When the peacocks start panting.....you know it 's hot!

[The Chickeneer]

We are also located in the central valley. Yep, it is a tad bit warm.

We're first time chicken owner's & our pullets are only 15 weeks old so we have very little experience. There are several threads on hot weather & you seem to be using all the methods that have been mentioned. Maybe a mister. Try to to keep the drinking water cool. This is proving to be a challenge for me because although I'm icing the water in the water cooler, the water in the plumbing is getting very warm, so I have to flush the pipes once an hour or so. I need to insulate the pipes.

I had read somewhere that ACV during hot weather may not be a good thing if your hens are laying, something about it inhibiting calcium absorption.

Sorry about the loss of the bunny. Good luck!

Thanks everyone. And I'd never heard that before about ACV....huh wel I guess you learn something new everyday . And i was thinking about doing the misters but then it crossed my mind that it would make things very wet inside the coop, because of the straw bedding. I have the coop fan on 24/7 now that our nights are 80-90 degrees!

I did try something new today, and it didnt work out to well after a while. I had been searching around and everyplace I searched online said that a piece of tile for the rabbits to lay on would cool them down. We have a big stack of left over tile from the house, so I grabbed some pieces and put them in the freezer for 2 hours. I put them in the rabbits pens and they just loved laying on them! They were really cold, and that seemed to solve my problem. Later in the afternoon when I went to go check on them,the rabbits where not anywhere near the tiles, the tiles were HOT, it literally burned my hand when i tried to grab them. They just radiated heat around them and made the air really warm. Im not sure why this happened, has this happened to anybody before? From what i heard the tile is supposed to have some "cooling effect"

 

[deserthomestead]

Chickeneer, Were the tiles in direct sunlight? Most types of stone will absorb and hold heat.

I'm near Las Vegas (it hit 117 a few days ago!) and My girls LOVE it when I throw them a handful of frozen broccoli in the afternoon! They also have a beach umbrella to lounge under and I keep the dirt damp in a few areas. I freeze 2 liter bottles of water, then drop them into the waterer.
I switched from nipples to a regular waterer, and they seem happier for it.

 

[The Chickeneer]

Thats great, I hear that using nipples in the summer is harder on the chicken because they cant stick their face in there. Well the tiles where in the shade, I put them on the inside covered part of the rabbit hutch, which also has a wire floor that is supposed to be good for air circulation. The past couple days I've been having to dunk my chickens in the ducks water pond and set them in front of the fan to cool down, and it seems to be working well for them. I also have to spray the peacocks pen with water several times throughout the day. Te rabbits are the main ones I am concerned about though, since I already lost one....My goats seem unaffected at all by the heat, they do drink more but thats it, they run away everytime I try to spray their pen down with water so I guess they like the heat?

 

[deserthomestead]

I'm keeping my bunnies inside, but I only have one breeding pair and they're perfectly happy to live in the laundry room

 

[The Chickeneer]

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!

(wel for everyone in the U.S) It's been really hot today, hope everyone and their animals are coping.....two of my rabbits got out today and one almost got killed by the neighbors dog. Poor thing has a bald spot on it's back now but I guess its just all the better for cooling down

. Im ready for fireworks tonight, its going to be a loud evening....plus any loud noise sets the peacocks off so i know they will be screaming and cawing all night lol. Also, does anyone know if ducks can swim in a pool with chlorinated water? Im thinking no, but just wondering what other people have to say as their duck pond just turned into a warm mud hole.....

 

[bdfive]

Peacocks, Chickens and other birds need pans of water to stand in. That's how they cool themselves. In the wild they will stand in water banks of rivers, lakes, etc; Water to stand in is a MUST in hot climates.

 

[1lilmrnstr]

Spray 'em with the house, soak dem feathers!
It got to 90 here (it's hot for us!!!) and the turkey was panting, the hens were panting, so I grabbed the house and SOAKED everyone to the bone. It kinda messes their feathers, so idk if you'd want to do it with the peafowl, but i had them dripping wet and lasted them the day. I'd soak the rabbits too, since they don't do well in heat. It's like a walking ac for them, haha. Just try to use cool water.
But other then that you could give them frozen food as treats, mist them with cool water since the water will probably start boiling them. But seems like your doing everything right. Best of luck, I hate hotness xD

I've heard getting rabbits wet is really bad because they won't get dry because the water gets trapped in the fur near their skin...