What are some good ways to keep your girls cool in the Midwest heat?

[khloee]

Hi I live in the Midwest. Those of you that live in the Midwest know how hot it can get or the complete opposite. I always make sure my girls get plenty of cool water every morning. They are able to take dirt baths when ever they please. I've giving them freeze dried yogurt. I've even went so far as putting ice cubes in there waterer. The coop is very well ventilated and is placed out of direct sunlight. Sometimes a combination of these things work. I just hate seeing them look hot and exhausted, so that brings me to my question. What are some ways you keep your girls cool during 90+ temps.? I'm willing to try anything at this point.

 

[aart]

It's been wicked, the humdity....gahhh!

EL and ice blocks...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-hot-weather-spiel.75893/

Fan in coop, kinda helps cool the coop in late afternoon evening....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/window-fan-mount.75608/

 

[aart]

Hi I live in the Midwest.

Oh, and.... Welcome to BYC! @khloee
Here's how to add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[Acre4Me]

Shade. As deep as you can provide. We put up shade cloth all across the south and east corner of the run, which helped immensely. This year we are growing gourds along the fence (but chickens will eat the greens, so the are started about 2ft from the fence). The gourds aren’t growing as thickly as needed, but the certainly are interesting. We additionall added more metal roofing over the run, for more shade and for more dry run square footage for dust baths. Our coop is elevated about 2.5’ above ground, so good shade under there. The coop and run are directly behind the barn, so by 2 pm the run is completely shaded, so they miss the intense afternoon heat.

since they tend to not eat or drink as well in the heat, even with shade, I’ll give them wet feed n the afternoon, once the run is completely shaded. This helps keep them hydrated better, and they eat well before going to roost. I’ve noticed they lay better when I give them wet feed on the hot days. I use a galvanized round feed pan from TSC, put in feed and cold water. Let it soak it up, stir, add more water if needed. Then I push ice cubes into it so they will melt and keep the wet feed cool. It gets put into a shady spot and they converge on it immediately. You can really see the pecking order at this point!

we keep the large 5 gallon galvanized,double-walled waterer shaded using a piece of OSB leaned up against the barn, in front of the waterer. The waterer is up on blocks to keep it cleaner from all the dust bathing. So that waterer doesn’t get hot, as chickens won’t drink hot water.

@aart has good suggestions above with ice and cool water in shallow trays. Some chickens figure out to walk through the water to cool down, but not all of mine have figured that out!

 

[aart]

@aart has good suggestions above with ice and cool water in shallow trays. Some chickens figure out to walk through the water to cool down, but not all of mine have figured that out!

Not all mine do either......but some will stand right on the ice, for a short time.
Yesterday was brutal and I saw several just standing stock still with the melt water up over their feet.

 

[khloee]

Shade. As deep as you can provide. We put up shade cloth all across the south and east corner of the run, which helped immensely. This year we are growing gourds along the fence (but chickens will eat the greens, so the are started about 2ft from the fence). The gourds aren’t growing as thickly as needed, but the certainly are interesting. We additionall added more metal roofing over the run, for more shade and for more dry run square footage for dust baths. Our coop is elevated about 2.5’ above ground, so good shade under there. The coop and run are directly behind the barn, so by 2 pm the run is completely shaded, so they miss the intense afternoon heat.

since they tend to not eat or drink as well in the heat, even with shade, I’ll give them wet feed n the afternoon, once the run is completely shaded. This helps keep them hydrated better, and they eat well before going to roost. I’ve noticed they lay better when I give them wet feed on the hot days. I use a galvanized round feed pan from TSC, put in feed and cold water. Let it soak it up, stir, add more water if needed. Then I push ice cubes into it so they will melt and keep the wet feed cool. It gets put into a shady spot and they converge on it immediately. You can really see the pecking order at this point!

we keep the large 5 gallon galvanized,double-walled waterer shaded using a piece of OSB leaned up against the barn, in front of the waterer. The waterer is up on blocks to keep it cleaner from all the dust bathing. So that waterer doesn’t get hot, as chickens won’t drink hot water.

@aart has good suggestions above with ice and cool water in shallow trays. Some chickens figure out to walk through the water to cool down, but not all of mine have figured that out!

What a good idea. I might have to try using wet feed and see if that helps. Yesterday was so hot they didn't lay a single egg no matter how hard I tried to get the cooled off.