Keeping chickens cool - Version 2

"Pant pant. It's sooo hot!"

We are sitting through this heatwave and waiting for it to pass with agonizing slowness. We've been sweltering through 4 days of over 40C with a final trump card from nature delivered to us today. Each time I look at the weather forecast, the top temperature for today has been hiked UP. It's currently going to have a top of 44C with a cool change predicted for late afternoon. We've pretty much been lying under the fan all day (we don't have A/C in the house) but for our chickens, we've hatched out new cooling strategies.

Last year I had set up sprinklers for the chickens on hot days to try and cool the air down. Turns out that they hate the water droplets and they don't like getting their feathers wet. There was also that problem of getting enough water pressure to keep the sprinklers going.  We are not on mains water so we rely on pumps to attain any water pressure, on hot days, I dislike the idea of having a pump going. I keep thinking that it will set off a bushfire.

So here is my tip for keeping the chickies cool.

First off, homework. You have to look at the shadow patterns in the chicken's run. See which spot has shade most of the day. The chickens will automatically find shade on hot days and hang around there.

Next, drag a hose to that shady bit and set the flow to "dribble". That's the best way to describe it, dribble, not quite a drip, just a bit faster than that. You want it to be able to saturate the ground and an area around it.

In the photo below, I've got the hose going behind Flopsy with the water running downhill.  The chickens don't mind getting their feet wet. When it's really hot, they actually stand in the water. They'll also find the edge of the wet ground and sit down next to it. Basically we're working with an evaporative cooling effect, and it's greatly enhanced by any wind.

Shade + cool water = happy Flopsy

Other tips:
Water the run in the evening with a sprinkler. Saturate the ground so that the ground can cool overnight.

Chicks loving splashing around in the water

Provide extra shade. Penguin's coop endures full sun during the day, so I put up shadecloth to cover the windows.  Buffy's run was in shade for most of the day, but has a few hours of afternoon sun, which is the hottest part of the day. I had strung up a tarp to keep the area in a bit more shade.

The shade cloth gets flipped up at night to let in more air

I will most likely change this tarp for shade cloth, I'm just a bit worried that when it rains, it's just going to pull the netting down!

Some breeds, such as Pekins, do not handle the heat well. All those feathers make it hard for them to keep cool.  If in distress, give them a cool bath. Goldilocks may not like the bath, but she is definitely a lot cooler after one! Her fluffy feathers make it quite hard for the water to penetrate down to the skin, so you may want to add a smidge of detergent or soap to help wet the feathers fully. Buffy and Penguin enjoyed their bath so much yesterday that they fell asleep in the sink!

Penguin: ZZZZZZZ

Interesting how much smaller they become when their feathers are wet

In Australia, most poultry sheds tend to be made of metal, meaning that during the day, it turns into a hot box. The chickens are generally smart enough to avoid it, just make sure that you have their food and water outside where it will be cooler.

At night, we water the ground under the perches and the perches themselves in an attempt to cool the area down, and we try to increase the amount of air flow as much as possible. With Buffy's coop, I had put in a "window" that can be flipped up on really hot days. Behind it is wire, so the chickens are safe. That window stays down all of Winter as it faces the direction of the wind. In Summer, they have no complaints about the wind through their feathers at night.

Flip up laserlight window for improved air flow

And last but not least, water, water, water. The chickens will be hot and they will want a cool drink. Ice bottles in their water bowls is a good way to keep them cool, they will also drink water from the hose dribbling away in their run. I can tell you that their poos become a lot more watery during this heat wave. Lots more splotchy poos than stiff balls I can tell you.

Hope you all survive this heat. It's only December in Australia, we usually get heatwaves in January/February. So yay...at least 2 more months of this -___-'

Keep cool everyone.
And despite the heat, Penguin still wanted his cuddle! Silly boy!