Ideas on how to keep my chickens cool and hydrated this really hot Australian summer?

[collingwood]

Please help it's really! Really! Hot at the moment! And I need ideas how to keep my chickens cool! I've been spraying the ground and putting shade cloth up but I need help most of my chickens that have died have died from heat!

 

[N F C]

Hi Collingwood,

Here in FL it gets really hot & humid in the summer. A few things I've found that helped are:
put electrolytes in their water
put out extra waterers (have to keep the birds hydrated)
give them a large shallow plastic pan to wade in (some use little kiddie swimming pools)
provide the chickens with cooling treats like melons and grapes sliced in half
open up their coop as much as possible and put a fan inside to keep air circulating
spraying the ground of their run a few times throughout the day (you're already doing that)
covered the run with a mesh shade cloth (you're already doing that too)

Some people using misting systems but we don't have one. Maybe that's something you could find out more about. Another thing some people do is put frozen plastic bottles of water out for their birds to get close to (I tried that but none of them would go near it).

There are probably a lot more ideas posted on BYC, but those are the things we did last summer to help our girls through some really hot, nasty weather.

I'm sorry you've lost some of your birds, that's not easy to go through. Good luck to you.

 

[collingwood]

Thanks a lot! I'll keep you posted on what I'm doing and how my birds are going! I'm thinking of having a fan in my chicken house but at the moment I can't because their shed is too far away from my house! I think I'll try to put electrolytes in their water but the ducks always poo in it and then I have to change it over and over again because I can't let my chickens be drinking what is basically only duck poo by the end of the day!

 

[Percheron chick]

You can also toss your kitchen scraps in the freezer and it will be a cool treat for the worst part of the day.

 

[collingwood]

What a good idea!

 

[glib]

You can also toss your kitchen scraps in the freezer and it will be a cool treat for the worst part of the day.

mmmm, chicken gut icicles.

 

[collingwood]

mmmm, chicken gut icicles.

What do you mean?

 

[glib]

What do you mean?

well, anybody who processes a chicken will give the guts (and lungs) back to the flock, so...

 

[collingwood]

I don't know what you mean! How does kitchen scraps have anything to do with chicken guts?

 

[N F C]

Hi Collingwood, I just remembered another cooling treat for your chickens. Try some frozen vegetables, it cools them down and it's good for them.