The Heat!!!!

[RaeRae2]

I don't think Arizona has humidity like we have here though. 99 degrees with 96% humidity is deadly. 99 degrees with 26% humidity is just uncomfortable. Huge difference. So far we have had 22 days of over 90-100 degrees, which is record breaking for my town. Last year we had 5 days above 90. Of these 22 days of 90+ degrees, about half of them have been accompanied by oppressive humidity levels, and about half has been low humidity. The low humidity days feel almost pleasnt compared to the high humidity. On the low humidity days, my chickens seem fairly happy and content running around outside even if it's 95 degrees. But when that humidity gets up into the 80 to 90+ percent, those birds are locked inside in the air conditioned chicken house so they don't die. I can't WAIT for this horrible oppressive summer to be over.

I spent 5 days in Idaho in the summer and temperatures were in the 90s but it felt "ok." Not fun but just "ok." I came home to WI to temps in the 80s but very high humidity and thought I was going to DIE. Temp was lower - but the humidity made it miserable.

 

[DEBUS CHICKS]

My chickens love the 2 liter bottles that are frozen, they lay next to them and stay cool. We have two and rotate.

 

[tamzalicus]

Hi,,, I have a strange set up for my coop. I have my chicken coop which goes into the run, I do not let my girls free range because of hawks and vultures which have been around here alot. Well my chicken run goes underneath the hog haven. Well on the hog have is a mister and the pigs have tubs they get into all day so the overflow goes down and my girls have water to wade in and they get misted and also get to eat what the pigs have thrown out of there food bowl, This has really lessened my chicken food bill. So I go out and turn on the misters 2 to three times a day and they seem to like it along with the mud puddles. I am posting my girls and boys house. Its nothing to fancy but they all seem happy

 

[bucky52]

at one time my dh resented,the money,worry and time i spent on my girls.now he has gotten so attached to them he worries as much as i do.

 

[barnyard betty]

OMG! I have done the misting, running a hose in the run daily, dipping each chicken in a bucket of cool water and am now going to try the 2-liter frozen deal and other great suggestions I found here.....

I too have secret plans to procure an air conditioner for my coop some day ....much to my hubby's disapproval

LOL!

This heat is just so nasty.....

 

[NatalieAnn]

This is all very good advice, coming into summer where it gets over 40C (over 104F) I am worried about my two Plymouth Rocks. They absolutely hate getting sprayed with the hose mister and I put out frozen water bottles but they don't go near them. While it is ok now that I am home for the holidays I water down their run so they have cool earth to lie in, I am worried about how they will cope when I am at uni for the day.

 

[LaLa Chickie]

Well, it's going to be another really hot day here. I let the girls out yesterday, they knew where to go for more shade and I wet the grounds around the yard. They also like to get up on the patio and go into the shade. I just wondered if I should let them out in this heat at all. Sometimes expending energy is more stressful than keeping them contained in their open air coop and since I have 2 different groups that I let out at once they want to stalk each other. I thought if I leave them in their enclosures they would rest more and therefore stay cooler. Any thoughts?

 

[dawj]

Here in NH we have about the same weather. I have a fan in the run and put a white sheet on roof of hen house and run to keep inside cooler. On very hot days I spray the roof with the hose for about 5-10 min its amazing how much it cools the hen house. Plenty of water and frozen veggies. The also seem to cool themselves off with the sand in the run giving themselves dust baths.

 

[LaLa Chickie]

Yesterday hit 100 for us, that's a hot day. I kept the Hens very comfortable. They just went where they wanted and I kept the grounds wet in areas with shade. They made dirt baths in some new places I shaded for them. I think it went really well. Today should hit 104...

 

[jjthink]

Apologies for not having the time to go back through all the posts in this thread. Just thought I'd quickly list some things that helped my feathered friends in the past during hot days (and in the case of NJ, awful humidity), in case any of the info is of assistance to anyone - I'm sure many, if not all, of these things have been said somewhere in this thread, and/or other threads:


- fans and more fans (they should have the ability to choose whether or not to be in front of fans)
- AC (became really useful for NJ's digustingly hot and humid days, and gave me huge peace of mind about the featherkids when I was stuck at work)
- access to plenty of shade - indispensable - must have
- cold and icy fruit treats to cool bodies in the heat of the day (e.g. watermelon, cantelope, blueberries, grapes...)
- water kept cool all day with blocks of ice - water must be kept in shade
- no heavy foods in the heat of the day
- a low flowing hose, for them to cool their tootsies on the worst of days (I could never get anyone to stand in a tray of water but the running hose, oh they loved to play in that!)

Survival wasn't the only goal. Their comfort was also a crucial goal.

JJ