When it gets really hot, I freeze plastic water bottles. I put them in shade areas of the coop where chickens gather.
We are in for a cool down the next few weeks.
We are in for a cool down the next few weeks.
Poll Time: Cool the Coop & Chickens
- Thread starter Kiki
- Start date
I have a layer of sand under shavings so the will dig into the sand when it is hot. I also have a ceiling fan with a wire cage on a timer for midday. And I give ice, frozen treats, lots of extra cool water, treats to hydrate like cucumber and watermelon. Other than air conditioning I think I checked everything!
Leslv
In the Brooder
We live in Las Vegas = very hot! 
We do all of the above. Mostly open air coop, lots of ventilation and double shade cloth. I put frozen water bottles in the nest boxes for them to lay against. We have large terra cotta plant saucers we fill with water that they stand in. I also will sprinkle the ground in the big run for them. Lots of cool water.
The other thing we do that I didn’t see addressed is our, we call them red neck swamp coolers. Lol! It’s a plastic tote filled with water. It has a pvc frame we attach swamp cooler pads to with holes in the top to trickle water down on the pads From a small fish tank pump. Works like a champ. Chickens will lay right in front of it when it’s hot. Pictures attached.
We do all of the above. Mostly open air coop, lots of ventilation and double shade cloth. I put frozen water bottles in the nest boxes for them to lay against. We have large terra cotta plant saucers we fill with water that they stand in. I also will sprinkle the ground in the big run for them. Lots of cool water. The other thing we do that I didn’t see addressed is our, we call them red neck swamp coolers. Lol! It’s a plastic tote filled with water. It has a pvc frame we attach swamp cooler pads to with holes in the top to trickle water down on the pads From a small fish tank pump. Works like a champ. Chickens will lay right in front of it when it’s hot. Pictures attached.
Attachments
I try to provide every thing on the list except the air conditioning.
Only thing I would add to the poll @Kiki is vitamins/electrolyte mix. I will give this occasionally when we have long stretches of hot weather. They still have plain water as well.
Only thing I would add to the poll @Kiki is vitamins/electrolyte mix. I will give this occasionally when we have long stretches of hot weather. They still have plain water as well.
The last few years since I have had chickens have been pretty mild, so I haven't had to worry to much yet.
The coops are in shade, and cold drinking water and ventilation are standard when it gets hot. (or at anytime of year really) I haven't needed to yet, but a sprinkler on the coop roof would get used when its really hot. (that is our AC system for our house as well!)
The coops are in shade, and cold drinking water and ventilation are standard when it gets hot. (or at anytime of year really) I haven't needed to yet, but a sprinkler on the coop roof would get used when its really hot. (that is our AC system for our house as well!)
- Thread starter
- #26
Added but I chose to add these 2 things separately but you can choose both.
- Thread starter
- #27
My news right now.
Hot!
Being on the other side of the world, right here and now I am sitting by a nice warm fire. However, next year is looking like a hot one, so its never far from my mind.
Scots in France
Songster
We had a month of 40°C / 104°F days last summer!
I helped the flock stay cool by changing all the water 3 or 4 times a day, adding ice during the hottest part of the day.
A shade cloth over the open coop window that was wetted down a couple of times a day.
Wet cloths on the tin roofs of the smaller coops.
Cold treats - fruit and / or just thawed prawn heads
(we have a terrapin who eats the rest! 
…!) a VERY popular treat!!!
The MOST important thing is to check on them regularly and know where they are hiding out!
I will offer electrolyte water this year and see what else I can do to make it better for them...
I helped the flock stay cool by changing all the water 3 or 4 times a day, adding ice during the hottest part of the day.
A shade cloth over the open coop window that was wetted down a couple of times a day.
Wet cloths on the tin roofs of the smaller coops.
Cold treats - fruit and / or just thawed prawn heads
(we have a terrapin who eats the rest! …!) a VERY popular treat!!! The MOST important thing is to check on them regularly and know where they are hiding out!
I will offer electrolyte water this year and see what else I can do to make it better for them...
The temperatures one sees on weather forcasts are taken from sensors not exposed to direct sunlight, that means that these temperatures are temperatures in the shade.
There are differing qualities of shade. Shade inside a one yard square stone built box (internal dimensions) with one foot thick walls with a very small window will be vastly different to a box of the same internal dimensions made of thin metal sheet.
If keeping cool in hot climates had much to do with ventilation one would expect to see lots of house built with huge windows with a roof stuck on top basically; the chicken equivalent looking like this picture. I hope you don't mind me borrowing your picture @Leslv .
Below is a picture of a Spanish farmhouse. Rather different isn't it.
Note the lack of windows. Nothing like the open structure in the coop picture above. It gets hot in Spain. Temperatures above 100F are common during the summer months.
When it comes to heat the same laws of physics apply to chickens as they do to humans.
My point here is the Spanish farm house is going to be much cooler inside than the coop in the picture above it. It's going to be cooler because it restricts the amount of sunlight and heat that can enter the structure. The coop is always going to be closer to the outside ambient temperature because there is no effective barrier between the outside zone and the inside zone.
The next important consideration is ventilation and air flow are often not solved by the same methods. In the open coop above there may be very little air flow because the air pressure and temperature will be almost identical inside and out. What one needs in a coop is air flow, exactly the same as one does in a human house. You can open every window there is, but if the air doesn't move it will still feel hot and stuffy.
The important difference between humans and chickens is chickens don't have sweat glands and therefor don't sweat. This means what works partially to keep humans cool won't work for chickens. You can pour gallons of cold water and watermelon into a chicken and while they may enjoy the sensation regarding cooling, as in a reduction of temperature it won't achieve much. This is because they don't sweat and the water and melon go directly to the chickens crop and very quickly reach the core temperature of the chicken.
There is a lot to write on this subject which I'm not going to deal with here but while I'm here...
I'm in the UK currently. While nothing like the heat I experienced in Spain, we have had a few days where the temperature reached 80F. The chicken can handle such temperatures easily if they can keep out of direct sunlight. I built them a shade box. It works (hopefully) by allowing warm air to escape through the double layer of shade cloth on the box roof which has a gap between the two layers which is open to any breeze. The sides give some protection from direct sunlight and the gap at the bottom allows the cooler air at around ground level to be drawn into the box as the hotter more humid air rises inside the box.
There are differing qualities of shade. Shade inside a one yard square stone built box (internal dimensions) with one foot thick walls with a very small window will be vastly different to a box of the same internal dimensions made of thin metal sheet.
If keeping cool in hot climates had much to do with ventilation one would expect to see lots of house built with huge windows with a roof stuck on top basically; the chicken equivalent looking like this picture. I hope you don't mind me borrowing your picture @Leslv .
Below is a picture of a Spanish farmhouse. Rather different isn't it.
Note the lack of windows. Nothing like the open structure in the coop picture above. It gets hot in Spain. Temperatures above 100F are common during the summer months.
When it comes to heat the same laws of physics apply to chickens as they do to humans.
My point here is the Spanish farm house is going to be much cooler inside than the coop in the picture above it. It's going to be cooler because it restricts the amount of sunlight and heat that can enter the structure. The coop is always going to be closer to the outside ambient temperature because there is no effective barrier between the outside zone and the inside zone.
The next important consideration is ventilation and air flow are often not solved by the same methods. In the open coop above there may be very little air flow because the air pressure and temperature will be almost identical inside and out. What one needs in a coop is air flow, exactly the same as one does in a human house. You can open every window there is, but if the air doesn't move it will still feel hot and stuffy.
The important difference between humans and chickens is chickens don't have sweat glands and therefor don't sweat. This means what works partially to keep humans cool won't work for chickens. You can pour gallons of cold water and watermelon into a chicken and while they may enjoy the sensation regarding cooling, as in a reduction of temperature it won't achieve much. This is because they don't sweat and the water and melon go directly to the chickens crop and very quickly reach the core temperature of the chicken.
There is a lot to write on this subject which I'm not going to deal with here but while I'm here...
I'm in the UK currently. While nothing like the heat I experienced in Spain, we have had a few days where the temperature reached 80F. The chicken can handle such temperatures easily if they can keep out of direct sunlight. I built them a shade box. It works (hopefully) by allowing warm air to escape through the double layer of shade cloth on the box roof which has a gap between the two layers which is open to any breeze. The sides give some protection from direct sunlight and the gap at the bottom allows the cooler air at around ground level to be drawn into the box as the hotter more humid air rises inside the box.
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