Keeping chickens cool in the summertime..

[easterchickenz]

Hello fellow Backyard Chicken Raisers,
So this afternoon my sister lost a chicken due to heat (they had plenty of water) but today temperatures reached the triple digits and the heat index was around there too along with the humidity being up there. It made for one hot misrouble day. I was just wondering if you guys had any tips or tricks that we could use. I have seen people use ice bottles, cooling fans, shade treatments, etc but I work 8am-4pm on the weekdays so the heat is intense while I am at work. Also I rent a small chunk of land to keep my birds on of which sees sun pretty much all day but we try to do our best given the circumstances. We asked if we could house the birds up in the shade near the land owners birds but he is not ok with it, he gave us specific instructions that they are to only be in the set location that they are in of which has zero shade so we are stuck with using a tarp over their wire cages to block out the sun. We have the tarp running east to west leaving the north and south side open for a breeze and preventing the sun to shine directly on them on the east and west side. Also we do not have electricity benefits to use to set up a fan and/or a mister to keep them cool an like I said I work the morning into past the main heat of the day, so ice bottles probably aren't gonna work, any other suggestions that we could use to keep our chickens cool while we are a way? Perhaps a battery operated fan would be better than nothing?? Oh and I forgot to mention above that I also supplement my birds with a show feed and electrolytes in their water bottles.

I also have a little Crele Old English Hen that is about 7-8 months old and still isn't laying any thoughts on that one?? I know for a fact she is a hen. I purchased her when she was younger and she was sold to me for $35 (she is a show chicken) so I would really like to get some good show quality chicks out of her but this not laying and here she is 7-8 months old and not a single egg has popped out kinda has me worried. This was also before the temperatures got real hot like they have the past two weeks.

Any help would be great!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

People always worry about their chickens being cold in the winter. I've never had a chicken freeze to death, but heat will quickly kill them. Provide as much shade as possible. We don't get that hot around here thankfully. I provide shallow pans of water and chickens will often stand over or in them. Wetting down an area of the running can help too. Digging holes for them to sit in is another option.

You game hen isn't bred for production so I wouldn't have expected her to start too young. Some show bred birds won't start laying until nearly a year of age. My best guess would be in the next month or two.

 

[Bnemi]

Digging holes for them to lay around in and shade trees have always been good for my hens.