The Heat!!!!

[Orit]

I'm really worried about the hens right now. This heat here in PA is so oppressive - the air is so heavy and thick, and it's 11:30 pm!!!! I just checked on the girls in their coop and they are roosting/sleeping, but have their beaks open and are clearly uncomfortable. Will they be OK tonight????

The sleeping/enclosed part of their coop is small, but it has a little window. We were considering rigging up a fan to that window, but worried that the force from the fan would also be too much for them. We settled on getting about 10 lbs. of ice from the gas station, and putting it in a plastic tub in their sleeping area. Hopefully that will cool down the air in that small space. We also opened the area where they sleep so that they are no longer enclosed (we lifted the wall that has the entrance to that space). I don't know how they'll feel about being exposed all night long (they are still inside the coop - just their sleeping area is now open). Finally, we rigged a fan on the outside of the coop so at least there is moving air blowing into the coop area. We are novices and are just trying anything that we think might be helpful. We're not quite set up to bring them inside. Do these measures seem reasonable? Do those of you out there who have more expertise think that these things will help?

 

[oldcluck]

A fan is a good idea. I have had one running the last week or 2 in my coop. It won't be a miracle cure but it does help. A misting attachment to a garden hose can help. But mainly just make sure they have clean water to drink and they should be ok. Most chickens can stand quite a bit of heat.

 

[AngelzFyre]

Welcome to both of you!

I keep a fan on my newest youngsters in hutches in the carport, but the other 3 coops with runs have no electricity...though they do get breezes.

What we've been doing is getting bottled water, freezing 3 bottle per waterer and going out during the day and adding the frozen bottles to each waterer. We close the waterer after swishing out the water in the base, put the ice bottles in...swish those around to cool the water and reopen the waterer to let the cold water down into the base.
This is EVERY day between noon and 2pm....at 5pm we do our regular total cleanout of the waterers with brush and bleach, rinse and refill with cool water that gets them through the rest of evening and til we repeat the iced water the next day.
I've also read on here that a lot of people freeze 2 liter bottles of water and lay these around the coop and runs to let the chickens lay up against them to cool off.
Hope this helps!

 

[LibertyChick]

Quote:
I'm worried also...also a novice. It was in the upper 90's on Thursday and heat index I think was over 100. In the morning, my chickies wanted to stay in the coop where the air doesn't move so well and is hotter. I made them go outside in the run and I put it in the shade. There was really good breeze for a good part of the day, but they still seemed to be extremely hot and panting constantly. I didn't really see them drinking, so dehydration is in the back of my mind. Someone on another thread mentioned that I could try to put a shallow pan of water and they could walk in it to cool off. Well, I tried that and they would not have anything to do with it. I even tried putting a chick in the 1 1/2 inch water, but she just freaked out and jumped out.

I looked in on them in their coop around 11 pm. It was still 87 degrees and extremely oppressive and the chickies were all standing in the coop panting. Earlier in the evening I put a small fan in there (the clip on ones) to try to blow some air around. They seem to want to stay out of the very gentle breeze because they were huddled in the corner where the chicken door is.

I'm at a loss for what to do other than bring them inside the basement. I don't know how I would do that either because I don't have a place to contain them in there. I have a 100+ year old house with scary cobb webs all over and probably remnants of toxic chemicals and pesticide to kill the mice that forever live in the house during the winter. I don't know what to do. Anyone else have any other suggestions?

 

[LibertyChick]

Quote:
Wouldn't these bottle of ice and the humidity create a lot of moisture on the wood shavings? How do you keep the shavings dry?

 

[dawg53]

We deal with this heat from about March sometimes through September down here. At night my chickens are locked up. There's a fan inside at the rear of their house that blows air out the back screened vent, fresh air (albeit warm air) is sucked in from the side screened vents. There isnt any direct air flow on the chickens. When I open it up in the mornings, I turn a fan on at the entrance to their house blowing air straight through. The chickens go up and down the ramp, in and out of the entrance as if the fan isnt there, they are used to it. I have a box fan in each pen blowing air across the pen which helps circulate the air. I have running water available in the big pen, it's easy to change the water out and I do it 3-4 times a day. I change the water out in the smaller pen as well 3-4 times a day. There is plenty of shade in both pens and that helps as well.

 

[equinelyn]

I'm in Southern York PA. What part are you in? My chickens weren't too bad yesterday. Today I will keep an eye on them. Maybe put a fan on them.

 

[stilldeb]

I agree, fresh, cool water, ice, fans, whatever ya got. My temp reading in the yard was 104 yesterday. Bleah. I get big bags of crushed ice in the hottest part of the day and give it to them for 'treat'. They eat it, lay on it, just hang out with it, they love it. Also clean out their waterers and refill with cold water and more ice. My little guys have an elevated house where they stay in the hottest part of the day and I put a bowl of ice in there to cool things off. I also spray the runs with a mist of cool water. They shy away at first, but if I stand there and call them, they get used to and discover it's pretty nice.

deb g

 

[cpwhip]

I'm in Maryland and my weather station said it was 111 degrees at 4pm yesterday and I was worried about my chicks as well.
then I noticed that they seem to do a good job of finding their own cool spots in the run, they burrowed under the coop
and dug nice little holes in the dirt and laid in them the hottest part of the day. I just helped out by keeping cool fresh water out
and I treated them to some cool watermelon and misted the run a few times with cool water they were loving it and flapping their wings.
I think aside from installing AC the only thing you can do is provide lots of cool water and shade and maybe cold treats.
I also think these guys are a lot tougher than they look

 

[PAchickenlover]

More people from PA!!!!! Welcome.. I am obvoiusly in PA as my screen name says. I am also worried about this heat. We are not used to having heat this bad here. I have one sick hen that I m really worried about, but she has her own personal fan that she can sit in front of if she wants to. Tried giving my birds lots of cold veggies yesterday, Put zucc's in the fridg to make them cold and tomatoes from our garden I also gave them watermelon rinds. They loved them all. Temps are supposed to be bad for a couple of days more.... At least there is a breeze this morning.
Again Welcome!!
Mollie