IT'S HOT. Don't forget to check on your birds!

[Player Hater]

If it's hotterenhell in your area, Remember to observe your birds during the day (if you can) and see if they look uncomfortable.

If they are standing around in the shade with their mouths hanging open, looking miserable, try and help them out.

Some fresh cold water in their drinkers, some cold fruit from the fridge, and even a light misting with the hose can get them back to normal.

 

[terrilhb]

 

[Player Hater]

There are dozens of other things you can do as well, from making special frozen treats to building complex thermostat or time controlled misting systems.

Feel free to post the various ways you keep your chickens from cooking where they stand.

 

[llaaadyel]

My new coop is being wired for electric this weekend and we are planning on adding a standing AC unit to use when it is really too hot. Not sure what that temp will have to be yet for me to turn it on, but I am thinking 85/90. We built the coop and run in an area that has really good shade so I am hoping we won't have tons of issues.

 

[Player Hater]

maybe you could rig it up to a thermostat so you don't have to mess with it

 

[psyche-chick]

Thanks to wonderful posters and their ideas, my hens weathered our heat wave last week with no problem. After reading the suggestions on here, I froze some watermelon for them (they loved it!), feed them some cool yogurt, and plenty of cool fruit and vegetables.

Of course, they are enjoying the cool streak we have going on now.

 

[MarinMama]

we were at about 88 yesterday in the run...luckily we are in a shaded spot. the chicks all looked fine except one started panting when she went out in the sun...when she went back under the shade she was fine.

i wet some of the bark area, ground and a few chicks took a mud bath in the area.

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

It has been just over 100 here, so I am out there every couple hours, misting down the run, adding ice water to their bowls that do not have a frozen bottle sitting in the pan. Their run is shaded 90%, and stays that way all day, and there is a breeze (a hot breeze) but a breeze none the less. It is almost time to check them again, and I know they will be looking for a treat.

 

[Chicky Monkey]

It's been hot in Kansas, too. My husband made an A-frame (about 6 feet X 10 feet) portable pen which I put my seven chickens in under shade trees and let them enjoy the wind that we've had. By around 7pm, it's cool enough that I can let them back into their outside pen and they are SO happy to run, run, run! They've been sleeping in their 'outside coop' (fence-enclosed horsestalls) instead of their inside coop...their choice!

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

A few things I have done for my birds:


1, Place cheap kitty litter pans in their chicken run, and fill them during the heat of the day with clean, cool water. Besides drink from the pans, they can also wade in them. Some of my girls will "scratch" while standing inside the pan, which then splashes water on them and helps cool them off further.


In addition, if I see a hen is really struggling with the heat, I will often pick her up and gently but firmly place her in a kitty litter pan full of cool water. Then after placing her in the pan of water, I hold her down with one hand while I use the other hand to pour clear, clean water over the hot bird. This helps cool the birds down some.


2, Built a wind tunnel for the adult birds. How I did this: I put up two sawhorses and then ran an 8 foot by 4 foot piece of half inch plywood on top of the sawhorses. Then I took a large tarp and placed it so that it straddles over the plywood and flows down to the ground. I weighted the 8 foot long sides of the tarp down with 2 by 4's. At one end of the "tunnel" I have a fan that I keep going 24/7 during the worst part of the summer. At the other end of the "tunnel," it is open, so that my hens can walk in and out of their wind tunnel at will.

When it gets too hot, they can go into their wind tunnel, where they find shade and a nice, cooling wind...


3, Like many others here at BYC, I give my birds watermelon on really hot days.


4, I have built the main henhouse so that I can pull some or all of the walls down and allow more air into the place. Right now, I have pulled down a panel that provided 1/3 of the southern wall of the main henhouse, which is the equivalent of opening a wide window.