My chicks are HOT...

[Desert Peep]

Hi all, I'm a newbie to chickens and need some help. I've gotten tons of great information from BYC; Thanks!! I live in southern Arizona and am looking for suggestions for keeping my chicks cool. Our summertime temps regularly top 100 degrees or more for months on end. My chicks are about 6 weeks old. They are breathing with their mouths open so I know they're hot. I read that heat stress can shorten their life span. They have a 16x 10 covered run and a large open air coop inside the run. I've considered a portable swamp cooler, fan, and a mister. Anyone have ideas on keeping the girls cool and comfortable?

 

[elmo]

What's the run covered with? What shade is available?

I use shade and a mister.

 

[Desert Peep]

Solid blue tarp. The entire run is covered. I've also been watering down the ground every morning. They like to scratch up the damp dirt and lay in it. Because of the heat and dryness, the dirt doesn't stay wet for long.

 

[dedicateddourly]

Hi there,

I'm a newbie too, and I don't have to deal with extreme heat, BUT I do remember reading about someone who lay a cooler on its side and put in blocks of frozen blue ice wrapped in a towel or something to keep it clean (just throw the towel in the washer). The chickens could cool themselves off in the "air-conditioned" room whenever they needed to. I thought it was a great idea.

-dd

 

[LarryPQ]

Come see us in the AZ thread--lots of good ideas there!

The biggest thing is SHADE & WATER

You can also try frozen water bottles or make an AC-d room like this:


Water to wade in:


Lots of people use misters or wet down the run in the morning.

 

[Desert Peep]

That is a good idea; I never thought of that. That way they can control how cool they want to be. Thank you.

 

[Desert Peep]

Sorry for the stupid question, but how do I get to the AZ Thread?

 

[LarryPQ]

It is not a stupid question...I always invite people, but never remember to put the link

Go here

We're on page 680 right now (look at your address bar after clicking... last 3 digits)

 

[pkw]

I live in the Mojave Desert here in California. We regularly have 100+ temps here for many, many months also. My chicken coop is a single wide mobile home and is pretty spacious for the chicks even as they get older. This past Tuesday my husband installed a window swamp cooler in the chicken house and we have 3 fans in there also. So far it feels really cool back there but then it hasn't reached the 100's yet.

 

[Dog Goatee]

I also live in Tucson and I'm also new at having chickens. I have swap cooling and what I have done is I bought a large wired dog crate and put is up against the doggie door. I only have 2 hens so a dog crate works for them and they had no problem finding there way inside. The dog never goes out when it gets to be over 90 so blocking the doggie door is no problem. The dog is obviosly smarter than I am. I was just out there and it's freaking HOT! 105!