Worries about heat

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jany

jany

In the Brooder
10 Years
Jun 24, 2009
11
0
22
Hi,
I'm a new owner of 4 chicks that were hatched June 1st. They seem to be doing great but I live in the central valley of California and it's just turned pretty hot. I've been taking them out to their coop during appropriate temps, but it was 108 in the coop today. They were panting so I brought them back in the house. I hate to be a "mother hen" but I was worried. What kind of temperature range is OK for 3-4 weeks. The breeds are Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, and Ameraucana.
 
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from PA! I wish we had those temps here! After a month of rain, I could use some real heat to get into the summer mood!

108 is too hot for the chicks. I think they would be very comfortable around 80 at that age. I'm sure someone will know how to keep them cool. I deal much more with sub-zero temps here!

Good luck with your new chicks!
 
108 degrees, whew, that's pretty hot! (It's in the 90's here in GA right now, and my chickens are panting, as well...).
When you say coop, do you mean an enclosed building of sorts, or are they in a run? Is there shade for them to get under? And what about ventilation? When it gets really hot here, I freeze water bottles, and throw them into the run. All my chickens, babies and grown-ups alike, huddle around the frozen bottles under the tree, and cool off.
Make sure they have cool water to drink (I change mine, if it gets too warm)
 
They are in a coop with pretty good ventilation - I open and close doors on the east and west sides to let the breeze in and keep the sun out, but only so much is possible with these temps. They also have access to a run that is exposed on one end and the coop is over it at the other giving lots of shade. It was 98 today so I think it might be a little cooler below the coop in the run than the 108 it was in the coop, but I'm not sure if they figured out where the coolest place is yet.

The frozen bottles sound like a good idea, but I think they might need to be really big or lots of them. LOL.

Thanks for your reply.
 
We have out coop where it is about 10 degrees cooler than anywhere else in our yard. It's goten up to 103 lately here and our chickens are just fine. They pant but so do I when I go outside.
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What I do to help releave their discomfort is I put a 20 oz bottle of frozen water in their drinking water. It keeps their water cool enough for them to get through the hottest part of the day and I also run a puddle of water while i'm out there so they can walk through it to cool off their feet. I have seen my hens sitting near the water bucket during the day because they get the "cool" from it. I also put a large gatorade bottle filled with frozen water in my dogs water bowl. I change their water twice a day. First around 11 am when it's starting to really heat up and thats when I add the bottle, then in the evening when I remove the bottle. Depending if the water needs changed then.

In winter when its cold we check their water several times a day. IN the morning if it's frozen we remove the ice and replace with warm water. Then fill up in the evening with warm water.

Chickens are pretty tough. I dind't use the bottles last year and they didn't have a run like they do htis year either. They stayed in the coop becaue there where dogs that had killed most of my flock last year when I did let them out. And the remainder made it just fine for the rest of the summer inside the coop with just refreshing their water.
 

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