Ok its 109 here right now and my chickens are panting?

[chicklin]

When it's hot. Do chickens actually like being wet down?

 

[Debo's Chickens]

Quote:

hey! we must be neighbors! I'm just a few blocks from Silver Lake.

I gave my chickies frozen corn kernels, they ate it up! I tried misting them down w/ the hose, but they weren't down w/ that.

I just threw a bunch of ice cubes around the area in the shade where they're laying, because every time I try to spray an area down, they move to a dry area.

 

[Amethyste]

I informed my birdies that I am the Great Hen that Summons the Rain to cool poor chickie feets and feathers. So far they are not arguing

so I hooked up the hose and attached the handle...and misted the whole run down. The babies were OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But Momma Esther and Auntie Mercedes were like...ooooooooooooooooooooooooo yesssssssssssssssssss!!! They walked right into the mist coming down and just squatted down with their eyes closed, enjoying it

The ground isnt soggy but its definitely cooled off and damp...they seem so happy!

The babies came after a min or so to play in the mist lol

It was not a hard spray or anything... just sprayed in the air above the run and let it come down softly to help cool them down. I have never seen my big girls so hot before and it scared me

They were actually panting! They seem a lot happier now that the run is misted down a bit.... I will have to do it again in a little while, it seems to be evaporating quickly.

**********
Ya Deb, it seems we are

I have some frozen spinach in the freezer atm...am going to give them that tomorrow. I am trying to be careful cos the babies are with the two big hens.... so I am careful on what they are getting to eat. I dont think the spinach will be bad, or the melon they had today. I figure a few days of junk food is better than having them dead from heat prostration and dehydration.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

I read an article about some lunatic people who were in the Antarctic (or the Arctic) and they showed them in their tent making breakfast. The ingredients:
saw
frozen eggs

The eggs (no shells) had been frozen in a milk container, the waxy paper kind.

I don't know if I'd want to saw my breakfast into the skillet, but I wonder if the chickens would like a slab?

 

[Chicken Rustler]

As of 4:22pm I have recorded a high of 111* today in SW Washington.
I think I'm just about to break a sweat.

 

[kuntrychick]

I was wondering about the misting down the coop and run. Here where I live (NE Alabama) it is BAD humid. It seems like the moisture would make it even more humid for the chickens here.

What do ya think?

I know yesterday when it rained a little, I went out to my car and I saw the steam coming off of it.

 

[felidaet]

I am also in SW Washington. I believe about 60 miles south of ironimagery. The last three days we have temperatures of 103, 106 and 106. Our all time record high is 107 and so his shows how hot it has been. Tomorrow the cool down finally begins. It is "only" going to be about 100. Night time has only been cooling to the mid 70's instead of normal low 60's.

When I built my coop and run this spring I built a roof over the entire run. I was not thinking of summer heat. I was more concerned with the almost constant rain from Sep - June. I wanted to keep the run as dry as possible. The shade from the roof has been great the last few days.

My wife has been spraying down the run a couple of times each afternoon with water. Then I have been putting a sprinkler in part of it when I get home from work in the late afternoon. The chickens run from the water. But as soon as we turn off they rush over to the puddles and lay down in the them. We also added to small tubs of water to the run and have been changing the water 2 - 3 times each day. They are not walking into the tubs but at least they are drinking from them. We wanted to give them quick easy access to lots of water.

I will sure be glad when we return back to our more normal mid to upper 80's next week.

 

[kuntrychick]

Tell me more about putting frozen bottles of water in their waterer.

The waterer I have is a gallon ..just put a frozen 16.9 oz bottle of frozen water in there and it will keep it cool? It won't block the little things that makes the water come out will it?

 

[meandmytwo]

Quote:
yap thats what I do, I take my waterer that sounds like the same size as yours and put a 16oz or smaller water bottle in and screw the lid on and it will feed out of the holes as normal. You do have to check it more often because you can only put so much water in the waterer.

Hope all that made since???

 

[camardagardens]

I always have frozen bananas in my freezer, my cheeps love em. I hope they are okay for them. Does anyone know? We have frozen the left over cantaloupe 1/2s w water in em and tossed it in too. Its 100 in the shade here right now. Maybe I'll freeze some worms next. Lol
I tried misting the coop but they tried to run through the fencing. I tried the pan of water in the coop too, they think its a toilet? I think I'll stick to freezing things...