How to keep chickens cool in the heat. Tips wanted!

[PoultryPedia]

Another concern I've noticed in hot weather is crowding on the perch at night.

Each bird needs enough space so that other birds' body heat isn't in too close of proximity. Plus each bird needs enough room to be able to have its wings slightly extended to allow air to flow & cool the bare skin underneath.

I just added an extra perch yesterday because I noticed my birds panting at night & one hen was having to stay standing up in order for them all to have enough room to hold their wings out a little for cooling. I saw that though my main perch is sufficiently comfortable for winter perching, it is a little too cozy in the summer heat.

 

[aldarita]

Another concern I've noticed in hot weather is crowding on the perch at night.

Each bird needs enough space so that other birds' body heat isn't in too close of proximity. Plus each bird needs enough room to be able to have its wings slightly extended to allow air to flow & cool the bare skin underneath.

I just added an extra perch yesterday because I noticed my birds panting at night & one hen was having to stay standing up in order for them all to have enough room to hold their wings out a little for cooling. I saw that though my main perch is sufficiently comfortable for winter perching, it is a little too cozy in the summer heat.

I absolutely agree with you, they need plenty of space to roost at night so they can extend their wings. My 9 hens have plenty of room, so do my 12 week chicks, if I could just teach them to roost in the other two roosting boxes in the coop instead of all crowding together in two. At this point they should be roosting but they are still sleeping all in a bundle like when they were babies. It is very hot even with the fan running at all times. Do you have any ideas?

 

[PoultryPedia]

I had to go in after dark & move a hen over to the new roost to perch the first night, & she liked the idea by the next day & started roosting there on her own. This has worked for me in rearranging other birds' sleeping patterns, but usually they haven't caught on so quickly!

Try moving the birds where you want them after dark. It may take moving them a few nights, but hopefully they'll catch on.
Good luck!

 

[aldarita]

Thank you very much for that great tip. I will go tonight and rearrange these chicks, hopefully with luck, they will like it better that way and stay cooler at night. I guess when they don't have a mama hen to teach them what to do, somebody has to do the job.

 

[aldarita]

Same here...
We are in Las Vegas and a few weeks ago our temps hit 115-120! Luckily our humidity levels are considered quite low (8-20%). I'm not sure if these tips would work in a more humid climate, but after we started with this set-up our chickens weren't even panting anymore! First, our coop is under the shade of a leafy tree and due to the placement of the house the whole thing is in shade by 3pm. However with such high temps, even that is insufficient. We add ice to their water as well as an electrolyte. Once the heat spell ends we do a day of nutri-drench to replenish them since their food intake goes to nearly zero in heat like this. Also, NEVER give ACV during high heat. Panting causes the chickens to be in respiratory acidosis and adding more acid (like vinegar) is extremely dangerous. This year we hung burlap around the coop (it's open and meshed all around). Hubby hung misters around the outside too. In some places the mist was able to get "inside" and in some places it just hit the burlap and kept it wet. When the air passes through the burlap it cools it down from evaporation. We noticed that none of the girls liked getting wet from the actual mist, but it did wet the wood chips a bit and they were happy to dig in those areas and cover up with damp bedding. For most of the day they all lined up along the burlap side and dug down a bit. No panting! After a few days of that when we would turn on the mist they would all waddle over to the burlap and wait for the cool down. Not sure if the burlap will last until next summer, but at $12 for 8ft it's definitely cost effective. Plus the misters require a very low amount of water so we don't feel like water hogs here in the desert.

I recently added a mister system in my run. It is actually located just outside, along one side of the run. After running the misters for few hours for 2 days, I noticed that the sand in the run was wet so my concern now is making the area too moist for the proliferation of protozoa that causes coccidiosis. I want my girls and chicks to be as comfortable as possible but just the thought of them getting cocci terrorizes me. So for the time being I quit using the misters until a get a better understanding of this moisture issue. How long have you been using your misters and do you have any issues with coccidiosis like i do?
I might be exaggerating the situation but I think it is better to be sure than to be sorry. Also I believe you are in a better situation because your humidity level is low, where I am it is usually 100% in the morning and drops to 30 - 35 in the afternoon.
BTW thanks a lot for the tip about ACV, I stopped giving it to my birds when I first read about it in BYC but I did not know why, now that you made it clear, I will resume giving it to them when the temps drop enough for them to quit panting, hopefully by November.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Adding a small amount of unactivated Oxine to the water could help prevent things like mold buildup, though not sure if it would help with protozoa. Is it possible for you to add things into the water in your system?

 

[aldarita]

Unfortunately no, we live in the country and have a well that supplies water to the house and yard as well as the chicken yard. I did move the misters a little farther away from the run so the water is not falling so much into the sand in the run, another thing that helps is the breeze, we have had very nice winds these past two days and it sends the mist thru the run without wetting the sand too much. I only turn them on at the pick of the heat (from 2PM to around 7PM). It has been 105 with the heat index. My problem is when there is no breeze then the sand gets wet. I rake it everyday when I clean up in hopes that it will get dried a bit.
I wish we had a cistern so I could add some oxine, that might be a big help.

 

[Urraca]

Hello, I am getting my first chickens in March, mostly large girls and reading about what heat can do to them scars me! my question is, can you put air conditioner in their coop for those horrible hot days? Thanks in advance I appreciate any suggestions about this!

 

[meskybar]

It's 90 here in AZ right now and my coop is reading almost 100 and it's only going to get hotter.. I have shade over the run, ice in the water, I'm thinking about getting some misters. Has anyone tried a floor regulator booster to blow the hot air out of the coop?? I have vents in the front and sides, and from what I'm thinking, it should help blow the hot air out, I have an electrical outlet near the coop that I can hook up to a timer.. Any other suggestions?

 

[aldarita]

I live in Texas and it is already 87F and even hotter in the coops. I have windows with cross ventilation and normally there is a nice breeze. I also have fans blowing in the coop and I am able to open the lid in the nesting boxes (just enough for the hot air to move out). I have fans in the run which is covered with a roof. Last year we set up misters in the run but I was concerned with the high humidity and the mist. You won't have this problem because humidity must be pretty low where you live. I got all the other tips for cooling done, like making deeper dirt boxes, ice in the water, trays with cold water for their feet and frozen watermelon, still I am very concern with cooling the coop because it gets extremely hot and they stay there for a while when they are laying. I am trying to come up with some ideas to cool the nesting boxes. I read in a post that somebody puts ice bags in the back of them but it did not sound very successful. I am not happy just with the fans because when it gets over 102F (chickens body temp) according to my husband, you are just moving hot air around and not cooling the girls.
Can you tell us more about the floor regulator booster? I have never heard of it and I am interested.