How hot is too hot?

[RareBreedFancier]

Skittleinaustin!

I've got no electricity in my coop and no way to get it there. We get over 115f here in summer and as long as the chickens have shade and cool water they are ok.

If it actually got to 120f I'm sure they would appreciate the cooling but that is incredibly hot. Does it actually get that hot where you are? Also it would do me no good as I have entire walls only wire mesh in summer to aid cooling. To get benefit from air conditioning you'd have to have a closed coop and in hot weather that could be deadly.

Have a look at some of the hot weather coops others have built. There are lots of great ideas on here. Several people have different versions of removable walls so it's just wire in summer but something more solid in winter. How many chickens do you plan to keep?

Edit to add, I wouldn't use the 78 to 70 one either, I don't even keep my house that low in summer!

 

[OldGuy43]

Oops! Missed the the hot part.

You already know what Austin was like this summer and mine did okay.

 

[7L Farm]

Quote:
Cold weather in Texas Is a blessing compared to the heat. Just keep the wind off the birds .

 

[CheerioLounge]

Out here in the desert it can get to 120 degrees in the peak of summer. Thankfully, we have very few humid days. My girls survived their first summer without a problem. I do put ice in their water throughout the day and keep the run clean so the flies are not a problem.

I have a neighbor who uses swamp coolers in his coops (he has many more chickens than I do) and he has lost 2 or 3 hens every summer to the heat. I think they go into some sort of shock going back and forth from the cool to the heat. That's just a guess on my part, but I know I always get a cold in the summer from the very same thing!

edited for spelling...

 

[Mavrik]

Just because some chickens happen to live though high heat, doesn't mean it's doing no harm or the chickens are not suffering. It also matters what kind of humidity one has. The higher the humidity, the lower the temperature needs to be for proper body cooling.

Excerpts from Storey's Guide; pg 251 "When temperatures reach 104°F (40°C) or above, chickens can't lose heat fast enough to maintain proper body temperature, and deaths occur." pg 252 "In summer convection cools a bird, but only as long as the surrounding air is cooler than the bird's body temperature of 103°F (39.5°C)".

My girls just stay in the coop when it's blistering hot, I usually keep the coop 5-8° cooler than outside. Without a swamp cooler the coop gets 10-15° hotter than outside.

 

[CheerioLounge]

Quote:
Thanks. I probably should have also stated that my coop and run are very well shaded in summertime and is a good 10 degrees cooler in the shade. While it CAN reach 120 degrees, the average is probably closer to 101 - 108 degrees and there is usually a fairly steady breeze due to our location between 2 mountain ranges.

 

[OldGuy43]

Well, I always knew that Austin was weird...

http://www.keepaustinweird.com/

but an air conditioned chicken coop goes beyond the pale.

 

[Judy]

Mine also usually go in the coop in the heat of the day. The coop is large and very breezy, designed to tunnel the prevailing winds through it. I believe shade and breeze are the critical factors. Of course they will drink a lot as well. No losses to heat here, though I do see them panting and holding their wings away from their bodies on awful days. I have literally dunked some in a tub of water and sloshed them around so they are good and wet. I also keep a large shallow pan of water for them to walk through or stand in (designed for draining hot water heaters.) I run a box fan all summer to keep those prevailing winds moving. If it weren't so humid here, I'd set up a swamp cooler, but they apparently work best in dry, desert type climates.