Shade? How much?

[Kanga77510]

Do chickens need a lot of shade? Are they pretty tolerant to heat? It's about 95 outside right now (october in Texas!)|, and I just rigged up some more shade for the girls, I figured if I was sweating they must be hot as well.

Three sides of their run are closed in, but I just put a few more boards for extra shade. Good idea?

 

[patandchickens]

No, chickens are actually a lot more tolerant of cold than of heat. Depending on your humidity and chicken breeds, 95 is getting into the danger zone.

Basically the bigger the area of shade, the cooler it will be in that shade. So, give them the biggest area of shade you can

Shade from the western (afternoon) sun is more of a priority than shade from the eastern (rising) sun, if you have to choose.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Kanga77510]

thank you! So in the summer (when it can get 100+ with humidity) they'll need a lot of shade. We'll have to set up chicken oasis then.

Will chickens "do" bird baths?

Totally off topic but I bought them some crickets today. Too funny to watch them hunt! lol.

 

[elmo]

I'm in North Texas, and just weathered my first summer with chickens. Shade is essential. Having an open air coop helps. You can put pans of water out for the chickens to stand in. This cools their feet, which cools their whole bodies. I also set up a "personal mister" in the hottest part of the day to help cool things down a bit.

What kind of chickens do you have? Mine are Serama hybrids, so they can handle the heat (cold is more of a problem for them).

 

[Kanga77510]

Quote:
We have two red sex linked and one black mystery bird.