How to raise chicken in hot weather?

[Kiki]

I live in Houston.
I would have one week old chicks outside in my open air coop now.

My chickens are 6 years old.

The only think I do during the summer is change the water out will cold water in the afternoon.

 

[Mamatomany123]

I live in west texas. Our normal summer weather's get up to 120. Here what I do to keep my girls cool.
1) deep shade. I cannot stress that enough.
2) I freeze ice in big containers then put them in a kiddie pool every morning. The chickens will drink it as it melt and stand on it to cool down.
3) of a chicken looks too hot I will pick her up and place.cool water under her wings
4) frozen fruit or vegetables.
5) I make a cooler ac. I'm making another one tomorrow as the one I had last year was Styrofoam and didn't last but here's a picture of an example. You put ice blocks inside the cooler and it comes out as cool air. Depending on the heat and cooler you have will depend on how often you need to add ice. My chickens love it.

 

[NatJ]

Today I noticed all four chicks started panting, lying down lopsided with wings open just a few mins into their backyard adventure.

Did they have any shade in that pen?
Shade makes a BIG difference to the temperature!

And unlike many other suggestions, shade can be set up once and keep working all summer, without needing you to fiddle with it each day.

(Not criticizing the other suggestions, just emphasizing shade because it didn't seem to be getting enough attention.)

 

[sandburRanch]

Shade was previously only mentioned 3 times . Shame on you X-Pert chicken folks . And the only time Houston gets a breeze is with a hurrycane so besides shade and a shalow water container to stand in provide some wind with a small fan .

 

[igorsMistress]

Hi there. I live in Phoenix and heat is certainly an issue here in summer. You can make large blocks of ice at home, cubes melt too fast. Put one out in a shallow pan in the morning, even if it melts it will be slow and provide cool water for sipping and standing in. I cut down a kiddie pool so my flock can step in and out and put the ice blocks in it. A fan is good, but it’s also very drying and if you’ve been in a warm breeze you know it’s like standing in front of a hair dryer. So it moves air but isn’t a huge help for cooling. If it’s not too humid a mister is helpful to cool the area. If you can put some at edge of the patio and run it the full length it may help cool the area considerably. When you get home give them some more ice. Put electrolytes in one waterer and regular in another, this helps my flock and I give it to them two or three days a week. Fermented food is a source of additional hydration and is good for them on occasion. Also,poke a few holes in the bottom of a kiddie pool, fill with some dirt for dust baths and wet it down. This gives them a cool spot to lay down for a bit and something cool to bathe in. My flock loves to bathe in damp soil. Since they’ll be on the patio deep shade should be good, but if the sun gets in during the hot part of the day you may want to provide some shade for that. Good luck!

 

[3KillerBs]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hot-climate-chicken-housing-and-care.77263/

Shade and ventilation are key.

Also the ability to dig down into cooler earth.

 

[Lor]

I've been digging around on this forum and the common things are ice cubes, water pan, frozen treats, a small fan next to coop (their coop and run is under the shaded patio.) No one is at the house during the day between 7am- 5pm so ice cubes won't last long at all... What else would you suggest? Thank you!

I fill gallon juice jugs 3/4 full with water and put them in the chest freezer in the garage.
Easier to use a frozen gallon jug than ice cubes and they last longer.
If placed in a pan of water or kiddie pool with a paving stone inside to stand on, with the water just covering the paver, it will help cool off their feet. Maybe just sitting the frozen water bottles on some pavers may cool the paver for sitting on?
Placing in the shade, regardless of which you use.

 

[sandburRanch]

For those that don't have time to supply chickens with ice cubes all day , and i certainly don't , consider a Swamp Cooler and allow it to run all day and into the night if necessary . At night the water supply could be off in most instances but those ole biddies would still enjoy the air on Lo speed .

Or if funds are in short supply like mine are you could do a fan blowing across the Kiddie Pool of water .

 

[3KillerBs]

For those that don't have time to supply chickens with ice cubes all day , and i certainly don't , consider a Swamp Cooler and allow it to run all day and into the night if necessary . At night the water supply could be off in most instances but those ole biddies would still enjoy the air on Lo speed .

Or if funds are in short supply like mine are you could do a fan blowing across the Kiddie Pool of water .

Evaporative cooling works well in places that are hot and DRY. It's useless when your 95+F temps are accompanied by 95+ % humidity.

IMO, special cooling measures should be reserved for unusually hot temperatures and chickens allowed to acclimate to usually hot temperatures. That way your birds aren't dependent on the special measures if something happens so that you can't provide them.

 

[sandburRanch]

Evaporative cooling works well in places that are hot and DRY. It's useless when your 95+F temps are accompanied by 95+ % humidity.