Too Hot?

[Chickycat]

We finished the coop yesterday and put our 12 week old chicks in last night. This is their first day in the coop. I was told to leave them in the coop for a week so they would think of it as home and go back to it at night. I just checked on them and they are all panting. Not heavily but their mouths are open and they are panting. There are two vents up at the ceiling and two windows open, but no breeze right now. They have plenty of water. Will they be okay? I am worried if I let them out, we will not be able to round them up to get them back in tonight. They will be free range chickens.

 

[[email protected]]

Get a fan in there.. right away.. and circulate that air.. leave the doors open.. don't point the fan on them.. get ice cubes for thier water.. they are not going to know the difference about going bakck at night.. etc.. so no letting them out....you need to be with them and get them used to or acclimated to the area..they will be in.. they should be fine but you need air circulation.. heat will certainly kill a chicken.

 

[Chickycat]

Thanks Daniel, but your message is a bit confusing. You say to leave the doors open, but to not let them out. I cannot leave the doors open and keep them in. I will put a fan in the window.

 

[the_great_snag]

12 weeks old is practically grown up. I second the need for ventilation ASAP!

At their age, cold is not an issue, but heat can be.

Do not let them out until they've had a few days in the coop, so they know it's "home", and will return to it at night.

IMHO you should have put them out in the coop a couple months ago when the weather was more moderate.

 

[JLS]

I agree with having a fan. I dont have any shade near my coop. So I have to put a sheet over 3/4 of each open window to block out direct sun light yet allow air flow as much as possible. As the sun moves I am able to lift the sheets to allow maximum air flow. I also use frozen bottles of water or the hard plastic freezer packs - covered by a thin dish towel. My girls do not like to sit on or near the bottles/freezer packs unless they are covered...seems too cold??

Hang in there! I'm glad you are trying hard to keep your babies as cool, happy & safe.

 

[Chickycat]

Thanks everyone. WE could not put the chicks in the coop sooner because it was not finished until Sunday. Hubby procrastinated, even though I was on him every weekend to work on it. Made me so mad. I wanted them in the coop by 8 weeks. It has been in the 90s here for over two months already. The fan seemed to work and evenings are cooler so I turned it off and will turn it back on in the morning.
The coop is built under a shelter that use to be over a mobile home, so it is shaded at all times. It has just been so hot and there was no breeze earlier. I work during the day from 10:30 to 4, so cannot check on them then. Hopefully they will be okay with the fan and frozen water bottles.

 

[MarieNC]

I just put our girls in the coop/run yesterday for the first time and it's quite hot here. I have two fans blowing on them in the run and frozen water bottles and they did just fine with no signs of heat stress. I do have the luxury of being home during the day so I could keep an eye on them. But I'm comfortable now that they will be fine. Now if I could just get my neighbor's dogs to stop hanging around.

 

[Chickycat]

Everyone is doing fine now that I have the fan blowing in the window. NO more panting. I am worried about my neighbors dog also.

 

[mglewis74]

We put an attic-type exhaust fan from Lowe's in the side of our chicken coop. It has a thermostatically controlled switch which we have set at 80 degrees. They have plenty of shade all day long. We have lost a few small chicks in the brooder pens from what I would assume is heat stroke, but they are very young and don't seem to know to search for a cooler place in the large cage. Temps are running in the mid-90s most days in SW TN. Bruce