipping.

 

[RebeccaRN]

Any suggestions for someone who has to go to work early morning and back close to dusk? I don’t have anyone that can tend to chickens during the heat of the day. Or leave on anything electrical or water turned on for 10+ hours unchecked. If I set ice out in the morning Most likely it’ll be gone or nearly so by the worst of the heat. My old chooks are panting and wings lifted pretty regularly now. Also ordered various NOT heat hardy breed chicks this year that will be suffering next summer ... ... I like the big fluffy girls ...

My misting hose is on all day it doesn't use that much water

 

[NatJ]

Any suggestions for someone who has to go to work early morning and back close to dusk? I don’t have anyone that can tend to chickens during the heat of the day. Or leave on anything electrical or water turned on for 10+ hours unchecked. If I set ice out in the morning Most likely it’ll be gone or nearly so by the worst of the heat.

You could use really giant chunks of ice. Little pieces melt fast, big pieces slower. Double the size often lasts more than double the time.
By "really giant," I'm thinking one of those multi-gallon storage bins, filled with water and frozen solid.

You could put out a chunk of ice on a day when you are home (maybe a weekend), and check repeatedly to see when it actually is all melted--then you'll know how long that size ice block lasts in that temperature, in that particular shady or sunny location. It will give you some information to go from in future.

You might be able to leave a hose or mister on with a very small flow of water--just a tiny trickle.

Sprinkler timers exist, so a sprinkler/mister/hose could be turned on and off by a timer when you're gone. I don't have one, so I don't know what kind of settings they can do--but if you could set it run for 2-5 minutes every hour or so, that might be about right.

Leaving a fan running all day might be good--at least it provides a breeze they can stand in when they want. It would be powered by electricity (which I see you're concerned about), but is probably pretty safe.

Probably the single most helpful thing is to provide lots of shade. Maybe put up a big patio umbrella?

Because the sun moves, so does the shade. But if you can arrange enough shade to keep a particular space shaded all day long, then the ground in that spot will be cooler (because the sun never hits it), and the chickens can lay on it and cool off more effectively.

 

[ladybrasa]

You know, I was thinking of an umbrella!

Also someone mentioned above about a water cooler with nipple waterers I think kind of as a joke but ...
I know these old hens wouldn’t understand a nipple waterer. A cup waterer however they might get. I also have a styrofoam cooler I was saving for ... I don’t know. What if I rig the styrofoam cooler with some cups and put a block of ice or even just regular ice in it with water? Set in a shady spot. In theory I could just add ice each day ...

Also, is there a type of soil or substrate that does NOT hold heat? There is one section of the run that is kind of like a mini shed off shoot that is roofed and walled on three sides. Hard for me to get in there, but the chickens go in there to get out of the sun. Bottom is bare hard-packed red clay dirt. Been wondering what to do with this (been landscaping the run!). So am thinking if I fill with some soil - sand maybe? - that wouldn’t heat up and stick some sort of icy waterer in there it might be pleasant??

 

[IamRainey]

... I like the big fluffy girls ...

I hear ya! I should be buying the skinny heat tolerant breeds too but they just don't look "chicken". Those iconic breeds that grab you by the heartstrings are the cold tolerant ones. :: sigh::

You could use really giant chunks of ice. Little pieces melt fast, big pieces slower. Double the size often lasts more than double the time.
By "really giant," I'm thinking one of those multi-gallon storage bins, filled with water and frozen solid.

This is very true.

I buy 5# blocks and they generally make it through the hottest, most critical parts of our 100˚+ days.

And, as you point out, NatJ, if you've got enough freezer space, you can freeze your own in a utility tub.

I don't have that kind of freezer space. What I do is print out 14-day weather forecasts and try to accumulate conventional ice cubes in ziplock bags in every available space in my freezers in anticipation of the really hot days. Then I go to the icehouse when I need to. The conventional ice cubes cool less efficiently but we all do what we can do.

 

[ladybrasa]

Yeah, don’t have much freezer space also. Might be able to do a gallon jug or -

and try to accumulate conventional ice cubes in ziplock bags in every available space in my freezers in anticipation of the really hot days

- why not freezer ziplocks (the big ones) of water? Or partially melted then refrozen little ice cubes to make a big ice blob?

 

[ladybrasa]

Yeah soo... haven’t had a party or anything for a loooong time needing a stryrofoam cooler .... FYI styrofoam doesn’t really hold water ...

 

[JustSarahThanks]

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.

Mine also are very excited by dishes of ice water to drink from, pluck the ice cubes out of and kick around until they’re all covered in poop and straw, step in and splash around, scratch bedding into and then try to eat... you know, the good stuff.