In need of suggestions

[BeckiinVA]

I had to move my 3 week old Barred Rock chicks to a temporary brooder in the chicken house because they outgrew their in-the-house brooder. The building has 2 stationary windows, one of which is half gone. We secured it with hardware cloth. No worries there. The problem is keeping them cool enough during the day. There is no shade on this building until about 5 pm, and by mid morning, they are too hot. By afternoon, they are panting and laying with their wings stretched out. NOT GOOD! We built a door to fit inside the existing door frame out of wood and hardware cloth, so we could leave the solid door open during the day, without having to worry (any more than usual) about predators, and try to get some of the heat out of there. I have set up a box fan up on the highest shelf in the building to circulate the air, but it still gets over 100 degrees in there, and the chicks are suffering. Once the sun starts to go down behind the mountain, the temperature drops a good 20 degrees in no time at all, and they are fine. But until then...

I KNOW you're not supposed to have a fan blowing directly on them, but we have had such unusually warm weather, I haven't had a choice the past couple of days. It is the only thing that works. Fan is a good 12 feet away from them, and on "low". I'm not comfortable doing this though. Any suggestions on how to keep them cool enough? I have no other place to put them, and they aren't fully feathered yet, so can't go out into a run where there's a breeze.

Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In the summer you can have a fan on them by three weeks. In the winter when it is cold you stay away from fans and breezes directly on them. You don't want a hurricane blowing on them but a reasonably gentle breeze is fine.

Why can't they go outside in the run? Do you have older chickens and worried about integration? I've had different broody hens wean their chicks by three weeks, totally leaving them on their own to make their way with the flock day and night in weather not quite as warm as yours. Those chicks roamed the area inside the electric netting by day and slept by themselves on the coop floor at night. At three weeks they are not helpless babies and have not been for a while. Them not being fully feathered out is no excuse to not let them try to find the coolest spot. You may have other reasons but that one is not valid.

You are right to be concerned with the heat, heat can kill chickens of any age. I don't know what your coop and run look like or what your ventilation looks like. If that fan is 12 feet away you probably have a very nice-sized coop. By your screen name I'll guess you are in Virginia. If you post photos of your coop we might be able to offer suggestions to keep it cooler during the day. Telling us which way is North could help so we know which way the sun and heat comes from. My general suggestions are to have plenty of permanently open ventilation up as high as you can get it plus another opening near ground level on the north side where your coolest air is so cooler air can come in as hot air rises out of the top. In the winter you leave that top ventilation open and close off the openings lower down if they cause a breeze to blow on the birds.

Welcome to the forum. It's good to see you are posting as much as you are, hopefully that means you will stick around.

 

[BeckiinVA]

In the summer you can have a fan on them by three weeks. In the winter when it is cold you stay away from fans and breezes directly on them. You don't want a hurricane blowing on them but a reasonably gentle breeze is fine.

Why can't they go outside in the run? Do you have older chickens and worried about integration? I've had different broody hens wean their chicks by three weeks, totally leaving them on their own to make their way with the flock day and night in weather not quite as warm as yours. Those chicks roamed the area inside the electric netting by day and slept by themselves on the coop floor at night. At three weeks they are not helpless babies and have not been for a while. Them not being fully feathered out is no excuse to not let them try to find the coolest spot. You may have other reasons but that one is not valid.

You are right to be concerned with the heat, heat can kill chickens of any age. I don't know what your coop and run look like or what your ventilation looks like. If that fan is 12 feet away you probably have a very nice-sized coop. By your screen name I'll guess you are in Virginia. If you post photos of your coop we might be able to offer suggestions to keep it cooler during the day. Telling us which way is North could help so we know which way the sun and heat comes from. My general suggestions are to have plenty of permanently open ventilation up as high as you can get it plus another opening near ground level on the north side where your coolest air is so cooler air can come in as hot air rises out of the top. In the winter you leave that top ventilation open and close off the openings lower down if they cause a breeze to blow on the birds.

Welcome to the forum. It's good to see you are posting as much as you are, hopefully that means you will stick around.

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I'm new to raising chickens and had read in several places (including many on BYC) not to allow chicks outside until they were fully feathered. For that reason, we haven't built their run yet, but will get on that now ASAP. Also read (on here) and in other places not to have a fan blowing directly on them. I thought that it might be the case that during Summer months it would be ok, but what do I know? LOL Glad to know logic wins again. They are doing MUCH better since I left my fear of the fan behind.

The "chicken house" is actually the top story of a 2 story root cellar. It was built in 1940, so has lots of "ventilation". We covered anything big enough for predators to get in, but left all the other cracks and such open for that reason. I suppose we need to create bigger, safe openings for air to circulate. I'm glad we have a lot of hardware cloth. The original door on that story faced east, but was no longer accessible due to some drainage issues that had to be corrected. The new door faces North ( North is behind the coop) and is now left open all day with our "guard door" of wood and hardware cloth locked in place. I don't close the full door until dusk. By then, the building has cooled down enough for me to turn their light on (it gets in the low 60's in there by morning) and let them be until the next day. A heat lamp is too much in there even at night, so I'm using a 100 watt regular light bulb. They are all under it when I go in each morning, but not huddled up or "dog piled". The building is in full sun from sunup, to about 4 pm right now, and is already too hot by about 9 am. I turn the light off long before that, though.

So, we need more ventilation in the top of the building, and we need to get their run built in the next couple of days. Thanks SO much for your suggestions and your welcome. I DO plan on sticking around.

 

[Kat2141]

I agree with Ridgerunner in that they could be outside. Our mama hens took kept trying to get their chicks outside and now that they figured out the ramp system to get there, they are out most of the time. My sister's Silkie hen took her chick outside on day 3 (no ramp at the door) and it's been going out daily since then.

 

[BeckiinVA]

Thanks, Kat2141!