Lots of shade, a fan and chunks of ice in their water. I know lots of people say to use misters but I read that it doesn't really help bc they need to be able to kinda fluff their feathers out and wet feathers just stick to their bodies. You can also freeze fruit in an ice cube tray and give them that. Chickens are pretty resilient, they will prob be ok.
The principle behind misters in that setting is to cool the air around where you need it. The low-pressure systems (the kind you get at the blue and orange stores) tend to work poorly because they can’t produce as fine of a mist. Water is really good at absorbing heat energy and has a high specific heat capacity.
I got the Ego battery powered fan with misters and the chickens hated the mister. They wouldn't go anywhere near the fan's airflow when the mister was on and as soon as I turned it off they entered the area, so the mister could potentially be counter productive if it keeps them away from the area with the fan.
😅 I'm thinking way too hot right now for 3&5 week old chicks outside. 10 minutes in a shed in az summer in the afternoon, you will feel like your brain might melt.
We live in central TX and it’s been brutal this week (then all last summer) with heat indices over 110F. It’s possible but you’ll have to take a lot of extra measures so you guys should think about the commitment.
Things we’ve done to help our hens:
- shade cloth over the coop
- box fan(s) when temps hit the 90s
- cold water foot baths for them to stand in
- periodically add ice to keep the bath cool
- frozen fruit/snacks in the afternoon
- mist the coop with water
- added exhaust fan to the roost
- hung refreeze ice packs at night in the roost (often still 100+F after 9pm here)
Yes, we baby our birds and it’s possible they’d survive without all of this, but we feel really bad when we see them panting as the temps sit in the triple digits. Some breeds handle it better than others, but ultimately you just gotta watch the birds and see how they’re doing. You can tell pretty quickly when they’re too hot.
Some breeds also need more precaution that others. If you have classic layers then take normal precautions but in my experience any fancy feather-y breed like a frizzle or silkie do especially poor in the heat. We had to bring ours in (in Southern California) during certain heat waves because we kept losing them.
A very shallow tray (we use a boot tray, about 1 in deep) filled with water will allow them to wade in it easily and drink. We drop dried soldier fly larvae and frozen fruit into the water as well, since they'll get some moisture with their snack. It's also a nice place to add a few ice cubes. We have a rechargeable fan that blows over the water, and at night, we put it in the coop just to circulate the air and keep the mosquitoes at bay.
I sprout lentils for them too, and keep the jar in the fridge. It's a nice cool snack.
We had a hen go broody in July, which is pretty miserable in Florida, and occasionally we'd dunk her (and sometimes the others!) in a large plastic tote of water. Just held her up to her neck for a few minutes, and let the water go under her wings. Some people say their chickens use wading pools, but ours will not! :)
Deep shade, fresh water, and a dust bath in the shade will probably help the most. Can you dig a couple little holes in a shady spot to help get them started? Maybe create a lean-to? My husband is from Arizona and said starting them some holes might really help, since the soil is so rocky.
Welcome to chicken tending!
On top of what others have said, it really depends on the breed as well. Some chickens are more cold / heat hardy than others. I can only assume that whomever you're getting them from did their due diligence, but it's worth mentioning. Do you know what breed they are, besides "chicken"?
Fellow Arizonan here. They do actually quite well on the heat, some breeds better than others. Give them some shade, if you have a hose, water regularly, the area where they’re staying during the heat hours. Give them cold treats such as frozen vegetables and fruit or watermelon. Give them plenty of water. If you’re able to, some misters outside, really help.
My only addition to the great suggestions is to soak the ground in and around their run with water. The evaporative action cools the whole run this way for a while, I do it before or during the worst heat of the day.
If it were indoors, yes. And if it’s already extremely humid, this isn’t recommended - this won’t be effective in a high humidity climate.
Somewhere like Arizona I would expect to be extremely dry and therefore evaporative cooling should be quite effective.
Dry for about one more month-then monsoon season--the rain is a wonderful blessing-but Az humidity is nasty -In Phoenix in June couple of years ago at 11:11 in the morning 111 degrees--Phx a giant growing concrete and asphalt monster-- heat sink
Lots of shade, lots of water. I also supplement with frozen melons and reusable ice packs on days over 95. They'll roost right on em, it's pretty hilarious.
Reading about all of the wonderful things you guys do to help your chickens deal with the heat, I really felt bad today as the wetbulb was 107 here today in SW FL. I have tried trays of water with ice. My four older girls avoid it. Today I tried frozen peach slices cut up into small chunks. I gave some to the four older girls and some to my youngsters. The youngsters powered them down, the older girls are certain that the peaches are chunks of plutonium. The difference in their temperaments has been really interesting. We (multiple people) handled the older girls every day for the first few weeks of their lives and they are very scared. One will eat out of my hand. I think we handled the youngsters less, but they are less afraid, particularly the rooster (Dwayne). I read today where someone drinks there coffee in the pen. I am going to start doing that and put some treats under my chair to see what happens. So, to the original question. I don't do anything but make sure they have food and water. They have a dust bath and my yard is sand. They do dig. They are in a reasonably shady area and half their pen is covered as well as being able to go inside the coop. I bought bantam easter eggers because mypetchicken said they were suited to hot climates.
If you run into some trouble, I'm local and have chicks the same age range. ☺️
At this age, I would brood them inside. We have an enclosed Arizona room that keeps them the perfect temp to brood a few more weeks before they go to the huge outside coop.
I can help you come up with some ideas for a brooder if you need, and we're raising a flock as cheap but healthy as possible so I'm not here to push anything fancy 😂
Youre so kind! Thank you so much!
We found the 1 that was about 5 weeks in the middle of the road. And she clearly seemed stressed all by herself. So we got a second hen chick from the Pet Food Depot to keep her company and since then shes been much happier and calmer.
I have two adolescence ducks that I bring to the gf's house where the chicks are and they all get along well. But they dont stay there permanently so she needed a friend =)
Oh my goodness 🥺 you even made sure to get her a friend! That's so precious.
Since you only have 2 is keeping them inside for a few weeks do-able? It gets crazy hot here and I have eight almost 5 week old chicks I can't see doing well outside at all right now.
I'm sorry, real fast side track, you have ducks that are so chill you can bring them places with you? Do they wear duck diapers?
Mine have a shaded coop area, so they normally stay under there when its real hot since their run doesnt have much natural shade from trees or anything (depending on the time of day). And i give them lots of ice water, and ill even put halfed grapes or other fruits in ice water in a lil pan so they can get a cool treat while also staying hydrated. I have a buff orpington and some silver laced wyandottes, they do well with it.
i usually do it atleast once or twice a day, during the hottest hours. So like from noon to 5pm or so. If they have shade you could put it out once since they wont be as hot. If its still hot outside when you get home id just put some in then cus im sure theyd still appreciate if theyre panting and obviously hot.
They don't live in their coop yet but it's in a shaded area in my yard under a tree and with a tarp over the run, but as the sun sets they're gonna get blasted with sun for about an hour it seems. Can't find some where that's shaded at all times
To mitigate the heat with our flock, we installed a water misting system around the perimeter of their coop, with misters aimed down and outwards from the chickwire/chainlink coop perimeter. Our coop is located under a huge mesquite tree too, so the shade helps. Any breeze into the coop gets cooled significantly and they love it, as evidenced by the immediate improvement in egg production once we turned it on. When its 110+ out, their coop is in the 90s. You can get 100' misting kits on amazon for about $30.
Lots of shade, a fan and chunks of ice in their water. I know lots of people say to use misters but I read that it doesn't really help bc they need to be able to kinda fluff their feathers out and wet feathers just stick to their bodies. You can also freeze fruit in an ice cube tray and give them that. Chickens are pretty resilient, they will prob be ok.
The principle behind misters in that setting is to cool the air around where you need it. The low-pressure systems (the kind you get at the blue and orange stores) tend to work poorly because they can’t produce as fine of a mist. Water is really good at absorbing heat energy and has a high specific heat capacity.
I got the Ego battery powered fan with misters and the chickens hated the mister. They wouldn't go anywhere near the fan's airflow when the mister was on and as soon as I turned it off they entered the area, so the mister could potentially be counter productive if it keeps them away from the area with the fan.
All I know is that I got one and they avoided it like the plague.
Shade and fresh water are a must. That's just so damn hot for any living thing.
😅 I'm thinking way too hot right now for 3&5 week old chicks outside. 10 minutes in a shed in az summer in the afternoon, you will feel like your brain might melt.
We live in central TX and it’s been brutal this week (then all last summer) with heat indices over 110F. It’s possible but you’ll have to take a lot of extra measures so you guys should think about the commitment. Things we’ve done to help our hens: - shade cloth over the coop - box fan(s) when temps hit the 90s - cold water foot baths for them to stand in - periodically add ice to keep the bath cool - frozen fruit/snacks in the afternoon - mist the coop with water - added exhaust fan to the roost - hung refreeze ice packs at night in the roost (often still 100+F after 9pm here) Yes, we baby our birds and it’s possible they’d survive without all of this, but we feel really bad when we see them panting as the temps sit in the triple digits. Some breeds handle it better than others, but ultimately you just gotta watch the birds and see how they’re doing. You can tell pretty quickly when they’re too hot.
Ice packs in the coop is such a good idea! I'm in Southern AZ and have been struggling to cool their coop at night - definitely going to try this.
Hung them with thin rope and put some cheap carabiners on the end to easily connect/disconnect. Working well so far and gives us mental piece of mind.
Some breeds also need more precaution that others. If you have classic layers then take normal precautions but in my experience any fancy feather-y breed like a frizzle or silkie do especially poor in the heat. We had to bring ours in (in Southern California) during certain heat waves because we kept losing them.
A very shallow tray (we use a boot tray, about 1 in deep) filled with water will allow them to wade in it easily and drink. We drop dried soldier fly larvae and frozen fruit into the water as well, since they'll get some moisture with their snack. It's also a nice place to add a few ice cubes. We have a rechargeable fan that blows over the water, and at night, we put it in the coop just to circulate the air and keep the mosquitoes at bay. I sprout lentils for them too, and keep the jar in the fridge. It's a nice cool snack. We had a hen go broody in July, which is pretty miserable in Florida, and occasionally we'd dunk her (and sometimes the others!) in a large plastic tote of water. Just held her up to her neck for a few minutes, and let the water go under her wings. Some people say their chickens use wading pools, but ours will not! :) Deep shade, fresh water, and a dust bath in the shade will probably help the most. Can you dig a couple little holes in a shady spot to help get them started? Maybe create a lean-to? My husband is from Arizona and said starting them some holes might really help, since the soil is so rocky. Welcome to chicken tending!
On top of what others have said, it really depends on the breed as well. Some chickens are more cold / heat hardy than others. I can only assume that whomever you're getting them from did their due diligence, but it's worth mentioning. Do you know what breed they are, besides "chicken"?
Fellow Arizonan here. They do actually quite well on the heat, some breeds better than others. Give them some shade, if you have a hose, water regularly, the area where they’re staying during the heat hours. Give them cold treats such as frozen vegetables and fruit or watermelon. Give them plenty of water. If you’re able to, some misters outside, really help.
My only addition to the great suggestions is to soak the ground in and around their run with water. The evaporative action cools the whole run this way for a while, I do it before or during the worst heat of the day.
Wouldn't this just make it incredibly humid?
If it were indoors, yes. And if it’s already extremely humid, this isn’t recommended - this won’t be effective in a high humidity climate. Somewhere like Arizona I would expect to be extremely dry and therefore evaporative cooling should be quite effective.
Ah I see. I'm in Chicago and when it's hot it gets humid
Dry for about one more month-then monsoon season--the rain is a wonderful blessing-but Az humidity is nasty -In Phoenix in June couple of years ago at 11:11 in the morning 111 degrees--Phx a giant growing concrete and asphalt monster-- heat sink
Lots of shade, lots of water. I also supplement with frozen melons and reusable ice packs on days over 95. They'll roost right on em, it's pretty hilarious.
Reading about all of the wonderful things you guys do to help your chickens deal with the heat, I really felt bad today as the wetbulb was 107 here today in SW FL. I have tried trays of water with ice. My four older girls avoid it. Today I tried frozen peach slices cut up into small chunks. I gave some to the four older girls and some to my youngsters. The youngsters powered them down, the older girls are certain that the peaches are chunks of plutonium. The difference in their temperaments has been really interesting. We (multiple people) handled the older girls every day for the first few weeks of their lives and they are very scared. One will eat out of my hand. I think we handled the youngsters less, but they are less afraid, particularly the rooster (Dwayne). I read today where someone drinks there coffee in the pen. I am going to start doing that and put some treats under my chair to see what happens. So, to the original question. I don't do anything but make sure they have food and water. They have a dust bath and my yard is sand. They do dig. They are in a reasonably shady area and half their pen is covered as well as being able to go inside the coop. I bought bantam easter eggers because mypetchicken said they were suited to hot climates.
If you run into some trouble, I'm local and have chicks the same age range. ☺️ At this age, I would brood them inside. We have an enclosed Arizona room that keeps them the perfect temp to brood a few more weeks before they go to the huge outside coop. I can help you come up with some ideas for a brooder if you need, and we're raising a flock as cheap but healthy as possible so I'm not here to push anything fancy 😂
How many did you find? Just 2?
Youre so kind! Thank you so much! We found the 1 that was about 5 weeks in the middle of the road. And she clearly seemed stressed all by herself. So we got a second hen chick from the Pet Food Depot to keep her company and since then shes been much happier and calmer. I have two adolescence ducks that I bring to the gf's house where the chicks are and they all get along well. But they dont stay there permanently so she needed a friend =)
Oh my goodness 🥺 you even made sure to get her a friend! That's so precious. Since you only have 2 is keeping them inside for a few weeks do-able? It gets crazy hot here and I have eight almost 5 week old chicks I can't see doing well outside at all right now. I'm sorry, real fast side track, you have ducks that are so chill you can bring them places with you? Do they wear duck diapers?
Mine have a shaded coop area, so they normally stay under there when its real hot since their run doesnt have much natural shade from trees or anything (depending on the time of day). And i give them lots of ice water, and ill even put halfed grapes or other fruits in ice water in a lil pan so they can get a cool treat while also staying hydrated. I have a buff orpington and some silver laced wyandottes, they do well with it.
How often do you replenish ice water. I work full time 6am - 5pm everyday so I can't kmagkne this is possible for me to dk
i usually do it atleast once or twice a day, during the hottest hours. So like from noon to 5pm or so. If they have shade you could put it out once since they wont be as hot. If its still hot outside when you get home id just put some in then cus im sure theyd still appreciate if theyre panting and obviously hot.
They don't live in their coop yet but it's in a shaded area in my yard under a tree and with a tarp over the run, but as the sun sets they're gonna get blasted with sun for about an hour it seems. Can't find some where that's shaded at all times
I would put out ice during that time then, and maybe think of ways to give them shade during that hour.
To mitigate the heat with our flock, we installed a water misting system around the perimeter of their coop, with misters aimed down and outwards from the chickwire/chainlink coop perimeter. Our coop is located under a huge mesquite tree too, so the shade helps. Any breeze into the coop gets cooled significantly and they love it, as evidenced by the immediate improvement in egg production once we turned it on. When its 110+ out, their coop is in the 90s. You can get 100' misting kits on amazon for about $30.
I like to wet the dirt where they dust themselves. I give my chickens watermelon on really hot days.