Summer is such a delightful time to have chickens. The heat and sunshine usually make for a pretty happy and productive flock. . . .. until they don’t.
What happens when a heat wave strikes?
The unprecedented “heat dome” that hit the Pacific Northwest this June was a heat wave like never before. Where I live, we shattered June heat records daily for 6 days straight and set a new extreme high of 46.8 oC (116oF)! And this is in CANADA!?! In JUNE.!?!
Even if temperatures don’t hit those highs where you live, dealing with chickens and heat is becoming a bigger challenge than ever before.
Hot chickens can suffer the same risk as people in the summer heat. If chickens can’t keep cool and hydrated then they can suffer from dehydration and loss of productivity all the way up to disorientation, seizures and sudden collapse.
Let’s take a look at the signs of overheating in chickens and what you can do to keep your flock cool and productive this summer.
Hot Chickens?
Nothing replaces knowing your birds well and monitoring their behavior for signs of distress. Overheating will cause chickens to change their behaviors. Knowing the signs of heat stress will help you take the right actions at the right time and may even save your bird’s life.
Signs your chickens are hot:
- Pant with their beaks open
- Hold their wings out from their bodies
- Seek any shade they can find, even if it is too small for their whole body
- Dig down into the dirt and lay flat in the pit
- Bury their heads into cracks or shaded spots to try and get relief
- Tuck their heads into their feathers or under another bird
- Lose interest in food and water
- In the extreme, become disoriented, have seizures and die
Remember that in extreme heat, you may see birds go from panting to near collapse in a short amount of time. It is important to monitor birds closely through the worst part of the heat and take actions to provide them with relief.
Keeping chickens cool
The most obvious thing chickens require in the heat is clean, cool drinking water. This one is a no-brainer and should be part of your every day chicken routine anyway. In a heat wave, you might have to check the chicken water two or even three times during the day to make sure there is an adequate supply.
Beyond the obvious of fresh water to drink, keeping chickens cool in a heat wave may require some ingenuity and timing.
7 tips for surviving a heat wave with chickens:
1. Create shade
A heat wave is not just an ordinary summer day. The intensity and duration of the heat can have a big impact on birds. Try any of the following to create variation in the amount and degree of shade available. Your chickens will choose the best area which may vary over the course of the day.
- Cover the chicken house and/or run to provide more shade. Anything will help. I have used old curtains, old door mats, blankets, heavy bath towels, tarps and even materials like hot water tank insulation to create deeper shade and more of it. Anything that can block the sun will work in a pinch.
- Use a piece of plywood propped against the chicken house or a log or bucket to create a shade lean-to
- Suspend a tarp or blanket to create a larger shaded area around where the birds feed and drink
- Try a beach or table umbrella to create shade
- Purchase shade cloth, and have it handy for heat events
- Move the birds to an area with shrubs and trees that provide shade
2. Use a sprinkler
In the hottest part of the day during the heat wave, I set up a sprinkler that sprayed water over the chicken run to create a cooling effect. Make sure the birds have a choice about being in or out of the water and spray.
It’s important to run the sprinkler long enough to get through the heat. It’s like going to a water park where you can cool your body down because of the water and spray.
But be aware that just misting the birds a little may have the opposite effect. High humidity with high heat can become deadly very fast. Again it’s the difference between a little mist in your face on a hot day that brings only momentary relief vs the water park scenario of being able to actually cool down.
If you are in a water-restricted area, then using sprinklers isn’t a viable solution for you. But there are other ways to use less water and still provide heat relief for your chickens.
3. Create wet soil
If sprinkling regulations prevent you from running a hose for several hours in the heat of the day, try soaking an area of dirt that’s in the shade to create a deeply wet, muddy spot. The birds can burrow down in the wet shady soil and stay much cooler than if they have only dry bare ground to deal with.
I was delighted to see my birds respond so well and so fast to this easy solution. In the morning I would create a wetted down area for them in what would be a shaded spot later in the day and within a few hours the birds were rolling in the wet soil and building little dug outs. This little trick made a big difference and worked in the places where running a sprinkler was impractical.
4. Reduce “hot” feeds
We often forget that digesting certain foods creates metabolic heat. A summer heat wave is not the time to be feeding corn, sunflower seeds, or other high-fat, heat-generating feeds.
Switch to “cooler” feeds like oats or barley in their ration, or even skip scratch altogether. You can return to your regular feeding routine after the heat wave has passed.
5. Switch to mash or soak pellets
Soaking feed can help birds take in more moisture during a heat wave and can make it easier for them to avoid dehydration.
I soak crumble or pellets prior to feeding during the summer theat. Not only do the birds eat more of their feed, but it also seems to help keep egg production up compared to when I have fed only dry feeds.
The key with soaked feed is to feed in smaller amounts to be sure the food gets eaten up quickly and remains moist.
6. Watch out for spoiled feed
NOTHING feels more devastating than going through all this effort to provide shade, wet soil, sprinklers and soaked feed, than to wake up and find your birds displaying the symptoms of food poisoning!
All the heat and water is a recipe for serious food-borne illnesses, mold and fungi. Feed spoils very quickly during a heat wave!
Remember that birds may not eat as much in the heat which can increase the chances of leftover and spoiled feed.
One strategy to minimize this risk is to feed them half of their daily ration in the morning and then check to see if it’s gone before adding more in the evening. This can help avoid wasting feed in the heat.
If you are using moveable pens, make sure you don’t inadvertently cycle back to an area where spilled feed might be fermenting or rotting.
In a stationary pen, reduce the amount you are feeding to ensure the birds eat all the feed up each time. Otherwise, you may need to dig up and remove the spilled feed every couple of days. Resist the urge to just dump more bedding on to cover up the feed. Chickens that are scratching around looking for a cool spot may become exposed to the spoiling feed much more easily than if conditions were cold like in the winter.
And don’t forget to rinse out feed pans and buckets frequently in the heat to avoid spoilage.
7. Provide a bird bath
Although chickens don’t typically bath in water the way other birds do, they can benefit by having a flat pan of water deep enough to cool off their feet.
Almost any flat container will work for this. I have used large flat livestock feed tubs, old casserole pans, and even doubled-up plastic planting trays like the kind used for seed starting. As long as it holds a few inches of water and it’s sturdy enough to stand up to chickens, then it can double as a bird bath.
If you have smaller birds, make sure you add a large rock for traction. This will ensure that they can get a foot hold on the rock and get out without drowning.
Plan for a Hotter Future
Although the media continues to focus on climate change by citing the global average of 1- 2 oC increase, few of us will experience the global average. Instead, we experience new extremes and temperature patterns that are different from what we have experienced in the past.
In the recent heat wave where I live, the new daily high was more than 5 to 7 oC hotter than previous records for 6 days straight. The heat was more intense than anything I have experienced and seasonally it was just bizarre to be that hot in June (instead of August which would be more typical here).
Heat waves are becoming more frequent and more intense. Finding ways to help keep your chickens cool through the peak heat of summer can make a big difference to their productivity and longevity.
Start building your summer heat tool kit now so that the next time the thermometer starts heading into the extremes, you are ready to cool off those hot chickens fast and effectively.
Looking for ideas to beat the heat for your chickens? Check out these useful products:
Shade Cloth
Flat pan for creating “bird baths” like these 3 gallon heavy duty plastic pans, or rubber versions:
For more useful farm tools and ideas, visit the Shop page
Rose Hill Farm 