What's TOO hot?

[Atchurch]

So we're new to this. We got day-old hatchlings on March 2nd of this year. We have 3 RIRs, one of which is our rooster and 6 BRs, all girls. They have 200 sq ft of what we call the big run and about another 25 sq ft in the little run.

It's already hitting triple digits in North Central Texas and I'm wondering what would be too hot for our babies.

Coop and runs are covered by mature trees, but the air is just heavy.

We've had a fan on them, but they don't seem to like it and I gave them watermelon pieces from the fridge. I add ice to the waterer, but I still think they're too hot. Any suggestions?

 

[Mrs. K]

Check your shade at different times of the day.

Shade, space, and enough water. I really would not put ice in it, it can cause shock. Just a lot of water. Sometimes I wet the ground, I have mostly sand, and they like to dig and mud bath in that.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

We've had a fan on them, but they don't seem to like it

A fan won't cool a chicken like it cools our sweaty skin.....it can help keep bugs away tho.

 

[RubelliteRose]

We typically have heat indexes of 115-120 in July and our chickens seem to do well. We make sure that they have plenty of shade and cool water to drink. If the water gets warm, I change it out in the afternoon for fresh cool (not cold) water. On the hottest days, I sometimes put an electrolyte mix in one of the small waterers. Make sure your coops have a lot of ventilation. We fully open all the doors and windows of our coops and use a USB charged fan to move the air if there is no breeze. We set up beach umbrellas to add more shade to our run, but your run looks nice and shady already .

 

[Atchurch]

Check your shade at different times of the day.

Shade, space, and enough water. I really would not put ice in it, it can cause shock. Just a lot of water. Sometimes I wet the ground, I have mostly sand, and they like to dig and mud bath in that.

Mrs K

Well, it's the OverEZ Nipple Waterer, so there's a lot of water in it. The bowl full of ice doesn't make it cold. It barely even drops it a couple of degrees. But even in a shady area, it still gets to be pretty warm water, so I just am barely cooling it a degree or two. As I said, we're already in tripple-digits and the heat index goes up to the 110° or more mark. So, just trying to make them as cool as possible in this North Central Texas heat.

OOO! But a new development is that I guess they got used to the fan after a few days! I saw them laying right in its breezeway yesterday. I thought they would keep avoiding it, but looks like they just needed to get used to it and the low roar of the motor and all.

 

[SueT]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/poll-time-cool-the-coop-chickens.1584593/#post-26922526
Here are some good suggestions in the link

 

[Atchurch]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/poll-time-cool-the-coop-chickens.1584593/#post-26922526
Here are some good suggestions in the link

Pretty much what I've been doing. Just wish they liked the fan.

 

[Atchurch]

We typically have heat indexes of 115-120 in July and our chickens seem to do well. We make sure that they have plenty of shade and cool water to drink. If the water gets warm, I change it out in the afternoon for fresh cool (not cold) water. On the hottest days, I sometimes put an electrolyte mix in one of the small waterers. Make sure your coops have a lot of ventilation. We fully open all the doors and windows of our coops and use a USB charged fan to move the air if there is no breeze. We set up beach umbrellas to add more shade to our run, but your run looks nice and shady already .

I'll give my babies some electrolytes in the morning. Thanks! I hadn't thought of that!

 

[Mrs. K]

Moving air, shade and water is what is key.

But you are right, different places, different heat, different humidity all make a difference.

I would never even think of a fan, the wind in SD is pretty steady, sometimes hard enough to move a log chain!

 

[aldarita]

We are going into our third week of 95-100F here in South Central Texas. This is not heat index temps and the worse part is that this is to continue until who knows when. This year I added the terra-cotta trays for my 10 week old chicks. I got this idea from a poster here in BYC. I couldn't believe how cool the water keeps on these trays as long as I place them on a shady area. I have to change the water twice a day because they stand on the water, which cools their feet but they also poop on the trays.
I keep fans in my coops 24/7 to continuously move the air specially during the hottest time of the day and at night when the radiant heat makes it very hot inside even if it cooled down a little outside. I have been adding more ventilation on their coops in a manner of openings so the hot air can circulate. I also give them electrolytes. They have shady areas where they hang out.