Temperatures are rising!! How do you keep your chickens cool in the coop, run, and or brooders?!?!

[Hennypenny1984]

It hit 98 degrees yesterday and today it will be even hotter. It's only May!!! We have set up misters, we have fans, we have tarps running all across the runs for shade, I give frozen fruit and vegetables, and I make sure they have cool fresh water (often with ice added) several times a day.... AND THEY STILL SEEM LIKE THEY ARE ABOUT TO PASS PUT FROM HEAT EXHAUSTION!! We have several breeds, white leghorns, Wyandottes, Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, Easter Eggers, and Golden Comets... the Orpingtons seem to be taking it the worse. They will NOT go under the mister no matter what treats I lay there, and I read this morning that misters weren't healthy anyways. Its crazy bc the research I did while building pur run said misters were essential for hot weather areas . I've also read small kiddie pools with water could cause drowning. So how do you keep your chickens cool?!? Our brooder is on our covered, screened in porch and I have 3 fans running and constantly change their water so it is fresh and cool and when it's not raining they are in their "playpen" outdoors under shade with the fans running too so their not so cooped up. Still the babies seem like they're TOO hot! I give them the same treatment as the ones in the run and coop as far as mister, frozen fruit, etc. GIVE ME ALL THE HACKS, IDEAS, AND HELP PLEASE!!! Picture of some of our babies happy to out in the yard! View attachment 3115761View attachment 3115762View attachment 3115763

 

[Hennypenny1984]

In the Phoenix area here. The weather is usually extremely hot in the triple digits until mid to late September when it will dip down to 95-97 during the day. Their coop is under the back patio cover unfortunately facing South but there are some big bushes in front of it and they are out all early morning in the yard. When the sun starts getting intense they go to where it's shady and when it's the hottest part of the day they go back to their pen where the larger Hessaire swamp cooler runs 24/7. A couple times during a really excessive heat (114°+) I set up a couple of exercise pens in the family room over an old vinyl tablecloth and attached old sheets with those mini clamps from home depot and put my old doggie door insert in the sliding glass door and they all came in and laid down. They were all quiet and polite (highly unusual). I put some spa type music on for them and they stayed in there for the worst heat of the day. This was before they were laying. I had to keep wiping up their poop with paper towels or it would've been pretty out of control. Later I fashioned a square hole in the box the swamper came in and shoved it up on the outside of the doggie door and put a fan on the inside (inside my house) and used it like a vent to get the a/c from the house to blow directly into their coop. It worked out great for those hottest days. I freeze those plastic water pitchers over night and put the frozen block in their hanging water with the nipples. I also freeze the water the night before in the gallon chicken waterers (Wal-Mart). I think the most important thing to do this fall is get more fast growing tall bushes on the south face of their pen.