How To Keep Chickens Cool In The Hot Weather
Seeing those little beaks open and wings lifted is a sure sign that your chickens are just too hot.
So what do you do about it?
You can’t just leave them, so how to keep chickens cool.
Let’s chat about this.
How To Keep Chickens Cool In The Summer
Unless you live in the Arctic, and I am sure that chickens do not live there unless you have a centrally heated chicken coop.
Your chickens are going to get hot.
These long hot days of Summer when the heat belts down is not only stressful for you, but for your birds as well.
You see…
Unlike us.
Chickens do not have the ability to sweat through their skin as we do.
This is most lightly because if a bird has wet feathers it can not fly, so this also applies to chickens.
I know…
They don’t fly much now.
But in the past, when they were wild, their ancestors were leaner, and they still had the ability to fly high into the trees.
Having wet feathers would not enable them to fly very well, if at all, and the extra weight on their wings would not enable flying high.
So survival for birds would be very hampered.
Now…
Any birds such as chickens open their beaks to let in more air and lifting their wings where heat would be most present
.
Allows the air to flow through making their body heatless.
But still, feathers are going to be warm and they just can not take them off like we do clothes.
I would like to see that…
A naked chicken and a wardrobe full of feathered outfits…
What Is Heat Stress In Poultry?
As with any species, even ourselves, heat stress happens when your chickens have difficulty balancing body heat production and their body heat loss.
The main body temperature of your chickens needs to remain very close to 41°C.
If their overall body temperature does rise to above 45 °C, then you are really in trouble of losing your chickens.
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So you need to act before you get even near to this, so leaving your chickens out in the heat of the sun all day, and you are at work for instance is a recipe for disaster.
How Hot Is Too Hot For Chickens?
In how to keep chickens cool, if the temperature outside rises between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, you need to act, don’t wait, you need to take steps to begin cooling off your chickens.
Now, if the temperatures start to get closer to 100 degrees Fahrenheit or beyond, it’s getting dangerous for your chickens altogether.
What Temperature Can Chickens Tolerate?
Chickens are in fact quite hardy birds and they go as far as tolerating temperatures below freezing, but of course…
They prefer the warmer climates, and I don’t blame them one bit.
Ideal temperatures for your chickens are about 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit.
So as you can see…
Your chickens can take a lot, maybe even more than ourselves..
Below freezing!
Don’t think so.
Will Chickens Get In Water To Cool Off?
I have never seen one of my chickens actually get into one of their water buckets to cool off.
Wild birds…
Yes.
But not chickens
.
But there is a way that you can get them wet and they should enjoy it.
And that is with a sprinkler system.
If you live in hot areas most of the time. I would consider a built-in sprinkler system that you can just turn on for them.
It not only cools them down, the drops of water should also cool the air a bit, and the water falling to the earth Will also cool the ground for them also.
Your chicken’s natural way to cool down is to allow air to flow through their feathers in general.
I would actually prefer to look at the misting systems, this way the droplets will not wet their feathers so much.
A bird’s feathers have a natural oil to them that repels water so that they can fly.
But if too much water gets on to their feathers, then they will get wet.
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If you do put in a misting system, put it on one end of the chicken coop as they can choose to go there on their own accord.
You do not want them to cool down too quickly as this might give them a chill.
Heat Prevention In Chickens Hints
How to keep chickens cool:
- provide ventilation in their chicken coops
- use electrolytes
- providing them with sodium bicarbonate
- supplementing vitamins
- plenty of water
The Cover Up
You do need to consider ventilation in your chicken coop when you build or buy one.
This allows the air to freely pass through the chicken coop and at night.
It can get a little stuffy in the hen house if they have just had a hot day, the temperatures are most probably still warm.
One thing I always take note of when I am building a chicken coop.
And that is, is it going to be near the shade of a tree, if not.
Then I will look to put some sort of cover on part of the chicken run.
So that my chickens than have the choice of going undercover when it gets hot or out in the sun when the weather is cooler.
And as the weather temperature changes during the day.
My chickens can make their own choice.
Just make sure that the cover does cover the space it is in, you don’t want the sun coming around and taking away all the shade.
Leaving no choice for your chickens than to seek shelter in the hen house, wherewith the four walls.
It will get stuffy.
And a stressed-out chicken also means no eggs or your table.
I hope that this article has helped you in learning how to keep chickens cool in the hotter weather.
I see many people get it wrong when the weather gets really hot and I feel for their chickens.
They do get through it.
But why should they?
Keep your chickens cool in the hot weather, makes a happy chicken.