How hot is too hot?

[Haulinbass02]

Here in Texas I am getting ready to embark on my chicken adventure. But alas, it is only June and we are predicted to have a weekend of over 100 degrees, three straight days! If it is this hot already, I don't want to think about the rest of the summer. So I am wondering, how hot is too hot for the birds and what can I do to help them out? I haven't even bought any yet and am curious to see what is recommended for being tolerant to the heat. I would like some dual purpose birds, brown layers with decent meat, good foragers, etc. Thoughts?

 

[chics in the sun]

There are some good suggestions on here for warm-weather coops. I live in Florida, and my coop is esentially a giant bird cage with a roost area (I just put this on another thread) that has a plastic roof on it. It sits in lots of shade, and I always make sure they have fresh water. They like to dig little dust bath areas to stay cool, and some people put fans and misters in their coops. I rely on the fact that my coop has only one real wall and the rest is wire, so they get all the sea-breeze available.

 

[katdam]

i am in texas as well and had the same ? i have 10 wk old chicks and have done some research.. i have a 2L bottle of water in the freezer for them to lay up against and i'm thinking i should get a few more for this weekend...i plan on putting sand on the floor of the coop which will keep them somewhat cool as well....i have a shaded area that is blocked from the blow dryer wind (if ur in the panhandle u know what i mean!) ....cold yogurt and watermelon for treats...i'm a newbie as well and this is my first heat wave and i'm a little scared! any other ideas from anyone is greatly appreciated!

 

[Mahonri]

They are predicting 110 here by Sunday. (good thing cuz allergy season is officially over once it hits 105)
Bad thing though for our birds.

I keep them with plenty of fresh water and after loosing a couple to heat last year I put a wall AC unit into my coop. I sometimes put frozen water bottles in the waterer to keep the water cool and they spend a lot of time around that!

I'm in AZ and I made the mistake of building a traditional coop.

If I had it to do over again, I would have kept the north end completely open other than hardware cloth with windows on the East and west.
It's in a lot of shade until about 4PM... As it is now, once it hits 105 I turn on the AC from Noon till sundown and they have to suffer till it starts to cool down around 2AM... by then the fan I have in the coop comes on and blows the hot air out so the cool air can come in.

I've only gotten 4 eggs each day now for the past few days... this heat makes them stop laying, but they also stop eating so the feed bill goes down.

 

[dawg53]

Like Florida, we not only have the heat, but high humidity also. My chickens dig holes wherever there's shade early in the morning and lay in the holes, they follow the shade in the yard throughout the day. I have plenty of water containers for them and I ensure it's changed at least twice daily with cooler water. August and September are our hottest months and I put a small fan out in their house to keep the air circulating. I provide them with cool watermelon and a half head of chilled cabbage, they really love that. Egg production varies, one day they'll lay 5 or 6 eggs, the next day they might lay a dozen or more. It was 93 today and they layed 14 eggs and I have 16 hens. Tomorrow I expect maybe 6 eggs, but I'm not complaining lol.

 

[PineappleMama]

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Ohhh clever... I'm definitely going to try that!

Coop has an HCd floor... so that helps... but I'll probably go ahead and pop up the door too... okay not the 'door'... uhh... okay, the side with the door is divided horizonally. It's on hinges. It can be opened and eyehooked so I can clean... leaving that open prolly add some bonus ventilation... don't you think?

Plenty of water... 5 gallon bucket should be plenty, but I can refill easy enough...

Coop is in the shade... hate the leaves but the shade in summer makes all the trees worth it...

Add that frozen bottle idea...

Hope we'll be okay?

 

[katdam]

here in the panhandle of texas, we have harsh summers sometimes and we get nasty winters here too, so leaving the north wall open is not an option for me!

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[chics in the sun]

Maybe you could build a wall that is a panel that comes off and on? Keep in mind that most chickens are much more cold tolerant than heat tolerant. There was a link on here to a fascinating article about open coops and chicken health, and if I have time later I'll look for it and post it.