Keeping chickens cool in the summer?

[TESouthern]

I put water in old milk or juice jugs and freeze them. I put them in the coop and all of mine love sitting by them and sometimes even perching on them! It helps keep them cool for a while, and I just always keep a frozen jug on hand to switch out with the ones that melt.

this is brilliant....I will be trying this asap....my poor girls were sooo hot today. I brought them cool water and some frozen corn and green beans (which obviously didnt stay frozen long but were cold) and that seemed to cool them down some

 

[kbarnes]

Finally some rain. But its getting ready to come down hard so I just had to chase the kids all inside the coop. They all was ted to stay under my bench.

 

[byouland]

We ended up building a run to add to the coop. There is a roof to make shade and the
dirt helps them stay cool. Once a day I sprinkle water on the dirt floor and dig holes so they can take a dirt bath in it. We even put a nesting box inside because we find the girls spend most of their time in the run. I let them out of coop once a day with me so they can eat grass and roam a little. Not too long though because we have too many predators.

 

[iwiw60]

Here's an idea to keep our ladies cool!!!!

 

[PrimroseMom1]

We're north east of you, just outside Stephenville. Some panting, but the chicks seem to be holding up pretty well. Shade, water, cross breeze in the coop... that's working okay so far, with frozen bottles as a bonus occasionally. I need to figure out a way to hang a rope or chain in the coop to hang a bottle above the shavings.

The other day I posted this. Make a loop with pipe

cleaners on the neck of the frozen water bottle.

Then hang the bottles in

curtain hooks. I leave the hooks in the coops and hutch year around. They are cheap and don't rust.

 

[aatx]

The other day I posted this. Make a loop with pipe cleaners on the neck of the frozen water bottle.

Then hang the bottles in curtain hooks. I leave the hooks in the coops and hutch year around. They are cheap and don't rust.

I want to hang them near the bottom of the coop and it's all metal there, so I'll have to suspend a chain from the ceiling to hang them. I'll have to get my husband to drill a hole in the metal for me, but then I was planning on employing your pipe cleaner loop.

 

[ctchopper]

Here's an idea to keep our ladies cool!!!!

Hilarious!~ I draw the line at buying them a swimming pool, though!

 

[ctchopper]

Problem solved!??
They say that education is expensive, whether you get it in the classroom or on the street. And even though I read up, asked for advice from wonderful, friendly, helpful people, I'm still having to pay my dues. There is no single solution to the heat or probably most other issues, as I'm learning, but I think this one does the trick to keep the girls cool (enough) in our Mojave heat.

Pans of water (very poopy, very quickly). OK in summer when I'm home, not so much when I go back to work next month. Plus, they like the free drink much more than the automatic nipple waterer I gave them for the clean water. Uggghhhh.

Wet towel on the ground (peeeee-you!)
Frozen water jugs (again, great when I'm home, not when I'll be gone until 5:00). Etc, etc.

Then I brought out the big guns and got a mister. Scared the crap out of them and they avoided it...for days! And since it's such a small area it got their feed wet, too. But it pushes air and mist like a dream so we've hijacked it for the porch...for us .

Just set up a portable Honeywell evaporative cooler. It's 96 degrees here and the temperature reading under their coop is now at 91. I'm guessing it feels cooler than that to them due to the breeze it creates. However, it's not such a breeze that they avoid it and mouths are closing as I type! We can put it on a timer so it will turn on automatically around 10:00 or so and be good until I get back from work. It uses only 50 watts.

Spoiled chickens, yes, but it's worth it for them and for my peace of mind. Whew! I've added two pictures so you can see the scale. As you can see it's a very small area that needs to be cooled and if you look closely, there are chickens in front and near it - they aren't pressed against the far end of the run, in the sun, to avoid it like they did the mister.

 

[SunnyArizona]

Many thanks for the info.

 

[jtn42248]

Here is my latest discovery. A 18 dollar box fan strategically placed to create cross ventilation through the coop with misting outside lowered the interior temperature of my coop by almost 10 degrees yesterday. That brought the temp down from about 100 to 90. Still hot but a little better of my girls. For some reason they choose to stay in the hot coop rather than out in the run under the shade of their own peach tree and mimosa until the end of the day. The only thing I can figure is that it has something to do with the angle of the sun. As the sun sets they come out but when it is high in the sky they stay inside if it is hot.