raising chickens in 110 F any tips?

[baileybrood]

just lost my fav rooster Turk in the heat so broken hearted he was a non bearded silkie so handsome came home from and found him laying in the nesting box im going to miss him so much

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that! Are your temps still over 100? I'm putting my birds out tonight for the first time. It's been going down to the 70's at night the last few days and the high is only going to be in the low 90's now. I've got my fingers and toes crossed! But, they are so ready to get out of the dog crate and into the real world! LOL I'm putting electrolytes in their water along with ice cubes and will hose down the coop and run. I also have a big box fan ready to turn on if it gets really bad tomorrow afternoon. Luckily the coop is in the shade. I'll put them up in the coop tonight but I'm going to have to let them out in the morning. It's too hot to keep them in the coop. Hopefully they'll figure out it's home quickly. Not sure what else to do. I feel like a new mother fretting over her babies

 

[chickenbuttsowhat]

ya its been 100 + i was gone over night got home this morning and found him wish i kept some of the chicks i hatched from him cuz he did make lil cuties with the hens i had him with

 

[20736]

If your chicks are outside already, then SHADE is the most important ally. Make shade if none is available. Our coop is WELL shaded in the summer. Fans help sometimes, depends on if they like them or not. Some do some don't.
If you are still keeping your chicks inside, you will have to break them to the heat slowly, like start with 2 hours a day, increase 1 hour a day until acclimated or it cools off. Don't take the inside chicks out in the heat even if they are big. They need to adjust slowly to high or low temps.
Keep 'em cool, it will be fine.

 

[turkengirl]

aww, so sad ;(

 

[RaeRae2]

We put an air conditioner in our chicken house. Today it's supposed to be 100 so everybody is just locked in the house with the AC running and cooling to 72 degrees. No going out today into the run! Yesterday I was home so I brought them back in by 11 a.m. and turned the AC on. By 11 it was already over 90 degrees. Before the wickedly hot days hit, I was leaving them out all day and then bringing them in when I get home from work so they were only in the 90s a couple hours. But when it's hitting 90 by 10 or 11 a.m., they won't last out there all the way to 5 p.m.

I wouldn't be able to bear losing my babies to the heat so the air conditioner was absolutely essential. Not even an option to not do it. Mine are all very tame pets, hand raised, they fly up and sit on my shoulder, want me to pick them up, and they come RUNNING to me every time they see me. I don't think I could handle losing them to something so preventable.

Of course if I had NO way to put an AC unit in, I would have probably brought them into my basement during the blazing hot days. I did that last year but we had a total of 6 days above 90. We already had 13 days above 90, and today and tomorrow are not included!

Otherwise, I would think powerful fans, dense shade, loads of icy cold water, maybe even dipping them in water up to their necks, lots of frozen fruit, and bring the ones inside that are terribly stressed despite your best efforts.

 

[suki'smom]

105 here in Wisconsin and no rain in I dont know how long. My coop has a dirt floor so I rake up poop and spray the floor with water. This, along with a constant supply of clean water and open windows, has worked well for me. The moist dirt stays very cool so my birds dig and bathe in it. They look like hell but at least they're cool!

 

[CariLynn]

We have no means of AC for our chickens so I have taken all the necessary precautions I can possibly do to make them as comfortable as possible. Today I went and found a small mister, which is nothing more than a fancy sprinkler that sprays a light water, it is going in their big yard, the dirt is cold, wet, and muddy in some areas. I have been going out every few hours to change water, move the sprinkler, and they seem okay. Tomorrow it us up in the 100's then Saturday at the moment, says 105!!

Ohhh when is this danged heat going to break?! VA is getting sick of it I know that....if it isn't mud and rain for weeks it is the heat!!

 

[speckledhen]

The real problem with putting A/C in the coop is that what happens if you lose electricity and they are not acclimated to higher temps? You'll be very likely to lose them all unless you have back-up power of some sort, like solar.


I hate summer. This summer is solidifying that animosity, just like last year did. If this is what we have to look forward to, I'll be seriously downsizing my flocks and definitely no more non-heat-tolerant birds like the Delawares or Dellie crosses (yes, they are the first to pant and have breathing issues).

 

[RaeRae2]

If we lost electricity, there's always the basement. It would be dark but at least they wouldn't die. It stays around 65 degrees down there all summer long. It's the old fashioned, totally buried, root cellar style basement.

And I agree - I hate summer. Always have. I didn't move way up North only to have to deal with 90-100 degrees all summer long. This is just flipping ridiculous.

 

[SIMZ]

I'm SO SORRY about your rooster.

Well, I'm in Indiana, but do our temperatures in the high 90's each day qualify me to join you southerners in this conversation?

We started taking emergency measures to get the chickens through a few days of 90 degree heat, which started about a month ago now. UGH! I've realized that I cannot move all of them in and out (like I'm doing with two rabbits!). I'm not freaking out about 90 degrees anymore - that's become normal. Now we're having 100 degree days that we're trying to just get them through!

We're putting ice in water and I've put up several tarped areas. We also moved fences to maximize any tree shade that we have. We're out of fans because they're on the rabbits and other vulnerable chickens (one broody, 4-H meat chickens, etc.) that are now in 85+ degree garages. We're in constant change water/make ice mode. Whew!

I'm finding that the youngsters are struggling more than the adults -- although they're all hot. Fair is next week and I'm trying to figure out how to keep changing water and also be across the county at the same time. Unfortunately, we may lose some that can't handle the heat. It makes me sad, but it's not feasible for us to keep up these heroic measures forever. I suspect most of them will be just fine - overall, they may be tougher than we give them credit for.