Battling the Heat!
This week we are battling temperatures in the 95-98 degree range, with very high humidity. When you go outside, you are soaking wet in just a few minutes. In an attempt to cool the chickens down, we have tried many different things- some have worked, while others didn’t. Last year, we put up a misting system in the lower run. We decided that unless temperatures are hitting 100 degrees multiple days in a row, this system kept the lower run too wet. So, here are our latest attempts to battle the heat.
First- we are freezing gallon and 1/2 gallon jugs every day. We put two up in the coop box, and two in the runs in afternoons and evenings. The ones in the coop box, we add in the afternoon prior to the chickens going to bed. They manage to cool the box down some after it has been baking like an oven all day. (I do suggest putting them in gallon or 2 gallon ziplock bags so the sweat doesn’t soak your shavings). The first day that I put them in the runs, I came back out about an hour later, and all the chickens were sitting around the jug in a circle! Cute! It looked like a ladies sewing circle! We are even freezing those small 1/2 size water bottles and putting them in the nesting boxes. Those boxes can get incredibly hot during the day, especially when the chickens are trying to lay.
Second, we installed two, small, outdoor ceiling fans in each of the runs. These are keeping the air moving, even though it is hot. They also help keep flies/gnats down.
Finally, the left picture is an exhaust fan that we installed in the ceiling of the coop box to draw the hottest air out. We leave this running all day. The nesting boxes are in this same area, this fan helps pull heat out all day. The fan on the right is called a ‘Misto.’ We have run it as just a fan mostly. We set it on the brick patio outside of the coop and let it blow in on the chickens level. However, on extremely hot days, we can hook a hose pipe up to the back, and blow a very light mist into the corner of the coop. I actually set it up in the corner outside the run, still on the brick patio, and blow it through a tiny section of the coop. The mist blows outside the coop just about 1 foot away. This way, the chickens can go stand in the mist if they want to, but it is only blowing into a very small area of the coop. It does however, reduce the temperature in that area by about ten degrees. The guineas will also come visit this area outside the coop to cool down. It didn’t take either of them long to figure this out!
……And please, please, please give all your animals fresh, cool water, and plenty of it, everyday! Even if you can’t do any of the other suggestions, please do this! We try to change the waterers at least twice during the day! The water will heat up quickly and evaporate leaving your animals, especially those that are confined in their coops, runs, and cages defenseless against the heat. They will drink a lot more water during this time of year than they usually do!
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Here are a few other suggestions.
We are currently using this Honeywell Evaporative Fan. There is no mist, it uses water to cool the air it blows. I imagine it is around 15 degrees cooler in the area we have this fan.
The Coolaroo fabric does a great job of blocking direct sunlight, but you can still see through the fabric easily.
The O2-Cool fan is good if you need to move air to keep the flies down, but don’t have electricity in the coop. It does use D Batteries, but well worth the investment to help keep your flock healthy.
Finally, the Multi-purpose, multi-directional fan is great. We set this fan on the patio, and blow it up into the nesting boxes.
