Poorly chicken

[RogueChickens]

New Eglu Cube owner here! Any suggestion on how to keep the coop cooler in the hot summer heat? We have the Eglu Cube attached to a walk-in run... The run is covered with a tarp, but the Cube gets a lot of sun.

I've got a remote thermometer inside the cube, and it's gotten as hot as 105 degrees F in the last few days.

We have a fan blowing through the run to keep it tolerant... The chicks are only 8 week or so old, and they stay in the run all day. They are doing fine in the shade we've given them. At night it cools down enough to be fine for them inside the coop.

I'm wondering if they'll ever go back inside to lay eggs in the nesting area once they're old enough. I wouldn't think they would go back in of it's too hot...

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Lewis]

Could you position the Cube so it gets the natural shade from the trees?

They're twin walled so stay cool in the summer but if your outside temperature is high it won't be much lower!
Where are you putting the thermometer? I wonder if its in direct sun or the nest box?

I'm sure once they're old enough their instincts will send them to the nesting box when the time calls

[RogueChickens]

Thanks for the thoughts! Unfortunately, our trees don't provide any shade except for the evening when the sun sets behind them... 😕

The temps are in the 90s now and it's very humid (I'm in the Midwest US). I've got the thermometer in the area where the chickens sleep at night - the slotted section of the coop. I haven't opened up the nesting area to them yet since they're young.

It stays quite hot in the coop during the day since there's not much ventilation other than the open door. I'm not sure if I should try putting something over the coop itself to shade it from the direct sun... 

[Cat tails]

Since your walk-in run is so large (I’m just a tiny bit much jealous here!) you could always place the cube in the run itself, placing it in the shade of the tarps. Otherwise utilise something like a parasol.

[Luvachicken]

Great picture 

Is your cube and run going to stay where it is and never be moved ?

If so, could you plant some trees nearer to it so they would put shade where you'd need it ?

If not, could you place one of those gazebo type things ( 4 legs and a roof ) over to give some nice shade ?

[Luvachicken]

Thinking about it, we used to give our rabbits bottles of frozen water wrapped in a thin towel, to lie against when it was hot.

I don't know if that could work in a cube or if it would cause damp to form.

[The Dogmother]

6 hours ago, Luvachicken said:

I don't know if that could work in a cube or if it would cause damp to form.

It would

sorry 

i always advise that the housing and run need partial shade, even if you have to rig something up yourself. Chickens can't sweat like we do, so struggle to maintain a healthy temperature in hot weather/conditions, plus their temperature is higher than ours at any rate. Hence the proliferation of cooling supplements on the commercial farming market. 

Under trees is good, or even popping the housing inside the run as Cat tails suggested, and rigging a tarp up along the sunward side of the run mesh would help.

Edited June 3, 2018 by The Dogmother
Forgot summat

[AndyRoo]

Throwing it out there as a wild card:

You could buy some slimline cool box freezer packs, freeze them in the day, and then overnight slide them into the poop trays! Not sure how successful that would be, but it might cool them off a little.

It was about 26c here in the sun today and I gave mine a big dog bowl of chilled water to drink, and a chunk of squash which had been in the fridge - they greatly appreciated both.

[RogueChickens]

Thanks everyone!! I'm thinking of doing something to get some shade over the cube. Maybe moving it to another side of the run possibly... Or getting something over it to stay out of the direct sun.

The girls do love the ice cubes I put in their water so far though. 😀

[AndyRoo]

7 hours ago, RogueChickens said:

Maybe moving it to another side of the run possibly... Or getting something over it to stay out of the direct sun.

Keep the tarp at the top, but maybe try adding another over which ever side of the run will provide most shade throughout the day?

It might be a bunch of hocus pocus, and I admit I don't know if it works, but I use a white tarp on the roof of my run to reflect some of the light back up too.  

[Luvachicken]

On 03/06/2018 at 2:40 PM, Luvachicken said:

Thinking about it, we used to give our rabbits bottles of frozen water wrapped in a thin towel, to lie against when it was hot.

I don't know if that could work in a cube or if it would cause damp to form.

 

On 03/06/2018 at 8:45 PM, The Dogmother said:

It would

sorry 

Yeah, I thought it might.

[Natspringy]

I've been using white sheets over the top of the run, which provides decent shade but cooler then my tarp was (I am boil washing the sheets occasionally in case they are a mite risk).  I've also been spraying the sheets with cold water when the girls are free ranging which cools the run down beautifully, especially if I soak the surrounding areas enough to take the heat out. 

We have the coop in the run which gives them a shady area and the covers keep the coop cooler. (They also seem to love under the coop; they use it when raining to shelter, to dodge sun and as a nap area. Oh and as a dust bathing spot too!) When I had a broody I took the back off the coop and draped a sheet over the back instead; I think it was a bit cooler and they all laid quite happily still, although maybe that's only my girls. 

We also put a wind break up on one side to create extra shade as there was so little in the run.  My in laws found a way of propping it on chairs then angling it towards the run so there was still air flow which worked really well, I'll see if I can find a photo.

Really though at the moment I'm just letting mine out to roam and find shade to deal with our English heat wave; this means they are in the kitchen under the table most of the day! 😂 

[Luvachicken]

Mine have had our parasol making shade over some of the cube and then as the sun moves round it shades some of the run.

We did also buy them their own sunshade which just fits inside their wooden run and puts shade over the broody cages 

[Robyn]

I created a big dust bath wooden box that is under the coop and is shaded with the omelet shade tarp panels that surround it. The dust bath is filled with cool sand, fluffy peat, and a bit of DE. They all like to sit in that box to keep cool.