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Post by boskelli1571 on Jun 30, 2018 11:29:20 GMT -5
Ok everyone,
We are all officially roasting in the fires of Hell this week, so how do you all help your birds to stay cool?
Most of mine live in a cool old barn, so they are pretty protected year round. They will all be getting ice cubes later today.
My large outside coop is elevated so they go under and dig into the cool dirt, but I do have 2 smaller coops for the boys and apart from going inside they don't get a break from the sun. I will be putting a tarp over the runs later this evening to give them some shade.
Fans etc. are not an option for the outside coops.
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Post by maryellen on Jun 30, 2018 11:37:46 GMT -5
I have electric to both coops so.i put fans in to circulate the air, use lots of ice cubes and multiple water containers all over
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Post by dawg53 on Jun 30, 2018 19:34:26 GMT -5
I have power to my coops for fans as well.
Sue, put out a couple of plastic containers filled with ice and ice water around noon time if you can. The ice melts during the afternoon but the water is still cool by the time birds go to roost for the night.
We have a convenience store a few blocks from us and I buy ice there. I also save used one gallon plastic water containers and fill them with water and put them in the freezer. Then I'll put a frozen gallon container in their water container for the birds to drink. I usually do this if I run out of ice cubes.
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Post by Sylie on Jun 30, 2018 20:50:00 GMT -5
For my chickens, I use my garden watering can to sprinkle water in the run until I get some puddles, they like to stand in them, I have a tarp over their run for shade and I do have electric going to both the chicken and duck pens so they both get fans, lots of ice in their water and I also use a bunt pan to freeze fruit in an ice ring for the chickens. For the ducks, they get ice in their pool which is also in the shade from mid morning until just before the sun sets, there is plenty of shade in the yard for both the chickens and ducks. I also wet down the duck run into puddles but they prefer to drink the muddy puddles over standing in them...go figure, silly ducks.
My favorite color is purple, I have a purple clothes basket for taking clothes to the clothes line just outside the fenced in area of the yard and I have a purple box fan. The ducks are terrified of anything purple, when I take clothes through the yard to the line, the ducks scatter and start quacking like I've come after them with a butcher knife and I have to use the white fan for them because they won't come anywhere near the purple one. Silly ducks! (just a funny thing I've noticed, has nothing to do with cooling, but thought you might get a giggle out of it lol )
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Post by seminolewind on Jun 30, 2018 22:22:21 GMT -5
I have 2 fans in the big coop. They all know there's cool air under the coop that's like air conditioning with the breeze. They love puddles. I make ice cubes because they make the water cooler in the trough (?) part that they drink from. I'm lucky all my chickens live in the shade. On occasion one gets overheated (laying an egg?) and I have to dunk their bottom half and let the water soak in.
I just had a thought. Frozen watermelon!
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Post by maryellen on Jul 1, 2018 6:11:00 GMT -5
Going to be 100 here today. More ice and fans on higher speed
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Post by chickenqueen on Jul 1, 2018 10:27:49 GMT -5
My chickens free range and move about the yard to the shady spots.I have pine trees and it's usually cool under there.I placed 3 trees in front of the coop to shade the afternoon/evening sun years ago and they're big enough to block the sun.My house is in the middle of a 5 acre field and gets no shade.I didn't do that for the house until last year and I got a long wait before we get shade from those trees.Spoiled chickens!!!I use a fan blowing the hot air out the top half of the door.If I blow oolair in,they start start sneezing.There are three 3 gallon waterers, a 2 gal bucket and each coop gets a gal waterer.In the morning,I change the water and afternoon when they're fully shaded and getting warm I put frozen water bottles in so it's cool the rest of the day.At night,I fill the coop waterers and put ice in so they have cold water at night and first thing in the morning before I let them out.If it's really hot and miserable,I'll open a bag or two of frozen corn,fruit I froze or cold leftovers,anything cold about 3 or 4 in the afternoon.After 17 yrs,I believe I had my first heat related death 2 weekends ago.I put a young roo in solitary confinement,but it was the coop he grew up in and is nestled in the pines and gets just a little sun.He was found dead that night but I'm sure stress also played a part.He had an 10X12 coop with a shaded pen,best spot in the yard(originally put up for the geese last year,which they rejected).The heat is so hard on them,even my exotic birds are hot and they come from those hot/humid climates.Fortunately,we don't usually have long stretches of extreme heat/humidity but it seems to be getting worse the last few years.Starting earlier in June and lasting through Sept,longer stretches at a time and the sun is unbearable late morning to early evening.I even had to start planting my tomato plants in the front yard because the sun was too much in back and burned them up.Now,that's hot!!!
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Post by boskelli1571 on Jul 1, 2018 16:45:39 GMT -5
My chickens free range and move about the yard to the shady spots.I have pine trees and it's usually cool under there.I placed 3 trees in front of the coop to shade the afternoon/evening sun years ago and they're big enough to block the sun.My house is in the middle of a 5 acre field and gets no shade.I didn't do that for the house until last year and I got a long wait before we get shade from those trees.Spoiled chickens!!!I use a fan blowing the hot air out the top half of the door.If I blow oolair in,they start start sneezing.There are three 3 gallon waterers, a 2 gal bucket and each coop gets a gal waterer.In the morning,I change the water and afternoon when they're fully shaded and getting warm I put frozen water bottles in so it's cool the rest of the day.At night,I fill the coop waterers and put ice in so they have cold water at night and first thing in the morning before I let them out.If it's really hot and miserable,I'll open a bag or two of frozen corn,fruit I froze or cold leftovers,anything cold about 3 or 4 in the afternoon.After 17 yrs,I believe I had my first heat related death 2 weekends ago.I put a young roo in solitary confinement,but it was the coop he grew up in and is nestled in the pines and gets just a little sun.He was found dead that night but I'm sure stress also played a part.He had an 10X12 coop with a shaded pen,best spot in the yard(originally put up for the geese last year,which they rejected).The heat is so hard on them,even my exotic birds are hot and they come from those hot/humid climates.Fortunately,we don't usually have long stretches of extreme heat/humidity but it seems to be getting worse the last few years.Starting earlier in June and lasting through Sept,longer stretches at a time and the sun is unbearable late morning to early evening.I even had to start planting my tomato plants in the front yard because the sun was too much in back and burned them up.Now,that's hot!!! Wow! Maybe you should move in with the chickens....I figure mine are pretty safe from the heat with the exception of the roo coops. I put a tarp up thei morning which has helped a lot. I did ice cube rounds mid afternoon and I have frozen water bottles ready for tomorrow when the heat index is supposed to reach 110!! I am not getting anything done outside......must water the veggies tonight. |
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Post by maryellen on Jul 1, 2018 18:12:28 GMT -5
I have 5 water bottles freezing too, tomorrow to be 93 and tues 96 ugh
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Post by seminolewind on Jul 1, 2018 23:40:37 GMT -5
Wow that's bad heat. I had a little silkie hen who twice almost died of heat. She was a tough little thing.
I go out in the afternoon and check everyone for panting too hard to drink. If they are, they get put in a tub of not cold water covering their lower half. Seems to do the job.
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Post by chickenqueen on Jul 2, 2018 10:22:01 GMT -5
They're saying our heat index will be 105+ Wed.I have lots of ice bottles in the freezer.I started in May and threatened everybody about throwing away the empty water bottles.They all get refilled and frozen now.I found doing that,the ice chunks lasts a lot longer than ice cubes and you don't have to keep filling them up,just rinse then freeze.I got scolded at the grocery store the other day.While getting some frozen veggies,I grabbed several bags of corn.Dale usually don't pay attention but he caught that because he knows I can't eat corn at this time.He usually doesn't say anything when I buy up all the marked down breads for the chickens or cheap boxes of mac-n-cheese for those really cold winter nights but he said something then.And he really knew better.The argument was lost before it started and,just for meanness,I grabbed 4 more bags as I reminded him the chickens were here first.Then,I heard laughing behind me and turned around.We caught the attention of an elderly couple,the wife was laughing as her husband looked emphatically at mine.They knew it was a lost cause,too, and we all got a good laugh,even Dale had to laugh.
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Post by seminolewind on Jul 2, 2018 11:05:19 GMT -5
In my neck of the woods , a high of 89! Have fun in your oppressive heat!
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Post by maryellen on Jul 2, 2018 15:29:09 GMT -5
83 in my office the ac broke
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Post by boskelli1571 on Jul 2, 2018 18:46:28 GMT -5
out to lunch with friends today, got back into the car - dash read 100F!!!
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Post by seminolewind on Jul 3, 2018 9:47:06 GMT -5
I got a longer drive this morning. Hoping I don't get lost!
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Post by chickenqueen on Jul 3, 2018 12:46:48 GMT -5
I'm done with outside chores until it cools off,even if lasts until Oct.The chickens have set up camp under the pines.They pretty much stay in there until evening.The geese are staying under there,too,during the hottest part of the day.Last night,the geese were panting hard so Dale set the up a little pool in the front.It's so little the 4 goslings filled it up.If the babies are happy,the adults are happy.They've got the pond,that is spring fed and it creates 2 really cold spots in the pond and keeps the whole pond cooler but there is no shade.From 2pm until the sun sets behind the trees,the sun beats down back there.There were trees back there but we cut them down year before last because when the leaves fell,they went into the pond.I left 1 big one and it's at the NE side but offers no shade and the leaves are blown away from the pond.We did it before I decided to get geese.Of course,there are more trees starting to grow,it's an ongoing battle back there,and there are new ones at the SW side but they're 2-4 feet tall and it will be a while before they shade part of the pond.Seems like every year we plant trees where we want them,usually a species that provides food for us and/or the wildlife or the shade trees that we planted around the house,while we cut down ones that grow naturally in random spots in the yard.If we had let all those trees grow,I believe the property would pretty much be shaded by now instead of an open field surrounded by trees on all 4 sides.I didn't think that one through but the sun,heat and humidity have gotten worse over the years and didn't start bothering us until 3-4 yrs ago.Oh well,live and learn.....
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Post by seminolewind on Jul 3, 2018 14:13:28 GMT -5
Hot 93. Ice for everyone. No one is panting. My weeds have grown over my plants.
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Post by dawg53 on Jul 3, 2018 20:58:21 GMT -5
Rain again, in the morning this time  |
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Post by Sylie on Jul 3, 2018 22:50:04 GMT -5
94 today, blazing sunshine and of course, humid. Everyone got ice, frozen treats (the ducks are willing to kill for frozen peas), I made ice in 2 liter bottles (my husband is addicted to Mt. Dew) and threw them in the pool to cool the water off for the ducks and then put a few of them in front of the fan for the chickens to cool the air inside the coop and run. It must have worked because when it was their turn to play in the yard they refused to come out lol!
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Post by chickenqueen on Jul 4, 2018 8:46:46 GMT -5
 We had a severe thunderstorm roll through yesterday evening.At one point it rained so hard I couldn't see 6" out the window.I have never seen it rain so hard.Plus,there were the winds.Tree limbs down everywhere and the taller pepper plants were knocked over.It also broke the top 3/4 of the chickens tallest shade tree onto the coop.Not sure how much damage was done but the roof is still intact.No more shade for the coop.I may have to move the chickens to the empty shaded coop.It even sucked out the fan I had in there. |
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