It's going to be super hot today.

[Folly's place]

Leave the electrolyte powder on the shelf at the store! Adding salt to their water isn't what these birds need. All other suggestions are much more helpful. Watermelon! Cold water! Ice in water, and cold fruits.
Mary

 

[aldarita]

I live in a very hot and humid area, our summers are horribly hot and they last forever. I have 25 chickens of different ages, there are fans in their coops and runs, they have shady places and plenty of waterers, my girls (and one boy) like to dust bathe in the sand on the run, I dampen it slightly every morning and they really enjoy their sand bathing. the deeper the sand the better because even though the sand is in the covered run, the surface is still warm so they dig in deep to bring the cooler sand up.
I also give them electrolytes twice a week, I know they add salt to them but the minerals and vitamins content helps with the stress the heat produces. I know it helps because they used not to eat much and were sort of catatonic on the hottest hours of the day and now they are more active and they eat their normal feed ration.

 

[aldarita]

I live in a very hot and humid area, our summers are horribly hot and they last forever. I have 25 chickens of different ages, there are fans in their coops and runs, they have shady places and plenty of waterers, my girls (and one boy) like to dust bathe in the sand on the run, I dampen it slightly every morning and they really enjoy their sand bathing. the deeper the sand the better because even though the sand is in the covered run, the surface is still warm so they dig in deep to bring the cooler sand up.
I also give them electrolytes twice a week, I know they add salt to them but the minerals and vitamins content helps with the stress the heat produces. I know it helps because they used not to eat much and were sort of catatonic on the hottest hours of the day and now they are more active and they eat their normal feed ration.

 

[Henriettamom919]

Well, our area had marine cloud cover most of the day into early afternoon so it felt like crawling into the dryer with a load of bath towels tumbling up until about an hour ago when a breeze out of the North kicked up.

All my layers had done their biz by noon but were open mouth panting by 2pm (as was I...blah ) so I put about 2 inches cool water in the kiddie pool and placed them in then put a fan up on the wetted, shaded mud porch with some sliced watermelon to encourage them over there.

All in all we've all muddled through but it was a sticky, hot gross day!

Thank you for all your suggestions! Our summers have been brutal the last two years so I know I'll have a chance to experiment with all these suggestions!

 

[aart]

I have some electrolytes powder but it's for chicks; would this be okay for my layers or should I run to the co-op and buy hen specific electrolytes?

Yes, this will work.

I've found cold/frozen food is fun for us but is not the best bet for the birds.
Ice water can be dangerous, for dogs... and chickens.
I have seen a chicken suffer from an 'ice cream headache' after gorging on ice water, thought she was gonna keel over.

I give a dose of Sav-a-Chick electrolytes/vitamins about once a week during heat waves.
It really seems to help....started this after they saved a heat stroked hen once.
Can mix up a smaller amount, just wrap the packet tight and store in a dry cool place. Always have plain water available too.

BIG(9x14x2") chunks of ice last all day for wading, sitting, and sipping.

Make space in your freezer!

 

[Henriettamom919]

@aart I may not know much but I did learn not to offer actual ice water to animals after reading about how ice water can actually lead to further dehydration (amount of energy expended to bring it to body temp so it can be used exceeds energy gained by water intake.)

I just stuck to refrigerated fruit and spraying down favorite shady spots. I did fill the kiddie pool with a little cool water and plop them in there- the looks on their faces was hilarious. They seemed both pleased at the sensation on their feetsies and indignant at my chucking them in there

 

[aart]

@aart I may not know much but I did learn not to offer actual ice water to animals after reading about how ice water can actually lead to further dehydration (amount of energy expended to bring it to body temp so it can be used exceeds energy gained by water intake.)

Good.... some folks don't know, so I add it for everyone reading. No offense meant.

I did fill the kiddie pool with a little cool water and plop them in there- the looks on their faces was hilarious. They seemed both pleased at the sensation on their feetsies and indignant at my chucking them in there

Will never forget the first time I did this, held bird in there and she struggled until the cooling happened(didn't take long) I swear she closed her eyes and gave a deep sigh. She was in and out of that pan until it warmed up and most the others followed suit. Then I went to the huge ice chunks that last all day.

 

[Henriettamom919]

@aart Oh, I wasn't offended! I didn't mean to sound that way as I appreciate all information. I was just excited to know something as I'm usually the novice with this chicken business

 

[harmonyp]

I was freaking out when I found it'd be 105 last week. My poor little girls went out into the coop at 6-7 weeks old on Labor Day weekend. Temps the first days went down to 46 degrees F at night. Then 2 weeks later we got a heat wave, and had close to a week over 100. They've been through a lot in their little lives!

With plenty of shade, water pans to walk through (which they appreciated a lot!), leaving a sprinkler over night on their day run/free range areas so the ground was moist (we're on sand), and then leaving a little sprinkler running in their pen on low - they did great. I know many can't wet the ground this much, but it really works great on sand.

Of their multiple waterers, I filled one with electrolyte water twice a week, and they sought out that water over the others on those days.