i recently got chickens, 2 cochins and 3 young RIR. I notice the 2 cochins sometimes open mouth breathe when its hot.. they have access to shade and they have thier run to come out into whatever breeze there may be. i read cochins have a harder time with heat bc they are so fluffy. i dont know how i would run a fan out there if i were to.. its quite far from any outlets:/. they are all young chickens, if i keep icecubes in thier water, and they stay in the shade should i worry?
Hey Bird.....Good question! It's been very hot here in Ohio, and humid too. Most of our summer has been in the upper 80s and 90s, and the humidity has been terrible. I'm not sure what area you are from, but during this hot weather. I do provide LOTS of cold water, and sometimes cool treats like watermelon, cantalope, cucumbers and tomatoes that have been in the fridge. It helps them cool off. It's normal behavior when a chicken gets hot, to breath with their beaks open, and they also will hold their wings out from their bodies to help them cool off. If it's even hotter in your area, you can put a fan in your coop this time of year, and even mist your hens with some water. But really, you're doing everything right....providing shade and water. I do put extra large water containers in my coop, and since my chickens free range daily, I put a large plastic dishpan out in the shade for them, and I save cool whip containers, freeze water in them, and put the big chunks of ice (giant ice cubes really), in their water outside. Hope this helps!
when it is really hot they pant to keep them a little cooler.but cool water is a must and treats are nice
I picked up a small 02 Cool battery operated fan. I set it up just outside my chicken tractor blowing over a block of ice. The chickens sit in the cooler breeze. I also hose down the ground in the tractor every hour in the worst heat of the afternoon. The chickens that seem to be minding the heat worst are my feather footed girls, so I bring them indoor for a breather in the afternoons, and when my hens want to sit in a nestbox, they get to sit in one indoors, too. This heat is just awful!
I agree with chicmom. Mine love chilled watermelon and I also provide them with plain yogurt, buttermilk and scrambled eggs to keep their immunity and strength built up. Cool freshwater is important and I change it 3 times a day. I've rigged up a small fan in their house to provide air circulation, I put it on low setting at night. It's been steady upper 90's, low 100's here just about every day, setting all kinds of records and the humidity is terrible. One other thing I do is water the dirt under their favorite tree after they go to bed at night. They have pre-dug holes that they like to lay in the next day and it's much cooler for them.
I've discovered, sort of by accident, that my chickens love to wade around in water when it gets hot. We were using a plastic sled, the round "saucer" type as shade over our little outside dog kennel for the baby chickens, and it blew over and got filled with water. Lo and behold I came out the next day to several of my big RIR's splashing around in it. So now I leave it outside, and toss some ice and new water in there daily, they LOVE it. Just a thought
I turn on my water and let it drizzle out of the hose until it starts forming small puddles and streams in our pasture. The chickens love to walk in it and drink, when its hot.
I set out a bowl of water for them to wade in, and they didn't take to it. Then yesterday I come out and three of them are standing on top of a plastic bin that had water collected in the lid (slightly indented on top) - so keep it shallow and flat, apparently that is prefered by hot chickens.
thanks everyone. i will try to figure out a way to run an extension cord out so i can have a fan on them. i will have to get some watermelon for them too! good to know this is normal behavior and i dont have to worry too much.
I use gallon milk jugs, juice bottles, 1 liter club soda and 22 oz soft drink bottles...freeze these daily...use my TSC yard wagon to haul them to the chicken run each day and back to the house at the end of the day. Four juice bottles go in the cat litter bucket nipple waterer to chill the water, one of the 1 ltr soda bottles is hung on the side of a hutch in the run--as it melts they drink from it, gallon milk jugs go in 2 rabbit hutches and in 2 Rubbermaid containers turned on their side in the chicken run...the hens love these...they get in with the bottles...the girls sit on the bottles...I put some on top of the Rubbermaid feed box--they sit on these, too. When the day is done, I empty all the bottles on the sand in their run so that the sand is damp the next day. The girls love the damp sand; dig holes & sit n chill! I made a big puddle today and the girls had a blast wading in it; DH could not believe they were enjoying it so much. Plus I have a fan going 24/7. Tomorrow they will probably get some frozen yogurt/ripe bananas before I head out to PT.
