keeping chickens cool in summer heat

[twinsmom6]

hi everyone. the past few days have been in the 80s here and it's not supposed to cool down. one of my chickens has been panting a little bit which is what got me concerned about the heat. we don't have electricity in out coop so I can't put a fan out. what else could I do? I have ice in their water and a small pool for them. their whole run is in the shade.

I would say of all of our efforts to keep the girls cool the air circulation has been the most effective. If you have anyway of running a little extension cord out to the coop.. I would set up one of the box fans or some sort of fan.. really seems to help .. other wise keep lots of water available sources to step in a clean for drinking too.. frozen treats are nice..

 

[North Jax Hens]

It's been over 100F with a heat index of 110F in north Florida this week. Lost 1 hen yesterday and 1 today. That leaves me 1 laying hen and 4 - 3 week old chicks. The chicks are still on the back porch where it's constantly in shade and they seem to be doing ok. The hens in the coop are the ones I've lost. I'm devastated that I lost my favorite hen today. Tomorrow I'm going to spray down the coops run and keep it wet until this heat wave passes.

 

[Agarshak]

So sorry about your loss.....

 

[aldarita]

We are in Texas, heat indexes are 110 F lately and August (which is the hottest month of the year) is around the corner. Today, I put 5 frozen bottles of water in a pan and added some water. I figure that maybe some of my chickens will step for a very brief moment on the bottles to cool off their feet, honestly I think it is wishful thinking because I very much doubt they will do such a thing but at the very least they will drink the cool water and that will help them too.
Thankfully we are getting a very nice breeze everyday so my flock gets to stay out in the yard for most of the morning, at noon they retrieve to the covered run and lay under the fans, drink lots of water and pretty much do nothing until the sun goes low in the horizon and they can come back out in yard until roosting time.
I also sprinkle some water on the sand in the run so they can dust bathe, they love the cool moist sand.

For all of those that live in these very hot parts of the country, hang in there, keep working hard trying to keep your flock comfortable and share all your ideas of how you are cooling them....summer will eventually end !!!!

 

[North Jax Hens]

Well since it's a chicken tractor, I pulled it all the way around to the inner yard under a tree so it's closer to the house and dragged a heavy extension cord out to it so I could setup a box fan to blow through the run. Ginger seemed a little miffed at the fan but she forgot all about it when I introduced her to her new room mate, a 1 year old buff Orpington I was able to get today. I also picked up 3 buff chicks but their in there own housing on the back porch. Ginger and Blondie seem to be getting along great right from the start. I think Ginger was lonely since her only other sister died.

 

[twinsmom6]

 

[twinsmom6]

Vegsicles. 3 month old orpingtons and 2 month old Easter Eggers

 

[Looneytoonsfan]

Hello, I live in the DFW area. I have 6 month old hens. I can't seem to keep them cool enough. We put ice in their water during the day and in the water in their coop at night. In the morning they come out of the coop running to water . You mentioned something about a window fan. Is the fan in window reversed so it will take heat out or the other way. Also do you know if we need to put a nightlight in coop so they can find their water bottle at night? We have 5 windows cross venerated but can' seem to keep them cool enough. Also is it normal for them to all lay eggs in the same spot? I would appreciate any help. Thanks
Signed
Desperate for cool hens

 

[mclanea]

Hello, I live in the DFW area. I have 6 month old hens. I can't seem to keep them cool enough. We put ice in their water during the day and in the water in their coop at night. In the morning they come out of the coop running to water . You mentioned something about a window fan. Is the fan in window reversed so it will take heat out or the other way. Also do you know if we need to put a nightlight in coop so they can find their water bottle at night? We have 5 windows cross venerated but can' seem to keep them cool enough. Also is it normal for them to all lay eggs in the same spot? I would appreciate any help. Thanks
Signed
Desperate for cool hens

I assume they have a covered place to go? That seems to help a ton.

Something that they seem to really like is to take two bricks or patio block and put them next to each other with a frozen block of ice in between. When I do that my hens will sit on the bricks next to the ice block to cool off.

I make ice blocks with just about anything. We've been using 1 quart paint pails we got at Home Depot for like $.50. (Never had paint in them) But I've also started cleaning out gallon milk jugs, filling them with water, and freezing them. With those I can just put them in their run and they'll sit by them in the dirt.

Regarding your question about the fan... we don't use a fan. But I would imagine it's best to keep the breeze blowing on them.

 

[twinsmom6]

living in the very dry desert I have tried A LOT to keep my chickens cool. I have found that fans are the best even with a very little moisture in the air the circulation of the air keeps them more happy. Lots of water to drink and move the air. blowing it at them. IN Arizona the mister with a fan is the nicest for the chickens. the size of the fan depends on how may girls you are trying to keep cool..
they will huddle up to a small fan.. they need room to get some air in their feathers. Windows are nice because you can secure the fan to keep it out of reach of wings and beaks or poop deposits.
My fans are just on the other side of the chicken wire. Some people don't have electricity to the coop but in the hot months we run weather tough extension cords out to the coop to keep the fan running. cover the connections with plastic bags to avoid moisture at the junctions (rains etc).. we also provide frozen treats; wading water and always fresh clean water to drink. Think about what keeps you cool when you are too warm.. Air baby.. lots of air