How to keep my hens cool in the hot summer

[lilofthestars]

I have three hens now. I’m trying to keep them cool I bought a baby swimming pool put water in it. Put rocks that they could stand on and bricks where they can step up on. I even set them in there for a few minutes cause I know they cool off by their feet and legs. One of my young hens was breathing so heavy and her wings was expanding. I was a little bit worried For some reason. They just won’t go in the pool. Anybody have any ideas? Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I've also had trouble getting mine to use certain foot pools. They seem to like terra cotta saucers (like what you'd put under a planter) best. The terra cotta cools just like a brick would, and you can keep the water very shallow. Get the largest one you can find. I still need to encourage mine to use it.

This is the one I have.

 

[BoundlessLove]

Here is a good article which may help you:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

 

[rosemarythyme]

I've also had trouble getting mine to use certain foot pools. They seem to like terra cotta saucers (like what you'd put under a planter) best. The terra cotta cools just like a brick would, and you can keep the water very shallow. Get the largest one you can find. I still need to encourage mine to use it.

This is what I use. That said, I only have one hen that really loves fully standing in it, the rest don't go any further than toe tips in the water.

 

[lilofthestars]

Thank you

 

[thecatumbrella]

Honestly, a couple of my girls get so hot that I just bring them into my basement. I know it's not ideal, and it stresses them out quite a bit, but I'm not really sure what the alternative is other than to watch them suffer and hope for the best. And we do ALL the cooling tricks (shade, fans, cool water, etc.) Chicken keeping in summer is so brutal.

 

[MarlaMac]

We are super hot in central Texas. I will give my girls watermelon at the peak heat of the day. That seems to hydrate them well.

I also run my backyard sprinkler for 30-45 minutes before they are "scheduled to go to that yard". My hens free range and I bring their food and water trays around to the back yard when the house shadow covers about 1/2 of the yard. When they come in the back, they get their feet wet on the grass. They seem to love this.

I also trickle water in the shade by the coop at the end of the evening. I move all their feed and water to that area. They love pecking around the "stream" that I create for them until it is time to go to roost.

They will not touch kiddie pools are other things that I have tried to put water in for them, but they will willingly walk through/stand in the lawn and the stream I create as they pick at the watermelon I place around for them.

They quickly settle in and stop panting.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

The BO finally decided to give it a try yesterday. This is good, because she struggles the most with the heat.

 

[TOMTE]

If you have plants around where you keep your chickens and it isn't too humid outside for moisture to evaporate, spray/mist the plants. As the moisture evaporates off the plants, it cools the air around them.

Make sure they have a place to dirt bathe so they can dig down to where the earth is cooler and lay in it. Again, if it isn't too humid for moisture to evaporate, spray down the dirt to cool it. Just standing/laying on cool dirt helps with heat exchange. Shaded concrete/stone/brick/etc also stays much cooler so if they have access to it, let them stand/lay there.

White reflects heat so painting things white can help.

Spray the roof and outside walls of your coop as necessary througout the day to cool it.

Make sure there's efficient airflow.

Cold treats like frozen fruits and veggies work just like ice cream or a popsicle for people; the proximity of the mouth to the brain means that eating cold treats helps cool the blood flowing to and from the brain.

Deep, dark shade is best for chickens to escape the heat. If you don't have deep, dark shade, make some. My girls spend most of the day lounging and foraging in the woods when it's really hot out.

Offer electrolytes in one waterer on really hot days so heat exhausted chickens can replenish their vitamins and such.

Bringing chickens into air conditioning for extended periods is dangerous because once they acclimate to an air conditioned environment, they become less tolerant of heat and more likely to get heat stroke once back outside, even if it isn't extremely hot. Bringing them into a shaded spot, like a garage, to cool down for a while with supportive care is better.

 

[Bawkbok]

Ours won't stand in anything to cool their feet either. We've tried multiple sources, saucers, trays, shallow pans, kiddie pools, etc. They will not stand in any of them even when placed in them. They scurry away. Dunking them in a bucket of water helps but catching them stresses them out so I only reserve this method for absolute dire situations if anyone looks lethargic.

We have BOs who struggle terribly. Today is 96 degrees with a 107 heat index.
We use deep litter and it's all dirt right now. I dump a bucket of water on the dirt under two fans funning on high and they seem to stand and lay in the wet dirt. Refrigerated cold water changes every two hours, watermelon, grapes, cold fruit containing high water content. It's all we can do. Fans are blowing hot air around but hot air moving is better than no air moving at all. We don't even get breezes here during the day anymore.

We are all struggling with this heat and all we can do is pray all our chickens make it through. Just constant vigilance, pick up the poops to reduce flies and let them rest.

Shade and fans and more shade and fans. I'm grateful for electricity. Here's hoping for the best for all our birds. Hang in there everyone.