Lost another chicken to heat stroke/stress

[ChickenCanoe]

Keep in mind that chickens still need a place to dust bathe for parasite control.
Turning that into a mud bath won't help. They aren't pigs.
A mister can help a great deal if one doesn't live where it is humid. It was 95% humidity here this morning so a mister would just make matters worse.
If your coop is located in the sun (always a bad idea), spraying down the roof may cool it off a bit. This is when huge open windows helps cool the coop down a bit after dark. A window fan helps much more.
If the coop stays very hot at night. Freeze milk jugs of water and hang them from the ceiling along the roost so they hang where the chickens sleep. When they go to roost, they can sidle up against the cold jugs as a bit of air conditioning.

 

[Nola985]

The lost bird was a Plymouth Rock. So more electrolytes, bushes, containers of water with frozen bottles of water. I think just having a tube for water, although always filled, is a bit limiting. I will try extra tubs of water and hope for mud. Thanks everybody for your helpful comments and appreciate the chicken therapy!

I live in south Louisiana and during the last 2 months the daily averages are in the high 90’s. You don’t have to hope for mud. Lol. I grabbed a bag of organic top soil, sand, ash, and DE and poured it into a mound. Every morning I wet down thata patch of dirt I created for them. It’s against my house and fully shaded. They lay there during the hottest parts of the day. There are also small dishes of water scattered around my property so they don’t have to go far to cool down. I also have 3 fans around my garden (1 in the coop) as well as a mister. I’ve read a thousand times that chickens don’t like fans and they don’t like water. It’s complete BS. My girls lay directly in front of the fans and under the mister. They free range all day so I spread different cooling options around my garden so they can chose the coolest place throughout the day.

 

[centrarchid]

This is the second summer I've lost a chicken to what I believe is heat stroke. I have a 30 foot fenced in area and thought I have provided enough areas that have shade. This summer I have put a huge tarp with poles to widen an area for shade. There is constant water supplied in a tube feeder and monitored 2x/day. I also have other areas that provide cover for shade. I live in PA and it has been hot the last two weeks. Is loosing chickens in the summer common? Assuming it is the heat, what else can I do to prevent this is issue? I only have four chickens so there is space and always plenty of food (I probably over feed my birds). I do bring a variety of scraps to them but they are always on the approved list. Are chickens fragile birds and even in a well kept environment is loosing birds part of the experience? Thanks!

Be checking health issues bef_re heat stress.