What are your tricks to beat the heat?

[QuirkyGoddess]

I went after dark to lock up the chicks in run/coop tonight and noticed them panting. And of course they're all squashed together on the roost! I offered them a pan of water and they looked at me like i was crazy!
During the day i give them ice (with a few treats frozen in).
I froze leftover corn on the cob and hung it on a string..
I recently read chicks won't drink warm water- but in summer things get warm awfully quick. (And they can only have so many frozen treats!)
The coop WAS two opposing walls of only hardware cloth but i partially covered one so they would feel less exposed. SHOULD they have open breezy walls, or feel safe/a bit of privacy walls? I hear 'ventilation, ventilation, ventilation' all the time but don't understand when they even need walls. Why not ALL windows? I digress...
So...tons of water available. Dark out and wall of ventilation oposite half ventilation. They hate my hose mister. In their run i can wet dirt and coax seedlings to cool but not so in coop. Sand and pine floor under roost. Any suggestions? BESIDES A ELECTRIC FAN...Will a fan even help? And how do i determine when to intervene and when to leave them alone?

 

[Chicken-lovebirdchihuahua]

Watermelon!!! Is a yummy source of water also if it gets to be too hot funk them neck down in cold-ish water!

 

[MissChick@dee]

It’s HOT wher we live, Nevada. Last night it cooled to a not so lovely 78 @ dusk. I use misters and cover their run with a patio mat (there is a tin roof also). The girls don’t sit directly under the misters it only hits about a third of the coop. The mud puddle it makes they will stand in. Ever notice how hot chickens feet get when they are on your lap?? Waddles and feet are where the can lose their body heat they don’t sweat. They stay very comfortable yesterday’s high was 103 in the shade. I sit in the run to cool down too, it’s nice esp. when there is a breeze. My girls love yogurt. I put it in a drain dish (from a house plant) and spoon it in a circle about a 1/4 inch high that way they don’t fling it everywhere. They like cucumbers (from the fridge) better than watermelon when it’s super hot. I have chain link fencing around my little coop and I clamp the cucumbers (sliced) to the fence to keep it clean and not waste any.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Just turned the misters on (don’t know if you can tell) what a difference it made in minutes. I was getting hot posting from under the tree just now lol.

 

[MROO]

I put sealed, frozen water bottles in the waterers. I keep extras in a bucket in my freezer, so I can just rotate them out as they thaw. They'll also stand in a hog-water pan (or you could use a water-heater drain pan) with an inch or two of water. My white Silkies can make a real mess of their bellies in the water and dirt ... but they're cooler!

 

[MissChick@dee]

What a great idea. I could freeze Pepsi bottles for the inside of my 5 gallon waterer. Thanks!

 

[MROO]

What a great idea. I could freeze Pepsi bottles for the inside of my 5 gallon waterer. Thanks!

Be sure to leave some space for the water to expand as it freezes, or you'll make a mess all over your freezer the first time, like I did! I also put a drop or two of food coloring in the bottles, so my kids know that they are NOT water bottles for the "people-cooler!"

 

[PachecoPeeps]

Lots of good suggestions so far. If you live somewhere with low humidty the mister will work wonders. They may be scared of it at first but will learn to love it. Fans can help a lot too, you can even put big frozen bottles in front of it so it blows cooler. Hose down the the roof off the coop/run, hose down the run and create mud puddles for them. You can also put out shallow pans of water for them to wade it. If they are looking very hot you can place them in shallow pans of cool water (not cold) to help them cool off.

You can freeze milk jugs, 2 liter bottles, gallon bottles and put those in trays of water to keep them cool or lay them out for your chickens to lean on. Freeze smaller water bottles and use those to keep the water cool. When it is really hot I usually change them out every 2 hours.

You can use a muffin tin to freeze big ice cubes or put frozen fruit in them with water for a treat for the chickens. Frozen watermelon is a lifesaver too. I usually put it in a pan of some sort so that as it defrost the liquid stays in the pan.

Lastly I wouldn't feed them extra corn because it raises their body temperature too much when they are digesting it.

I hope this help! Dealing with the heat is stressful and scary. We've been consistently at a 100-100+ for about three weeks now and I have been doing everything I can to keep the ladies cool.

 

[SueT]

Mine enjoy a 'pool' in the shade, which I refill with cool water every afternoon.

 

[robinwhiskers]

I like to give mine watermelon, a small bowl with ice, water, and some fruit floating in it...