Topic of the Week - Keeping Chickens Cool in Summer

[Fluttering-about]

I use terracotta bowls like the ones for under a large pot plant, large but fairly shallow, seems to do the trick. Metal or black is no good for my hot humid summers, even in shade metal heats up too much

Also as of last summer, I now give them only fermented feed and I keep it quite wet - I think they possibly get hydration with probiotics.

Mostly I try to avoid adding tasks to my day to keep them cool - shade/water/wet feed/cool dirt patches are things I can manage and be away for the day.

Most of my chickens are built for heat, only a few are less heat tolerant varieties (so I have to accept a bit more effort for them as I chose them! Yes I've even laid a small wet towel on the coop floor for them near the pop door -they love it, but I hate the laundry!).

Total newbie here- What the heck is a poop door?????????

 

[Fluttering-about]

I gave half their pen a good soaking after 10 this morning. We started a heatwave yesterday, expected to last four days. They were soon scratching in the puddles. GC

Don't they get filthy and covered in mud??
Oh My Gosh! This is harder than raising a toddler.??

 

[scottcaddy]

Total newbie here- What the heck is a poop door?????????

More then likely they meant to type 'pop' not 'poop'. Pop door is the small bird sized door at floor level for the birds to go in & out.
Scott

 

[Fluttering-about]

More then likely they meant to type 'pop' not 'poop'. Pop door is the small bird sized door at floor level for the birds to go in & out.
Scott

Oh- Thought I was going crazy, because my entire yard is a "poop" door.
So the entrance to the coop? The ramp going up to their "house", as my son calls it.

 

[aart]

More then likely they meant to type 'pop' not 'poop'.

Matter of fact they did type 'pop'.

near the pop door

 

[GC-Raptor]

Don't they get filthy and covered in mud??
Oh My Gosh! This is harder than raising a toddler.??

No they don't get covered in mud. My soil has no clay. It's a hard gravelly soil. It doesn't even stick to your shoes when it rains, only the chicken poo sticks, wet or dry.
Their pen is on a slight slope. When it rains the poop runs into my garden, that is flat. So every time we get a good rain their pen is cleaned.
Here's three of my girls scratching in a puddle. . After the puddles dry they sit in them. I need to take a picture of that. The puddles are holes they dug. GC

 

[katsdar]

I was adding/cleaning the ducks pool and forgot to turn off the water. Went to work and asked my husband to turn on the water and let the all the birds have some cold water, needless to say he called and said they stayed cool all day as the yard was a swamp

 

[lillian5831]

I use a fan to blow on them. On about medium speed, not enough to pick their bedding out. We also give them a bowl of ice water mixed with frozen fruit a couple times a week. I think I learned that trick on here. We put ice twice a day in there water which has electrolites in it.

 

[grnidone]

We've had 107 degree heat for the last couple of weeks. With the wind blasting, it feels like an oven. A few times a day, I've been taking a garden hose and gently spraying my chickens until they are soaking wet. At first they hated it, and I have to say, I felt guilty.

But they are used to it now, and even the Rooster will stand under the spray because it feels so good. I'm also soaking the grass under the coop's shaded area so the ground in the shade will be cooler.

 

[SuziQ18]

In Southern California it gets into 3 digit temps. I drop in small bottles of frozen water into their large self-waterers each morning to keep their water cool, replacing in afternoon as needed. In the heat of the afternoon hours they are supplied with cool, refreshing watermelon, white grapes, berries, etc. I have a mister that they absolutely "flock" too. In the early morning when I am cleaning the coop and refilling feed and water, I dampen the dirt floor slightly with a hose. I also have heat-resistant tarps attached, that can be lowered or raised on all sides of coop, depending where the sun is blazing at any particular time of day. Finally, I have two circulating fans to help distribute heat and mugginess out of the coop/run.
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Flock is enjoying nice, cool, watermelon during a hot Southern California day!