Ways to keep cool during the Summer

[angela56124]

We all know its hot for us, but with an average body temperature of 106.5 are chickens are on fire! Post all your home remidies, cooling devices, chicken protectin, and anti-heat contraptions. Here are some of mine...

1. Water! Water! Water! Basic rule, make sure you have many waterers for your chicks, water is essential to life espesially in hot weather!

2. Ventalation. Open windows and vents to keep the cool air moving. If you have an outlet outside of your coop you could also put a small fan in a top cornere of your coop.(Not recommending where your chickens get get to, fans and feathers = bad)

3. Squirt bottles, some chickens might not mind other will run and hide, but its the thought that counts. As long as they get a little wet they should stay cool.

Now post your ways to keep your chicks cool!!

 

[Morgan7782]

I live in Sacramento, CA and it gets toasssssty here. 112/113 during summer. First I made sure my breed of chickens do good in heat as well as cold. A few tips I have used are:

Wetting down a portion of the run, usually I stick the hose in with a slow drip and they walk through the water and play in it as they wish. Heard chickens stay cool through their feet like dogs, so this works pretty well.

Shaddddde! My backyard is very shady thank goodness, and I am sure the girls appreciate that.

I also got a tip from a fellow chicken lady to freeze a 2 liter bottle of water, and put that in the run. The chickens will lean on it with their wings up to cool off.

We also usually have hoses dripping on the garden and such, so there is always running water in the yard. The girls love that lol.

We may be investing in a mister for the back patio, for us but the chickens hang out there too so I am sure they would appreciate it

This entire household is heat wusses lol!!

 

[Cetawin]

Water is a must...never can have too much.

Windows, vents and such open in the coop. Run a fan is even better.

Shallow pans of water (I put ice in mine) in the run for them to stand in to cool off.

Fill 2 litre bottles with water and freeze them...lay them around in the coop or shade so the birds can sit near them and so forth to cool off.

You can use the frozen water bottles, plastic tote and fan to make a nice AC for them. Turn the tote on its side, put the frozen water bottles inside and point a fan at them...it blows the cool air from the bottles around.

Give them treats of frozen fruit. My girls love a cold watermelon cut in half and left out for them. Watermelon is primarily water anyway so it helps cool them off being cold and helps keep them hydrated.

Misters or a mister nozzle on a water hose. I mist them off several times per day when it is really hot and everyone is panting. I am also hooking up misters. I had them on their run in Oregon and they loved it.

Dig holes for them...it is cooler several inches down in the ground.

Make sure they have shade available.

 

[redhen]

Shade is very important...

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I sometimes give mine cold water melon on hot days.

 

[rancher hicks]

I'll log in on this when there becomes a need to stay cool. Here in Syracuse, NY there is no reason to worry it's cool enough.

 

[cowdogcadillac]

I don't believe in global warming,,I believe it is HOT in Florida today because summer is here. 110 degree heat index by noon. I put a fan in the coop today,and water everywhere . The eggs they are laying are hot 30 minutes after they walk away. The birds are doing well though finding shade under trees in the yard,digging into the dirt under bushes finding the cool stuff. Together we make a good team

 

[biddyboo]

We just fenced in a shade area next to their 20 x 20 yard that is about 70 x 15. We cut a small opening into the chain link fence to access the new shade area. Tall grass, Russian Olive, who-knows-what shrubs...junk area that we let grow up and is heaven to them. This has become their preferred day play area now. They come back into their yard and coop to lay their eggs in nest boxes and to drink and eat, but head back as soon as their job is done. Now we have a 12 x 8 pen in the barn where we can separate babies or broodies in the spring and give shelter to the whole flock in inclement winter weather, the basic gravel covered outdoor chicken yard and raised coop, and the new shaded run. I think this shade run will make a huge difference as we move into summer heat. We have also added frozen liter bottles in their large waterer and set frozen water bottles around so they can choose to cool off with them. It bothers me to see them panting and holding their wings far out to their sides to cool down. ~G

 

[Serrin]

Someone once recommended a plastic tall kitchen garbage can with a couple of 2 litre bottles of frozen water in them and a light drape on the open end to help hold in the cold coming off of the ice bottles. (Very similar to what Cetawin is describing but a bit larger) Voila! Instant small air conditioned room for the chickens. Maybe even add in a bit of wetted down shavings or straw for added comfort. I tried this last summer when we were hitting around 104 (But it's a DRY heat!

) and the girls really loved it once they figured out what it was for. I had to toss my head hen in and then everyone got the idea.

I ran a hose along the ridge of their coop with a soaking hose attached to the end of it. I left that running through the hottest periods of the day and that kept the coop every bit of ten degrees cooler than outside. The fan was an absolute must have at that time. It really kept the air circulated well, in conjunction with the open door and window.

Water is probably the single most important element you can provide your birds. I always wet down their favorite areas for daytime activities. When I know it's going to be hitting the century mark or above for the day, I start early in the morning with the soaking down of their various favorite areas. This is for two reasons. 1) It's a lot easier to soak the area down when you don't have girls waiting impatiently to get at it. 2) In the cool of the morning, the water has a better chance to soak deep down into the soils and then slowly give up their cooling moisture through the worst heat of the day. But some days are so hot that no amount of early morning soaking will carry through the entire day. That's when I turn on this nifty little soaking sprinkler that I have and let it run in the peak heat of the afternoon. The girls can often be found sitting right in the middle of its spray pattern, just soaking up all of that wonderful cooling mist!

It has been unseasonably cool here in the Inland Northwest throughout the spring season. I could only WISH I had the heat problems the rest of y'all are having. I and my girls LIKE it hot! I know they do! All I have to do is watch them stretch out in the summer sun to know that!

Honest! They really do like it warmer than most chickens. Maybe it's because our winters can be so dang cold? Maybe they're soaking up all that summer heat and storing it up for the future winter cold?

 

[ZooMummzy]

Here are photos of my chickens staying cool last summer during our week of 110 degree weather. They absolutely love to play in ice!

The fans are in the coop now since we wired it this winter. I have them blowing in opposite directions. I also have a window and I'm able to open up both people doors. The patio my husband built them in the fall (after these photos were taken) has been a god send. In the winter they stay dry and in the summer it gives them shade since it faces north. I also give them lots of fresh water and watermelon during the summer months and try to keep them stress free by not making any changes to their coop (even cleaning) and run area till after the sun sets.