Need ideas for 100 Degree Plus Days

[briteday]

We're no where near as uncomfortable as you since we have DRRRRRYYYYYY desert heat, but I do go out in the evening and really soak the ground in the run leaving sprinklers on while I do chores. I turn it off after 30 minutes or so and then the ground cools off overnight. In the morning the girls run out to that wet dirt and get a good cool dust bath. I often repeat the watering around noon on really hot days so the girls can get an afternoon dust bath to cool off as well. On just awful days I leave a little sprinkler running in the chicken run somewhere in the shade.

Otherwise, all of the above...frozen melons, ice chunks, kiddie pool, fans, open all the windows, leave doors open, provide more shade

 

[Mrs. Feathers]

Mine go crazy over frozen watermelon.
I cut one in half and put it in the freezer overnight and toss it in the run on hot days.
We also have a raised coop and I think I will try a modified version of Barry`s wind tunnel under there as today is going to be hot. (Thanks for sharing the suggestion)
BTW
DH remembers when watermelon were 50 cents each and I can see him tense ever so slightly when I throw them in the cart at the market. Being the great guy he is though he just smiles and says "lucky chickens".

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

I too keep a small backyard clock, and in Florida. Mine seem to tolerate the heat fine. As long as they have plenty of water. I give mine treats of frozen bananas, thawed peas, and I have a tilled dirt spot in the shade in my yard especially for hot days. In the morning I'll spray this small dirt patch with the hose, then I move the soil around till it's all absorbed. Once it's soaked in, the girls love dirt bathing in the nice and cool dirt.

 

[Jstall]

Put fans and fogger nozzles in your coup. A fogger nozzle will cool with normal water pressure. Maybe not as good as with high pressure buster pumps, but they will still cool.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

Mrs. Feathers :

Mine go crazy over frozen watermelon.
I cut one in half and put it in the freezer overnight and toss it in the run on hot days.
We also have a raised coop and I think I will try a modified version of Barry`s wind tunnel under there as today is going to be hot. (Thanks for sharing the suggestion)
BTW
DH remembers when watermelon were 50 cents each and I can see him tense ever so slightly when I throw them in the cart at the market. Being the great guy he is though he just smiles and says "lucky chickens".

My wife grows the greatest vegetable garden, and she grows sugar baby watermelons (a small watermelon about the size of a large cantaloupe) in plastic half barrels she got for free from a local soft drink bottling company. Our lucky chickens get freshly grown, organic melon that she picks in the morning and puts in the fridge for a few hours -- until the heat of the day, when she cuts it up and feeds it to the chickens.


My chickens get more melon now adays than I do, too...


BTW, glad you are getting some mileage out of the wind tunnel idea. It's so hot right now, we're all going to have to do what ever we can do to keep these birds healthy. I live in Memphis, and I hear that in the rural area outside of the city, that farmers are starting to loose some of their chickens to this heat...​

 

[SmittenChicken]

Lately I've been mixing leftover veggies, scratch, shredded zucchini and BOSS with plain yogurt and freezing it in large-ish containers so it takes a while to thaw.

I put out frozen gallon jugs too, but my girls are not too bright and seem to be a little scared of them... So I put them near the frozen yogurt station so the girls have to crowd up against them.

 

[Morgan7782]

This is what I do as well. Sacramento gets over 100 on a pretty regular occasion in summer.

I have the bottom of a planter pot aka shallow pool, fill with water and refresh once or twice a day depending how often I am out there. They wade in it, drink, and I even caught my EE pullet trying to lay down and swim or something lol!

I don't always give them cold cold water, noticed they won't drink real cold water when it's hooot outside. I do put frozen milk jugs around the yard in shady spots as well.

Occasionally I will have the hose running on a dribble for the plants, and they love walking through, digging mudholes and just having a jolly good time haha!

That's what I do on really warm days.

Pretty much same as above lol.

 

[peachlover]

Quote:
YOU ROCK!!!
Thanks!!!

 

[Karen_at_LittleBrook]

Lots of cool/cold/frozen treats often during the heat (watermelon, blueberries, chopped hard boiled eggs, chilled raw corn on the cob, yogurt, zuccinni, summer squash, popcycles, frozen fruit bars, crushed ice) I even tried jello with mine but they didnt really like it. Mine also didnt like the frozen water bottles either. I mist down their run a couple times a day also, keep their water full and cool & make sure they have a shade area and I use a fan.... I felt so much better when I took out a 24" box fan (I ran an exterior extention cord) and aimed it at their shady corner in the run, set it on med. and they love it! They settle in front of it as happy as can be! Once it gets cooler toward evening I lock them in the run and open-up the man door in the coop to cool it off before they go in to bed. I have even set the fan up in front of the coop window a couple of times and ran it all night if needed! Its worth the effort and a little extra electricity because I can relax when they feel better!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Barry Natchitoches: good inexpensive idea.