Overheating Chickens

[AmeraucanaChicken]

The past week, temperatures have been extremely high — being over one hundred degrees and even reaching one hundred and twenty degrees a couple of days ago. The chickens are laying under the coop all day and not moving to avoid the heat, and yesterday two of my Delaware hens died. This morning we set out to extra pans of water that they could possible stand in to cool off. Other than that, I am curious if anybody else would have some suggestions. I'm afraid that frozen water bottles would simply melt too quickly and not be on much use.

I will also note that I am not particularly surprised it was the Delawares, even though they are more suited to hot weather than some of my other breeds, that passed as I have had past experiences with Delawares not being the most hardy of breeds.

 

[azygous]

You must be in the desert. If so, you have not got a problem with humidity. You should be able to take advantage of evaporation and the law of thermodynamics - heat flowing into cold.

I dampen the sand in my run on very hot days. This serves the two purposes above. By dampening the sand, it causes evaporation, and that causes the sand to drop to a much lower temperature and feel cold to the touch. The chickens then either walk across the cool damp sand or lie in it, thus transferring the excess heat in their bodies to the cooler sand.

This will not work in direct sun. You need shade.

You may also be able to set up a mister which also causes evaporation and the temperature in the air to drop.

 

[AmeraucanaChicken]

You must be in the desert. If so, you have not got a problem with humidity. You should be able to take advantage of evaporation and the law of thermodynamics - heat flowing into cold.

I dampen the sand in my run on very hot days. This serves the two purposes above. By dampening the sand, it causes evaporation, and that causes the sand to drop to a much lower temperature and feel cold to the touch. The chickens then either walk across the cool damp sand or lie in it, thus transferring the excess heat in their bodies to the cooler sand.

This will not work in direct sun. You need shade.

You may also be able to set up a mister which also causes evaporation and the temperature in the air to drop.

Thank you! We're not quite in the desert, just the State of Jefferson. There's no sand, but earlier today we did get the idea of spraying the grass around the coop with a hose, and at least for the time being the temperature dropped drastically in that area. I later lured them out with some mealworms and we continued spraying them with the mist, and they were pretty content and happy.

I'm hoping if we keep this up that there shouldn't be too many more problems with heat. These really high temperatures aren't normal, thankfully, and should only last for the rest of this week.

 

[ChicNmom]

Can you set up a fan?

In extreme heat we have put large pieces of plywood in front of the layer boxes to deflect some heat. We have a lot of shrubbery so when they are out they are usually under something.

I have also put frozen reusable ice packs in the coop eave/vents above the roost at night.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

How’s the air flow under the coop? Have you been giving any electrolytes? They make a big difference when it gets hot hot. I dose mine whenever it gets over 100F. Do you have a fan?

 

[AmeraucanaChicken]

Can you set up a fan?

In extreme heat we have put large pieces of plywood in front of the layer boxes to deflect some heat. We have a lot of shrubbery so when they are out they are usually under something.

I have also put frozen reusable ice packs in the coop eave/vents above the roost at night.

No, the coop is too far away from any electricity source for a fan, and the nesting boxes do have wood blocking half the door to make them feel more protected. There's no shrubs around them, but they do hang out underneath the chicken coop all day.

We generally have bottles of frozen water in the freezer, so I will consider bringing some out tonight. Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[AmeraucanaChicken]

How’s the air flow under the coop? Have you been giving any electrolytes? They make a big difference when it gets hot hot. I dose mine whenever it gets over 100F. Do you have a fan?

I believe there's a pretty good airflow beneath the coop. I hadn't thought of giving them any electrolytes for the heat, but I will definitely see about doing that. Dosing the ground around them with water did seem to make a big different today.

 

[ChicNmom]

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