How to Keep Chickens Cool in Upcoming Heat Wave?

[Chris027]

I just installed an A/C unit. Chickens love it. I can control via iPhone app.

 

[Padfoot22]

Besides the electrolytes and ice cubes in water, I like to make veggie and fruit ice pops. I take canned or frozen corn or peas or blueberries or any fruits or veggies with small pieces that my chickens like and put them in a small container of fresh water then freeze. This gives them something cold to peck at and get a cold treat out of. Also sliced frozen watermelon and cantaloupe are a big hit.

 

[sfulbrig]

I freeze whole kernel corn in muffin tins filled with water. I also freeze bottled water and drop one in their water. When it melts I drop another in and refreeze the first. I put up shade cloth on the sunny side of their run.

 

[Dottie Ferrell]

Hello fellow chicken friends - I live in Portland and we are expecting a horrible heat wave this weekend. Temps are going to be over 100 for multiple days, which is not typical for this area. I am worried about my chickens who have definitely never experienced that much prolonged heat. They have shade and I will hose down the grass multiple times and refill their water as often as I can throughout the day, but should I do anything else? I don't have a/c in my home, so I can't bring them inside either. Help!

I am in Port Angeles and had the same problem as you. I did the sprinkle their runs, and made sure they had fresh cool water, but I gave them cool treats like watermelon cantaloupe, refrigerated corn on the cob as well. Our back yard is set up for free ranging and we have been bad about mowing recently, so we had a lot of tall grass, and drainage troughs for rain water and ours like to hunker down in them as they are cooler. I am grateful that people are concerned about the animals. A remind not to let your dog/cat/pets walk on those hot walks and streets. And, consider putting out some shallow pans or dishes of water for those wild birds too. In this heat, they have a hard time finding access that is cool.

 

[Stephoney]

Hi- I thought I’d chime in, even though I’m a little late. I live in Graham (south east of Tacoma) and went through that terrible heat wave last weekend. This was also my first time with hens over 94. Here’s what I did that worked, particularly on Sunday when it hit 108:
- fenced them in so they couldn’t free range and had guaranteed shade.
- put up a canopy we had stored in the garage (not my husband’s favorite task!)
- hung misters along the canopy and up around the the run. The hens hate being in the mist, but I turned it on every hour for at least 20 minutes to saturate the ground and get them a little misted. They had space away from it so they didn’t have to get misted if they didn’t want to. I have heard that exposing hens to misters can cause respiratory issues, but I figured that one day would be alright and would likely save their lives. I got mine off Amazon for $30 (65 feet of tubing and a lot of mister nozzles included). Really easy to set up and attach to a hose.
- sprayed the ground around the run that the mister couldn’t reach every hour.
- fed them cold watermelon, grapes and blueberries
- put electrolytes in their water. They didn’t really drink much, but I had it in 5 waterers around the run just in case.
- put frozen water bottles in the nesting boxes. The run was too big to put frozen gallon bottles around- they were freaked out by the sight of them for some reason.
- filled a kiddy pool I got from a neighbor with three inches of water. The hens wouldn’t get in it, but every now and again I was able to grab ones that looked particularly miserable and soak their feet in it for a few minutes. I did put a frozen gallon jug in the pool to keep the water cool.

Overall, it was an exhausting day of pretty much catering to the hens in extreme heat, but I was really worried that I would lose them. The day before I had to bring in my Russian Orloff to cool her down in the tub and feed her electrolyte water when I found her trying to lay an egg with ooze/spit coming out of her wide open beak. Luckily i caught her in time and she came around after 20 minutes of cooling and hydrating. I didn’t think I could catch all of the others if there were more emergencies and I didn’t want to cause them even more stress in the heat by chasing them. Turns out, keeping the ground wet was really key. The misters worked awesome and only used 1/2 liter/hour of use. Really not that bad when you consider the benefit. All but a few of the hens didn’t even have open beaks- in 108 weather! i was so glad that we made it to bedtime when it finally started to cool down. Anyhow, hope this helps anyone having similar issues. I know I scoured the site looking for guidance, too. Here’s a photo of the set up.

 

[Mother Chicken]

Hello fellow chicken friends - I live in Portland and we are expecting a horrible heat wave this weekend. Temps are going to be over 100 for multiple days, which is not typical for this area. I am worried about my chickens who have definitely never experienced that much prolonged heat. They have shade and I will hose down the grass multiple times and refill their water as often as I can throughout the day, but should I do anything else? I don't have a/c in my home, so I can't bring them inside either. Help!

Our chickens love cold watermelon, frozen peas and corn, and misters when it’s hot out. You can get inexpensive misters to hook up to a hose. Our chickens love to hang out right under the mist To keep cool!

 

[Mother Chicken]

Hello fellow chicken friends - I live in Portland and we are expecting a horrible heat wave this weekend. Temps are going to be over 100 for multiple days, which is not typical for this area. I am worried about my chickens who have definitely never experienced that much prolonged heat. They have shade and I will hose down the grass multiple times and refill their water as often as I can throughout the day, but should I do anything else? I don't have a/c in my home, so I can't bring them inside either. Help!

Misters! Our chickens love to hang out in the cool mist when it’s hot. We also give them watermelon and frozen peas & corn!

 

[Chicknmamas]

Electrolytes and ice blocks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

 

[Fluffybuttmom]

I also bought a small mister that attaches to a hose. It is on all day. The mist keeps the dirt cool and the hens dig into the wet soil. Works, they are happy campers.

 

[PeaceMary]

Hello fellow chicken friends - I live in Portland and we are expecting a horrible heat wave this weekend. Temps are going to be over 100 for multiple days, which is not typical for this area. I am worried about my chickens who have definitely never experienced that much prolonged heat. They have shade and I will hose down the grass multiple times and refill their water as often as I can throughout the day, but should I do anything else? I don't have a/c in my home, so I can't bring them inside either. Help!

Just went through a week of over 100 degrees in Spokane and more on the way. I have silver wyandottes. Water, water and shade are most important. My girls loved digging in the cool dirt after i sprinkled it down.
Put a pie pan with a layer of water in the freezer. Then put corn kernels, peas, sunflower seeds, pieces of orange... on top to the ice. Pour some more water over the treats and then freeze again. They will try to peck through the ice to get the treats and as the ice melts they really like drinking the ice water! I also put a big towel over the top of their coop and kept it wet during the day and towards evening. Natural coop air conditioner!