Lessons learned while trying to beat the heat...

[room onthebroom]

I think the misters are a great idea! I've seen a lot of people on the AZ threads swear by them. I definitely would NOT give them any corn in the heat. There's something in the way their bodies process corn that generates extra heat. We only give them corn in the winter when we're trying to keep them warm. During the spring, summer & fall we give them kale, cold watermelon, chopped grapes & chilled pomegranate seeds (mostly watermelon because it keeps them cool AND hydrated.) In addition to refilling the waters twice a day, I also like to keep an extra one full of electrolytes out there. (My favorite is the Rooster Booster brand with extra vitamins because it doesn't have that weird color & smell that some of the others do.) If your chickens are afraid of the frozen water bottles, try putting them inside their drinking water. It will help keep the water cooler longer. Good luck you guys!

https://www.amazon.com/Rooster-Boos...id=1498203702&sr=8-1&keywords=rooster+booster

 

[aart]

.... I definitely would NOT give them any corn in the heat. There's something in the way their bodies process corn that generates extra heat. We only give them corn in the winter when we're trying to keep them warm.

This is a bit of a fallacy.
Any digestion creates heat.
...and most chicken feeds are primarily corn.

 

[aart]

Man, I wish I would use misters here!!
Way too humid here to do much good.
Experienced them while vacationing in AZ,
it's amazing the difference they make.

 

[room onthebroom]

This is a bit of a fallacy.
Any digestion creates heat.
...and most chicken feeds are primarily corn.

A bit? A bit can make a world of difference when life & death are on the line.

 

[Mrs Howey]

I give my chickens frozen blue berries when the heat starts to go up. I just place them out by the coop (thats where they stay in the heat) in the shade of my coop which happens to also be by the door. I also place some in the waterer to keep that cool. My chikens like standing on the blue berries till they are about half defrosted then they eat them and they like picking the blue berries out of the waterer. I wash the waterer when i change the water out (i change it often to keep the water cool). I also keep melons in my refrigerator as a cool treat for them. I like to offer them the fruit because its juicey and helps keep them hydrated. I also offer them frozen peas and chilled zucchini and tomatoes so they arent always eating fruit and have more variety in their diet.

 

[TXchickmum]

-always boiling hot in the summer here in Texas. I keep two large fans on the coop (and the coop is mostly open to air in the summer on three sides). Also, I place a mister in front of the run with a large fan right behind it. The fan blows the mist into the run, keeping a good area cool. The chickens love it! I freeze milk jugs full of water, place them in the waterers, and change them out periodically during the day (usually about every six hours). -seems to make summers tolerable for my old girls.

 

[aart]

A bit? A bit can make a world of difference when life & death are on the line.

You must have missed my point...corn does not create more heat during digestion...and most feeds are mostly corn anyway. So not a life or death difference.

 

[Stephine]

This is a bit of a fallacy.
Any digestion creates heat.
...and most chicken feeds are primarily corn.

Yeah, I have been meaning to comment on this corn thing for a while!
Giving extra corn before bedtime in the winter keeps them warm just because they like it a lot and so can easily be enticed to eat a bit more that way and corn is very easily digested.
That does not mean you can't give corn in the summer and in fact those crumbles or pellets you are feeding as regular chicken feed have loads of corn in them - it usually is the first ingredient.
So, yeah, a bit of frozen fresh corn is just fine...

 

[Stephine]

I give my chickens frozen blue berries when the heat starts to go up. I just place them out by the coop (thats where they stay in the heat) in the shade of my coop which happens to also be by the door. I also place some in the waterer to keep that cool. My chikens like standing on the blue berries till they are about half defrosted then they eat them and they like picking the blue berries out of the waterer. I wash the waterer when i change the water out (i change it often to keep the water cool). I also keep melons in my refrigerator as a cool treat for them. I like to offer them the fruit because its juicey and helps keep them hydrated. I also offer them frozen peas and chilled zucchini and tomatoes so they arent always eating fruit and have more variety in their diet.

Yes, froze blueberries in a big bowl of water is a standard summer treat here - the berries make the water more interesting and they cool off their wattles trying to get the blueberries at the bottom of the bowl.

 

[Stephine]

I had a new idea for cooling the chickens down!
So far I have offered big plastic bins with pavers and water going half way up the stones for the chickens to stand on. They do use it but it is hard to keep up - the pavers are heavy and the bin cumbersome and I have to drag it out and clean it every day and still the chickens sip the yucky water around the pavers all day long...
So I was thinking: Ice bottle under overturned terra-cotta flower pot. I use those pots all the time under feeders and waterers, so the chickens are familiar with them and they like sitting on top of them as soon as they find an empty one. I'll give it a try and report back!