Official BYC Poll: How Do You Keep Your Chickens Cool In Summer?

[Snooky doodle]

Garden hose works wonders, make sure the water is cool i it first so you are not spraying them with instant soup temp water. Washing machine also works, just keep the spin cycle to low otherwise they wobble and walk in circles afterwards. Pull them out and hang them by their feet from a clothesline for about 12 minutes, they are quiet dry and behaving the calm quiet way god intended a chicken to behave If you get one of those plastic garden hawks they sell at the big box stores, you can show them that and they will flap their wings a bit, which helps facilitate their drying AND gives you a cool humid breeze as well. Kind of like they are thanking you for the shower!! Bless their little hearts While they are singing for the hawk, you can hear if any of them are hoarse, and in need of a slight gargle with listerine to clean up whatever issues got them going. Once you are done, they will run right into their coop and goto sleep for the night, exhausted from the day's fun!!

Aaron

But seriously, sometimes when I am watering they will want to get under the spray from the hose or drink from the dripping.

That was funny!!

 

[Solanacae]

My run is on the east side of the house and shaded by several large trees. I’ll run a sprinkler in the evening to water the trees. It cools down overnight (I’m in a dry area so it cools down quite a bit at night) and the girls go hang out in the shade with the cool soil to help out. I refill the waterer with ice instead of water to keep it cooler as well. I may try doing frozen treat pans with my vegetable trimmings (freeze them in a pie tin and let the chickens have at it) this summer.

 

[Pentatonchix]

I feed my hens frozen watermelon and they love it!

 

[LissyZ]

Lots of cool water and mine loves her fan. She sings into it. Just got her a new smaller, black one and she’s not happy. Going out to the shed for the standard box fan she loves.

I would LOVE to see her singing into the fan. Chickens are such fascinating animals to me. I'm a first time chicken mom and I love seeing their personalities.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Almost all of the above and I am still worried it is not enough. They are hot going to roost tonight . I am at my second dose for worming so did not make puddles as is their favorite. I am working on my plan to abandon the heat and move us up to a higher elevation this summer. Doing some math tonight and picking up some wood tomorrow
So, I check other with summer palace or relocation? chickens.

 

[Chickassan]

Well im one of the lucky multiple choice people.
We have water pans and tons of dense oak canopy which keeps temperatures at least 20 degrees cooler.
Im in the south eastern U.S so night time temps are still a bear so iv'e rigged a usb powered fan just to up air circulation a little bit.
I figure if it gets too inferno in there I can put ice in front and viola, poorhouse air conditioner.

 

[Ascholten]

One other thing I have noticed almost by accident. The coop has a roof over it, well it's a tractor really. If I turn it so it's pointing east / west, the shadows from the roof keep it cooler in there, they have some shade to hide out in in the afternoon. If it's north / south then the sun hits it sideways instead of lengthways and there really is no hiding spots and they really don't like it. In the winter now, Ill do the opposite on really cold days to help keep it warmer for them.

Aaron

 

[christenkae]

My chickens just love to sit in the shade under my fence and garage, dust baths in the dirt. I have a small fan blowing right into their coop and I feed them some frozen corn/berries and they loooove that stuff. I tried misting them but it just scared them off lol.

 

[Ascholten]

I tried putting a fan on my coop and they carried on like I was dangling them right above a wood shipper. I mean it went on for 2 days, they'd just huddle in the corner or roost box so I fially said, screw this and took the fan away from it and hey are fine. THey tend to collect under the boat and take dust baths when it's very hot out or under the bushes.

Aaron

 

[SueT]

We have a lot of shade. This was not the case 6 yrs ago when we converted this shed into a coop.

The Siberian Elms nearby, (which are a fast growing invasive tree) planted offspring in the fence rows and this is the exact same coop today (w a couple extra coops behind.)

Before the trees grew to shade the run I used a lot of shade cloth, (75% shade, you can see there is still some left, it’s green color and has lasted exceptionally well). The shade cloth lets water thru but blocks most of the sunlight.