My 3 week old poults are panting in hot weather!

[Noellereagan]

My 3 week old poults are panting in hot weather. I have three fans going. They're out of the sun, they have electrolytes in their water and I even tried giving them little drinks of cold water (even though I read they shouldn't have cold water). The cold water seemed to help for a minute. They stopped panting and fanned out. What can I do to cool them off. It's nearly 100 here and very humid. Help! Thanks in advance for your guidance!

 

[Chicken Whisperers]

Just keep doing what you think is best. Chickens have their own ways of keeping cool. Panting, fanning out their wings, and heat transfer are all ways to do it. Heat transfer is when, in the summer, the chickens drink more water and as it passes through their bodies, it takes heat with it into the droppings. Do you have plenty of shade for them?

 

[Chicken Whisperers]

Also, you could try putting a few ice cubes in the water

 

[Noellereagan]

Just keep doing what you think is best. Chickens have their own ways of keeping cool. Panting, fanning out their wings, and heat transfer are all ways to do it. Heat transfer is when, in the summer, the chickens drink more water and as it passes through their bodies, it takes heat with it into the droppings. Do you have plenty of shade for them?

Yes. They're in full shade.

 

[Polish Hen House]

When it gets extremely hot I bring my hens into my garage to cool off for a bit. You are doing the corrects things for now. Just make sure that they are well hydrated and have shade.
I also feed mine bits of frozen veggies as a hot weather treat.

 

[Noellereagan]

Also, you could try putting a few ice cubes in the water

I read that young poults shouldn't have ice cold water. Do you think this only applies to the first week? I thought about adding ice to their water. But was hesitant for that reason.

 

[Noellereagan]

When it gets extremely hot I bring my hens into my garage to cool off for a bit. You are doing the corrects things for now. Just make sure that they are well hydrated and have shade.
I also feed mine bits of frozen veggies as a hot weather treat.

You do that with turkey poults? I'd love to give them frozen veggies. I have read that they cannot have anything but their feed yet. Do you give your turkeys this or chickens? Or can they both eat it? I'm pretty new to the turkeys and have read all the ways their SO sensitive.

 

[Polish Hen House]

Offer them water without ice cubes and they can choose whether they drink it or not.

 

[Polish Hen House]

You do that with turkey poults? I'd love to give them frozen veggies. I have read that they cannot have anything but their feed yet. Do you give your turkeys this or chickens? Or can they both eat it? I'm pretty new to the turkeys and have read all the ways their SO sensitive.

I have heard that turkeys are really sensitive, so I would just keep giving them their regular feed, just to be safe. I do feed my pullets and hen frozen veggies when it gets hot. My pullets don't like the coldness very much so they don't eat a lot. My hen loves the frozen veggies.

 

[Polish Hen House]

You might also want to try putting a ice pack in their pen. This way they can lay near or against it to cool off.