Storms and chickens

[MegAnne]

Hello! We recently purchased the Eglu Pop-Up Go and are awaiting our young chicks in early June. We live in an area that gets very hot in the day (100+ F) and doesn't cool down much at night (80F). What can we do to prepare to keep our chickens cool enough in the summer? Is there room for a battery or solar operated fan inside the coop? What about ice packs?

 

[mjostephens@yahoo.com]

I've read that you can freeze some water bottles and put them in the coop. I too live where it gets hot, it was 104 today.  My chicks are only 4 weeks old so it will be another 8 weeks before they go into the coop, or at least that is what was suggested to me.

[Cat tails]

7 hours ago, MegAnne said:

Hello! We recently purchased the Eglu Pop-Up Go and are awaiting our young chicks in early June. We live in an area that gets very hot in the day (100+ F) and doesn't cool down much at night (80F). What can we do to prepare to keep our chickens cool enough in the summer? Is there room for a battery or solar operated fan inside the coop? What about ice packs?

 

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Make sure you have plenty of shade, but don’t block off the sides of the run. Natural shade of trees is much more effective than anything else. Put freeze blocks in their water. 

On really hot days, I spray down their run a few times a day, so they waddle around in the water for a bit and it takes the heat off the ground. But chickens don’t like a shower themselves.

I would never put a fan inside the run. It’s asking for accidents.

[The Dogmother]

Agree with Cat tails - you have a challenge on your hands keeping chickens in that heat. A breezy area under shady trees is ideal. 

Rotating freezer blocks through their water is what I do in very hot weather - this is their main way of losing heat in hot weather... their normal temperature is 105deg and they can't sweat, so panting, fluffing out their feathers and drinking cool water are their ways of losing heat.

[Cat tails]

And I hope you didn’t choose a big fluffy breed. They don’t do well in heat.

[The Dogmother]

1 hour ago, Cat tails said:

And I hope you didn’t choose a big fluffy breed. They don’t do well in heat.

Skinny hard feathers are your best best - I'd go for Leghorns.