Topic of the Week - Keeping Chickens Cool in Summer

[Stephine]

Rough day here! Temps went up to 103 and the “babies” (hatched March 1st) were struggling. I integrated them into the flock a bit over a week ago, but there is still some chasing and pecking going on and the little ones spend all their time in the coop, not venturing out into the run. Turned my misters on today and of course the babies stayed inside panting and miserable. I took them one by one and cooled them down in a tub of water and put them on a high roost in the run to enjoy the mist. of course they jumped back down and ran into the coop again. Ended up closing the pop door and locking everyone into the run (it was 90 on the run floor, 105 on the coop roost where the babies wanted to be). Put the little ones back on the run roost (to be out of the way). Gave everyone watermelon - handfed the babies their first watermelon, it was a big hit! Spent the day dunking babies and offering them water on the roost. When I checked on them again around sunset they were still sitting on that roost after everyone else had gone inside for the night. Had to put them on the ground one by one and made sure they still got to eat before hitting the roost inside for the night. Oufff.
I hope everyone will calm down again very soon so the babies can move around better! Luckily tomorrow is supposed to just get to 93 and then cooler still the rest of the week….

 

[Beaker99]

I've put out a tub with ice and a dust bath and my girls have zero interest in either one.
We've been in the 90s for a while.

 

[khind]

Even with 16 square feet of permanent ventilation and 10 square feet of additional ventilation I had to put an old picnic fly up over my Outdoor Brooder to keep it from overheating.

View attachment 2731220

If the outdoor temperature was 105 and the indoor was 95 you are probably doing something right.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

I know this is an old comment. But I'm thinking of picking up a tarp to set on top of my metal roof (coop & run) to add to my heat relief efforts. I don't think your roof there was metal, but I'm wondering if you know if any certain type of tarp might be more effective than another?

 

[3KillerBs]

I know this is an old comment. But I'm thinking of picking up a tarp to set on top of my metal roof (coop & run) to add to my heat relief efforts. I don't think your roof there was metal, but I'm wondering if you know if any certain type of tarp might be more effective than another?

I don't think a tarp directly on the roof would do any good, but suspended a few feet above the roof it would cast good shade. One of my pavilions had a white cover, the other was blue. I didn't notice a lot of difference between the two.

The brooder shown in that post does have a metal roof. The Little Monitor coop has a shingled roof. Both benefited from the man-made shade in the absence of natural shade.

 

[khind]

I love providing several shallow feed bowls with cool water for them to play in as well as water things down real good off in a shady corner. I also make sure they have lots of fresh dry peet to dust bath in, off in another corner…

I’m able to give them more room/run space too; they get to free run of their normal enclosure, plus our extra bay in our “lean-to” (a 3-sided walled-in wooden structure that isnt housing any tractors at the moment), it provides an excellent “breezeway” to capitalize on any wind that’s available, because our Temps are over 100°F!

However, at night. I feel horrible for my little Silkies, even tho they have a battery operated fan that will last the night for them, you can even see the air flow thru their Pom-Pim feathers…But, it’s still 90°F in the coop as they go to roost.

Take a look at this video :
Silkies Bedtime June 16 2022

I'm concerned about my roost temperatures too. 90 last night, but the temp just keeps climbing every day.
Last night I took 2 Easter Eggers, with their tiny combs & wattles, off the roost & stood each up in 1.5-2" cool water, and gently cupped and poured it upwards to the undercarriage, for a few minutes. Then gently put them back on the roost. They *seemed* calmer when i put them back (definitely far less panting). I *might* step all the chickens in just below the neck before bed tonight.

 

[khind]

Does anyone know if it would be a bad idea to stand each bird, one at a time, in cool water, maybe just below the neck, for a few minutes just before bed time for added relief if they seem hot? It's certainly hot enough for the feathers to dry quickly.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm concerned about my roost temperatures too. 90 last night, but the temp just keeps climbing every day.
Last night I took 2 Easter Eggers, with their tiny combs & wattles off the roost & stood each up in 1.5-2" cool water, and gently cupped and poured it upwards to the undercarriage, for a few minutes. Then gently put them back on the roost. They *seemed* calmer when i put them back (definitely far less panting). I *might* step all the chickens in just below the neck before bed tonight.

I don't think I'd want to put chickens to bed wet.

When they get wet in the daytime they preen themselves dry.

 

[khind]

I have tall, metal siding panels I was going to cut to make awnings. But it's so hot that out of desperation, I stood them up the other day and leaned them against the West side of the run where there's much too great a distance to any shade trees. Despite the fact it's metal, it lowered the temp in the run down almost instantly, so they go up every day during this horrible heat wave (100; heat index today was 109). I also use garden shade cloth which I've had to move around from one part of the run to the next until a second package of the stuff arrives.

I've had to open the nest boxes with a vertical stick (it faces South, & the chicken yard is bare for several feet right there as well - - & put a shade cloth over the west gap for the afternoon layers.

I've been hosing down the chicken yard & the building a few times/ day, including wetting those shade cloths & outdoor curtains, & blasting the mist setting through the wire into the run.

They've all been spending the bulk of their days in the chicken yard under 3 main sizable shade trees. I have tubs of water there for them, & after scooping up poop, I muddy up the ground and they finally decided they love standing or laying in that. After reading these comments, I also found some low-sided containers of water for them to stand in.

No one has ever liked the kiddie pool, so I recently decided to get some peat moss & dump it in there instead of water. That got a party started in the shade instantly. When I hose down the ch yard, I let water fall in there to moisten it just a bit every day - try to replace a bit of what the sun has taken away.

Note: I'm cutting those windows in the roost area to be larger, tonight.

(The main coop and run are non-insulated metal, which is the worst right now. I have a couple panels of corrugated roofing (brown colored in the pics) which stopped the ceiling from frosting in the winter, but the temperature when it gets this hot is still really hot. I have some Styrofoam boards I'm wondering if I should adhere to the ceiling (it's high enough they can't peck it). I'll post pics of that with the question after this.)

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I can't wait to give them fruit!

i use a bowl filled with water and throw some fruit in, and freeze it. Cranberries, blueberries and even kale are all good things to freeze. I put the frozen bowl into a low plastic tote filled with a very little water. They have to step into the water to get to the frozen fruit.

 

[khind]

I don't think I'd want to put chickens to bed wet.

When they get wet in the daytime they preen themselves dry.

Yeah, I can see that.