It’s hot!

[Asharpegg]

Hi! I have a flock of 9. They are 9-11 weeks old.
Can they have some frozen watermelon ice cubes as a “cooling” down treat? Gonna be in upper 90’s and even 100’ this week. Thanks for any advice!

 

[azygous]

Absolutely. Frozen foods can definitely cool and hydrate on hot days. I like to empty trays of ice cubes into a broad shallow pan and the chickens play with them and drink all the melt. I also wet down the run so evaporation cools the air down a good ten degrees.

If your chickens show no interest in ice cubes, try freezing some canned corn into the ice.

 

[Asharpegg]

Thank you so much!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi! I have a flock of 9. They are 9-11 weeks old.
Can they have some frozen watermelon ice cubes as a “cooling” down treat? Gonna be in upper 90’s and even 100’ this week. Thanks for any advice!

Welcome to BYC!

Cute Silkies!

You can also freeze their water or put gallon jugs of frozen water for them to sit next to.

Frozen peas are high protein (20-22%) and delicious. Frozen corn is always fun (in very small amounts it's 7% protein). Or frozen peas and carrots perhaps. Anything like that frozen into ice cubes or a small bowl for them to peck at can be cooling and enriching.

Wetting the area is a good idea, I only dislike the flies it attracts. But the chickens may enjoy them!

 

[Asharpegg]

Great info! Thank you!

 

[CurvyCoop]

I was just told by someone else that feeding frozen treats in the heat is a bad idea because the temperature difference is too much and it will encourage the chickens body to produce MORE heat to warm her back up. So it works counterproductively.
I was also told that wetting the run is bad because while it temporarily cools everything down it does create a higher humidity.

So now I'm really confused
I wanna do the right thing for my girls, not accidentally hurt them.