When to go outside in hot weather?

[MollyDog01]

No worries. I caught my GL Wyandotte panting today and I've heard that they're not as tolerant as other breeds to heat, so I've put a tray of water in their coop to stand in (old cat litter tray) and tried showing them what to do with it (they seem pretty suspicious of it though

) and also filled up a drinking water container, put it in the freezer for half an hour and then poured it in a corner of their coop to dig/scratch around in. I also froze a kiwi fruit and cut that up into pieces for them (didn't have any watermelon), which they seemed to love. I'm out continuing the Christmas family get together thing, so I'm hoping they were happy with what I tried to do to cool them down before I left.

I'm going to take their water container out tonight though to try that "turn it upside down and freeze water in the top" trick, see how that goes. I went to put ice cubes in an ice-cream container we've got around the yard, but I saw my free-ranging girls run over to eat the ice so I think I've got to put a couple more trays in the fridge before I run out...

Our little ones did really well outside today. Safely back inside in their brooding box under a heat lamp again now. Will do it again tomorrow and will try the watermelon with them tomorrow. I thought they may be too small yet, but they chased insects all around their pen today and scratched around and had a wonderful time. I am sure they will tolerate the watermelon too! I have only had them on chicken starter till now but I think they are ready for more.

 

[SampyArctica]

Yeah, mine did fine today too. I'm a little wary of how much I try to cool them down though. I know some people spray a little bit of a mist on their chickens, but I really don't want to baby mine too much. Let's face it - Australia is a hot country. I'd prefer to try to get the chickens used to how hot it can get, obviously without causing them too much stress, because they'll pretty much never have a problem with it being too cold. Not in Queensland, anyway. I think as long as you either give some frozen fruit or a wet, shaded patch of dirt to dig in during the hottest part of the day, there's shade available and there is always cool (or cold) water available, then they should do fine. Fingers crossed.

 

[appps]

Only thing I'm wondering about just putting them straight out is being in your lounge is it air conditioned. Think jumping in and out of that will make feel worse for them just as it would for us going from that real cool to the heat.

If you do I would start by moving them out of that to say the laundry or a garage as long as the garage isn't hotter than outside.

Only time mine really show heat stress is when temps get over 40. Then I have a mister we use.

 

[Stewarts]

I have mine in an Insulated Coop with a hutch in the back, this helps to maintain a safe temperature for them in summer and winter and they always have a safe place to go from the heat and cold. We built an 8x8 coup out of wood, insulation and I covered the inside walls with cardboard boxes for added insulation. You see it here in front of the hutch with blue tarp on the side to keep the rain out.

The tarp covering half the hutch helps to keep it cool during hot days
with a lot of humidity.

The tarp also provides much needed shade and they can scratch
to their hearts content in a safe environment.

Closeup of coop

When my birds were free ranging they always found heavy shaded areas and would stay there, under the porch usually. 100 F, you should be concerned about dehydration. Yes they drink plenty of water but I add a little bit, a cap full, of electrolytes to about 2 L of water as a precaution against dehydration to prevent it before it starts, especially on really hot days with high humidity and little wind. Give them plenty of cooling fruit to eat that have a high water content, like watermelon and other melons.


Here you can see the cardboard covering the walls. I tarped the ceiling
and one wall against rain. The birds don't bother the walls. This pic was
taken at night when they come in from the hutch on their own and prepare
for bed.

Here's the inside of the coop today, You can see the open door to
the hutch under the nest boxes, the white bird just coming in is
Chicklet, my Roo

Amber, my turkey hen, is demonstrating the 2x4 roost with Mr. Tom on the floor of
the coop. You can see the door clearly here to the hutch.

We live on Prince Edward Island, Canada; although we don't get temperatures in the 100 F range, we do get high 80s close to 90s. Because it is an Island and surrounded by by the Atlantic Ocean, the humidity can be a killer. So this was our answer to the problem of keeping our birds safe from heat stroke.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How cool is it getting at night? You may not even need to bring them in but leave them in the coop overnight. My brooder is in the coop. During one of our 100+ heat waves, I turned the daytime heat off at 2 days and the overnight heat off at 5 days. I had about 20 so they could help keep each other warm, but they were OK with the overnight lows in the upper 70’s at just 5 days. Their brooder did have good draft protection.

At three weeks yours should be fine out there at night. Daytime is when the heat is the danger as long as your coop is ventilated enough to be able to cool off at night. It is a little harder to socialize them when they are not staying in the house with you, but if them flying around in the house is becoming a problem, they should be OK outside. You now have that option.

I have had a chicken die in 110+ heat. She was older and had not been acting quite right anyway so I think she had some other problem and the heat was just the last straw. In that kind of heat they need as much ventilation as they can get, up high and down low. They need shade during the day too. I had that and several were standing in water to cool off, but were still acting a little stressed. I soaked the ground in their run and that seemed to make a big difference. It was in the shade and the evaporational cooling made that dirt a lot cooler. They’d just go over there and lay down, soaking up the cool.

Good luck. Heat is more of a danger to chickens than cold but by giving them a place to cool off, a healthy chicken can manage.

 

[Stewarts]

Actually chickens, if let out into the snow in winter are at a high risk of frostbite where their crowns, wattles and feet can freeze and literally drop or have to be cut off.


Chicken should not be out in the snow like this, because....

the crown on this roo is black because it froze.

Frostbite in their feet...

Really back frostbite, the feet are rotting off the chicken.

My birds don't set a claw in the snow around here!

 

[SampyArctica]

Back to heat, we're supposed to be going through a heatwave this coming Sunday, well, I say 'heatwave' and 'Sunday', but I guess we're just at the peak of Summer because it's supposed to last five or so days - getting dangerously close to 40s (104ish) along Qld's East Coast and up to 46 (115ish) for the inland areas of Qld. Makes me a bit nervous for my Wyandotte, she was panting as she went to bed tonight and it was only 25 (77) degrees Celsius. This is going to be their first Summer, too.

 

[MollyDog01]

Only thing I'm wondering about just putting them straight out is being in your lounge is it air conditioned. Think jumping in and out of that will make feel worse for them just as it would for us going from that real cool to the heat.

If you do I would start by moving them out of that to say the laundry or a garage as long as the garage isn't hotter than outside.

Only time mine really show heat stress is when temps get over 40. Then I have a mister we use.

Thank you for your comment. I was thinking the same thing about the different temps, but our lounge room is not airconditioned so they have never been in a cold area. We have now done as you suggested and moved them into the garage overnights so we do at least have a constant warm temp. We are in the hinterland so we can often get cool during the night so I won't leave them out overnight until they are somewhere around 8 weeks old. Does that sound about the right time to you? Our garage does get very hot during the day so better they are outside now in a shady area during daylight hours. This is the first time we have raised chicks, our others have already been 8 weeks when we bought them home so this is a learning curve for us. Thankfully they seem to be doing very well so far with how they are being taken care of and are very well adjusted as they are handled everyday.

 

[MollyDog01]

I have mine in an Insulated Coop with a hutch in the back, this helps to maintain a safe temperature for them in summer and winter and they always have a safe place to go from the heat and cold. We built an 8x8 coup out of wood, insulation and I covered the inside walls with cardboard boxes for added insulation. You see it here in front of the hutch with blue tarp on the side to keep the rain out.

The tarp covering half the hutch helps to keep it cool during hot days
with a lot of humidity.

The tarp also provides much needed shade and they can scratch
to their hearts content in a safe environment.

Closeup of coop

When my birds were free ranging they always found heavy shaded areas and would stay there, under the porch usually. 100 F, you should be concerned about dehydration. Yes they drink plenty of water but I add a little bit, a cap full, of electrolytes to about 2 L of water as a precaution against dehydration to prevent it before it starts, especially on really hot days with high humidity and little wind. Give them plenty of cooling fruit to eat that have a high water content, like watermelon and other melons.


Here you can see the cardboard covering the walls. I tarped the ceiling
and one wall against rain. The birds don't bother the walls. This pic was
taken at night when they come in from the hutch on their own and prepare
for bed.

Here's the inside of the coop today, You can see the open door to
the hutch under the nest boxes, the white bird just coming in is
Chicklet, my Roo

Amber, my turkey hen, is demonstrating the 2x4 roost with Mr. Tom on the floor of
the coop. You can see the door clearly here to the hutch.

We live on Prince Edward Island, Canada; although we don't get temperatures in the 100 F range, we do get high 80s close to 90s. Because it is an Island and surrounded by by the Atlantic Ocean, the humidity can be a killer. So this was our answer to the problem of keeping our birds safe from heat stroke.

Thank you for sharing the coop with me. We have a second chicken house with 2 point of lay hens. They are under a tree and have good breeze come through and they have never had any troubles. With the little bantams, I am being more cautious. We are currently planning on moving further north in about 6 months so that will only increase the heat and the humidity further for them. The insulation is a great idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[MollyDog01]

How cool is it getting at night? You may not even need to bring them in but leave them in the coop overnight. My brooder is in the coop. During one of our 100+ heat waves, I turned the daytime heat off at 2 days and the overnight heat off at 5 days. I had about 20 so they could help keep each other warm, but they were OK with the overnight lows in the upper 70’s at just 5 days. Their brooder did have good draft protection.

At three weeks yours should be fine out there at night. Daytime is when the heat is the danger as long as your coop is ventilated enough to be able to cool off at night. It is a little harder to socialize them when they are not staying in the house with you, but if them flying around in the house is becoming a problem, they should be OK outside. You now have that option.

I have had a chicken die in 110+ heat. She was older and had not been acting quite right anyway so I think she had some other problem and the heat was just the last straw. In that kind of heat they need as much ventilation as they can get, up high and down low. They need shade during the day too. I had that and several were standing in water to cool off, but were still acting a little stressed. I soaked the ground in their run and that seemed to make a big difference. It was in the shade and the evaporational cooling made that dirt a lot cooler. They’d just go over there and lay down, soaking up the cool.

Good luck. Heat is more of a danger to chickens than cold but by giving them a place to cool off, a healthy chicken can manage.

Our overnight temps are only dropping to approx mid 60's, with the occasional dip maybe 10 degrees lower. Yesterday, by around 4pm they were huddled together in the house keeping warm. I brought them back into the garage at that time and they all went straight under the heat lamp. It didn't feel cold to me, in fact very warm, but the hen house is in the shade so maybe while trying to combat the heat in the middle of the day, it has made the hen house cooler for the night as well. I like to let them free range a lot too when I am home so they can find a spot in the yard where they feel comfortable. The heat is more the concern as you said, especially if they are locked in the chicken run and I am not home to keep checking on the little guys. Thanks for your input and ideas. I have found them very helpful.