Those of you in the heat - do you change your feed? Cool your coop?

[hot-hen]

I live in desert and am worried about the heat also. I plan to start my flock in the fall and was thinking that next summer I would vent one of those small, portable swamp coolers into the coop during the day. It'll create a nice breeze and cool the air down 10 to 20 degrees. Maybe that's overkill, but I'm a worrier.

 

[mrsc1951]

hot-hen. The dry heat isn't nearly as hard to deal with as the humidity laden heat (where I live). Be sure you provide them plenty of shade and fresh cool/cold water. Mine like their wading pool - simply a doggie pool I got at Petsmart. I have little fans in their coops that run all the time and the coops are well shaded. I provide them with cold treats a couple of times a day and use the frozen water bottles. One of the most important things to consider is the breeds you plan to get; make sure they are heat tolerant.

 

[fatcatx]

Why don't you start your own post and give more details to what your specific problems and issues are? Easier to get the information you are looking for that way.

To the OP, I give them a lot of frozen vegetables (sliced zuks and squash from last year's garden) for treats. I am looking for a higher protein and higher Ca feed to switch to to make up for all the garden scraps I give in the summer. I will probably have something custom milled.

Frozen vegs- can't believe I didn't think of that! That will be a great use of all those extra zuchs. I suppose if they won't eat them they can always lay on them.

 

[fatcatx]

Found this great blog post on how to take care of hot chickens yesterday - we in Denver are already dealing with a string of 90+ degree days. I've tried so far the ice water and the cold melon both of which went over well.

http://citygirlfarming.wordpress.co...ays-to-help-keep-your-flock-cool-this-summer/

Excellent link. Thx!

 

[fatcatx]

Unfortunately, where I live is the humid, steamy south. i run a fan in the coop on medium this time of year. We free feed 22% super layer pellets, frozen watermelon, fresh veggie trim and triple the water supply with frozen water bottles dropped in. If you climate is the dry heat i would use a hose end mister, or I have a 15 head mister I got for 19.99 a few years ago. Set on a timer if you want it just on during the hottest parts of the day and you will be away-- putting a fan just behind the mister will really bring the temp down. their body heat is 100*, so if you don't lower your temp you will lose some. Here a few people run the sprinkles on top of the coop roof to lower the temp.

We got a "cobra mister" from Lowes like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Orbit-10057W-...8&qid=1371168883&sr=8-1&keywords=cobra+mister It isn't fantastic but for $10 for our little coop it did help. On the ugly days when we approach 110 I will get the fan out like you suggest to make sure the mist does double duty. Our young girls won't touch melon - at least not yet.

Don't know why they're turning up their noses at it. Last weekend it was 105 and with the mister (run is in the shade) they seemed to do OK.

 

[ernie85017]

I use SHADE, a BIG fan with a mister in front of it. Lots of water. Wet an area so they can lay their breastbone on it. That seems to be what mine like the best. Shallow water pans with less than 2 inches of water that they can stand in. They will muck it up quickly and then drink from it, so give the pan a scrub each day and add apple cider vinegar. Don't do what I did by cleaning your waterers in the same place every day. I killed my favorite tree. I thought I was watering it. Not. The soil was gray and nasty when they took the tree out.

My friend is a champion chicken breeder in S. Africa, where it is about as hot as here in Phoenix. She puts a bit of baking soda in their water to counteract the acidosis that develops when they pant and blow off too much CO2. Acidosis can kill them. I mix 3 parts baking soda to 1 part avian electrolyte mix in a shaker and add to the water daily.