Preparing for the heat wave

[MargaretYakoda]

I'm relatively new to raising chickens, and I just noticed that there's a massive heat wave predicted for the west coast of USA beginning about Friday and going on through most of next week.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/heat-to-roil-more-fire-weather/14619950

I'm up on the Olympic Peninsula, west of Seattle, so it might not get too bad. But it might. My chickies are still pretty young. They'll be 11 weeks old on Monday. We have twelve. Four Australorps, four buff Orpingtons (1 is a roo), two buff Brahma banties, a standard Brahma, and a gorgeous white Cochin roo. Their coop is small because they run free in our fenced side yard all day. There is an old Little Tykes play house which provides some shade for them, and a pine tree to sit under on the other side of our yard.

So I'm hoping to open up a discussion here for newbies. What to do when it's hot. How to make sure the chickens make it through a summer heat wave with as little stress as possible. I appreciate any hints and advice from all you pros out there.

 

[1cheepchick]

I am new too. I am worried that my chicks (also about 11 weeks) are getting hot during the day already. I have a kiddie pool I was going to put out for them under a tarp but not sure if they will use it? I also have been freezing some gallon water jugs to put out in the yard for them. I am wondering what kind of frozen vegies I could put out for them also. Anyone with any more ideas would be welcomed.

 

[Brookliner]

I put a tarp over my run to provide shade. I also fill 1L water bottles with water and freeze them I then place them in my 3 gallon waterers. This keeps the water cooler. I also freeze watermellon quarters and they can eat the frozen watermellon. I have also put a fine mist sprayer in the run to keep them cool. Good luck with your heat wave. We just got over one her in New England.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I put a tarp over my run to provide shade. I also fill 1L water bottles with water and freeze them I then place them in my 3 gallon waterers. This keeps the water cooler. I also freeze watermellon quarters and they can eat the frozen watermellon. I have also put a fine mist sprayer in the run to keep them cool. Good luck with your heat wave. We just got over one her in New England.

I was thinking about putting a tarp over my run as well. BUT I have poultry wire over it and afraid if it rains it will fill up with water and break the poultry wire because it's not going to go through the tarp. Have racked my brain as what I could do to make it more shaded. I like Bee's canopy she did on the sides of her round hoop type house and would like to do that if I had the fabric. I bought some old E.R. curtains a few years back from the thrift shop for our porch to shade it from the west sun. I used them out there until the fell apart almost. I have one of those left that I put over one small area of the poultry wire so they'd at least have that area with shade. Sure wish I could come across some more of those or something that would work on it.
I freeze milk jugs with water for mine. I have 3 of them and I always have one when I use one and just put it back and let it freeze again once it's washed off.

 

[JNB]

Hello I'm in Washington State too Good to see some "neighbors".

I have around 35 chickens between my 3 coops. I do a lot of the same things others have posted.
I add frozen bottles of water to the waters.
Feed Watermelon and other melon types Frozen
Keep misters going
I also make Chicken Popsicles.... You can use zip lock bags fill with water add some seed like BOSS, Cut up fruits and veggies meal worms .. whatever you have on hand for treats.. Freeze them and then lay them out in the run our ranging area.. The birds LOVE them.. they peck at the ice getting extra cool water while trying to get to treats.

Some of my girls also LOVE to splash about in a little kiddie pool that I add about 2 inches of water too and a couple frozen 2 liter bottles of water. Originally I put it out for the Dogs but the chickens have claimed it as their own. I toss a hand full of BOSS in the water. You can use a shallow storage container too.

If possible give your chickens a place to have a good dust/ dirt bath as doing so is one of the natural ways our chickens have of cooling them selves down