Keeping chickens cool in the summer?

[jtn42248]

50 degrees Celsius would be about 122 degrees Fahrenheit

 

[hensinmaine]

No thanks...free-ranging is out for my girls. We are inundated with predators in the area I live in.

we have lots of predators here, too, as we are out in the sticks. We leave am talk radio on all day while we are gone and the bad guys stayaway!

 

[ChickenLilly]

if you have chicken feed, you could also put it in the freezer for a little and give it to your chickens.

 

[mairikra]

We have over 100* days here in Texas for almost 3 months. We bought a used whole-house fan (called an attic fan here), replaced the belt, turned it on it's side in a wooden frame, put chicken wire on both sides, and then placed it where it blows in the run. The coop is on stilts, giving the chickens really dark shade to enjoy underneath. This, plus plenty of water changed twice daily, seems to keep them fairly comfortable. Most of them quit laying in the heat, but start right back up when the weather gets cooler.

 

[yooper coop]

Lol 39 degrees tonight. Had to put my spare heat lamp in the coop. One for the nine day old barred rocks, and one for the three week old meat birds.

 

[K9Dave]

I have tubs if water for them....unable to free range due to being too close to the fields and the risk of coyotes, kit foxes, and stray dogs/cats.....but they have a large coop next to trees and a canopy.....the frozen milk jugs sound like a good idea....might have to try that...

How about a Livestock Dog? Dogs are so underused. That's always my answer. It would keep away anything and everything and last years before replacing it with another. Can even run in pairs. I don't know how big your hobby is though. I think everyone should have the pleasure of seeing their own Dog guarding a flock of their own. I've only trained for Sheep, Goat and Cattle. Chickens will be new to me once we get our final place.

 

[Chiquey]

After reading the earlier posts in this thread, I ran to the store and got a bag of ice. I filled 5 quart ziploc bags and put them in the straw in our coop and run. After circling the ice bags suspiciously for a few minutes, the younger girls started hopping on and around them. Eventually the older hens came around as well. I've put 5 mid-size water bottles in the freezer to use tomorrow. I'm going to have to collect more bottles so I can rotate them. I also cut up some apple and cantaloupe and put it in small containers with water to make water-fruit pops to help keep my girls cooler and hydrated.

Thanks for the great ideas!!

 

[RezChamp]

Wow. Some really good ideas.
I use the fan and filter idea to heat in winter...kind of. I also use the ice cube method in summer..... kind of.
I just got an idea to use the "ice cube" method with a small fan and some hose and a box.
Will let you know how it works out.
Thanks to every 1 who posts.....
.........and to MyPetNugget, good luck & please get your birds out sometimes.
They have survived predators for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. However I can relate to wanting to protect all of them.
I use old DVD's & CD's and different colors of surveyor's tape in the daytime and different colors of LEDs at night to dissuade avian and terrestrial would be predators. Them little strings of multicolor Christmas lights or the ones that change color seem to work really good.
Hope all works out for you

 

[cabinchicky]

Great ideas everyone! must go to Lowes n look for small corner fan n bird bath basin. Mypetnugget, pls try to get a tractor built soon. I too have hawks up the wazoo and have a large run. we do let them out of the run but in a electric net and we stand guard. Coopers hawk is persistent and falcon has swooped 4 feet from me. I freeze water bottles,milk jugs, water down the run, make corn frozen in cubes, freeze melon or part freeze veggies as well. Run is shaded by trees and a tarp over the western side of it.

 

[ekavi]

I took a large potatoe salad container, ran through dishwasher to get all sterile for our chicks then put water in it as a large ice cube for the waterer. they are so spoiled now they wont touch any other water.