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

kera! :

scratch actually raises chicken body temps,, not the best in the summer

That's been said to be a myth (by some people here). I'd like to see something official on this one way or the other.​
 
I've been told by my vet that if I want to help my horse generate extra heat in the winter, to offer corn. During digestion it is supposed to create more heat than other feed. I imagine that would be similar in chickens, though not to such an extent as it seems like food passes through a chicken faster than through a horse.

To keep my chickens cool, I freeze cucumbers and put them out. They peck them all day long, and by night they are thawed out so they're eaten and gone by morning.
 
Do we really need to go to all of these measures to keep our chickens well during very hot weather? Chickens have been around longer than we have so it would seem they might be very adaptable to the weather as long as they have shade and plenty of water to drink.

Ours don't get any special treatment. Their run/coop is shaded most of the day so they just take lots of siestas and drink lots of water. They seem fine.

I'm not saying someone should not give their birds frozen food or keep their water cool or even spray them down. It's each chicken mama and chicken daddy's choice as to how they treat their birds, but it seems they don't necessarily need all of these things to be healthy.

A lot of the farmers I knew when I was a kid back in the fifties had lots of chickens and they just roamed the yard or stayed in the chicken run no matter what the weather. I don't remember any major chicken die-offs due to excess heat.
 
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Mine free range around our 3 acre "farm", and have just been doing their normal routine the past couple of days, but the heat index has "only" been 100 around here. Which is hot for Massachusetts, and I'm sure the birds are not used to this kind of heat, but they seemed to be acting fairly normal (that is, not overheated). But I think I might be concerned if they were stuck in a coop all day. Since I have the option of letting them go wherever they want I haven't been to worried about the heat. I figure they will find a cool spot and take it easy if they are too hot. I did try misting them one day with a garden hose when they wandered by while I was watering some plants, but they wanted nothing to do with the water.
 
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For those who don't mind if they lose birds, no. For those that do, and I am one of them, yes. All it takes is a half hour perusing this website in any summer, and the reader will find innumerable sad posts of one dead bird after another due to heat. Sure, some fare well without intervention - just as with any physical stressor/ailment, some are more hardy than others - but many are not built for extreme temps and at the very least, and very uncomfortable. I'd rather be safe than sad and prefer to do whatever I have to do to try to get my birds through in the least discomfort possible so they can live to enjoy nicer days.

JJ
 
For the past 3 days my 10 silkies have been in my shop in a gated area in the air cond and loving it, it has been brutally hot here and they can't take it. I feel bad for my frizzles tho, there are to many to bring in but they have lots of shade and weeds to go in and my silkies don't have the same setup. The prob is they aren't going to want to go back out, they are enjoying their vacation
 
Hi!

My 6+ week old standards (Brahmas + Easter Eggers) have been outside for the first day today. The pen is always at least 50% shade, often more. They seemed fine the first few hours. Last time I checked on them they were panting heavily and all crowded together huddled in a corner. After I worked around the pen a bit they did get up and move around some, drank water, etc. I'm going to try some of the ideas in this thread, but here is my question:

How do you know if the chicks/chickens are too hot and prone to danger? Also:

Does anyone know if Silkie chicks are more sensitive to heat?

We have 7 Silkie chicks: same age as the standards but we're kinda scared about putting them outside because it is so intensely hot.

We are rigging up a box fan tonight and I'm going to go out and wet things down abit now.

Thanks!!!
 

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