I need help

[Mamatomany123]

I'm in Colorado and I dealt with the opposite issue this winter (-30°). Even though everyone said they would be fine, it just didn't sit well with me to do nothing. Plus constantly checking on them was a huge time and energy suck.

Solution? I bought a giant $30 tent from Walmart and put them in my basement for a week. It kept all the dust/dirt contained, saved me tons of stress and effort, and my flock of 10 survived the extreme temps!

Just throwing a different solution into the ring. Sending a cool breeze your way!

I have 40 hens and no basement. They'd have to be in my house

 

[Mamatomany123]

As long as they’re not in direct sun, they will be fine. No need to take them indoors, they’ll be perfectly fine outside.

They're not in direct sunlight. Some are hanging out in the coop and others in the covered portion of the run. I'm just worried with how hard they're panting.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

I live in Florida so I understand how bad the heat can be. Shade, fans, frozen fruit and veggies, ice bottles, and if it's not humid misters are all good and will help. I've had a chicken almost pass away from heat stress so I understand your worries!

 

[Mamatomany123]

They need to brought inside with air conditioning. Do you have a garage or barn with air conditioning?

I have a garage but there's no air conditioning. I don't think they need air conditioning, I'm just wondering if there's anything else I should do other than what I've already done.

 

[Mamatomany123]

So here's the follow up pictures to my prior post.

Misters... (I have them on a timer. Usually I don't put them on until it gets closer to 100. That's deliberate so they acclimate to the heat when it's just in the 90s. I figured that will make it easier for them when it really gets hot.)
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Cool pool for when it's really hot. Blocks encourage them to stand in there. The water is just above the level of the larger blocks.
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Ice water with blueberries (and/or chia seed) to cool their waddles. (First photo was their very first time with just the chia seeds. They were leery at first.)
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If it's really hot, another thing I do that I forgot to mention earlier is just to hose down an area within their run. That really helps cool that area and they love to go scratch in it and lay down on it.

Oh, yes, I hose down the run, especially the shaded area.

 

[Mamatomany123]

Guess you can lead a horse to water....

I put them in there and they scream like I'm trying to kill them

 

[The-White-Elephant]

Guys, it's so hot in Texas right now. So far we are at 117. My poor chickens are struggling. They have deep shade, a pool filled with fresh ice water, 2 fans (one is the makeshift ac cooler). I'm going out there every hour having to put cool water under their wings. They're panting heavily and wings are open away from the body. I'm seriously about to fill my house up with 40 chickens I don't know what else to do to help them. Any ideas?? We are going to be well over 100 for the next week or so.

As long as they’re not in direct sun, they will be fine. No need to take them indoors, they’ll be perfectly fine outside.

 

[Morrigan]

What is the humidity like? If it's not humid, you could put in a mister in front of the fan. I like to use the ones like this.

 

[EddieSalita]

I second the use of a mister. They will work at that temp even if you think the humidity is high due to the characteristics of relative humidity.
They really don't consume much water. Especially if it's just a few hours a day in the hottest part. Kits are readily available from hardware stores.

 

[Mamatomany123]

Misters and a shallow pool to cool their feet make a huge difference! We get that dry heat also. Next week is supposed to be 116. We're hovering at 101 right now. I purchased a mister system on Amazon that was quite simple to set up. I have it lining their run about 4ish feet off the ground.

The shallow pool is something I just added this past week. They've figured it out and make use of it! Putting blocks in for them to stand in is a good idea.

I also use old cool whip containers to freeze blocks of ice. I put those in their water buckets to cool the drinking water.

Another things I've done is put some ice water in a shallow container with frozen blueberries. I even tossed in a few chia seeds. This made them dip their waddles in the cold water to get the berries/seeds. That also helps cool them down.

(I'll add some pics in a few)

I have a few that will stand in the cool kiddie pool. But most of them won't. They drink from it so I'm sure that's helping a ton though.