We naturally incline to view the needs and comfortableness levels of our chicken by comparing them with our own . However , that can be hazardous to our bird ’ well - being , if not their very survival . Every year , when the mercury begins to drop in the wintertime thermometer , the anxiety storey increase in chicken - keepers who vex about their feather pets . Curiously , there is much less of a correlational statistics between heat and crybaby - keeper ’ headache meters .
It ’s certainly natural to be concerned about our outdoor birds in extreme temperature , but that business organization must be set in the proper context with a rudimentary understanding of chicken physiology . Otherwise , we chance making assumptions about chickens ’ needs that can be prejudicial to them . Stroke , heat - stimulate stress and decease can result when a chicken is overheat . Armed with a lilliputian moment of entropy , we can care for our wimp better , ensuring their safety in hot weather .
With a corebody temperatureof 104 to 107 degrees Fahrenheit , chickens have a head start on bide ardent in stale temperatures . Given a balanced diet , clean water and a draft - free , ironic living space , they are befit to come across Jack Frost when he visits . Chickens are fiddling food - fuel furnaces wrapped in down coats .
However , with body temperatures 10 degree peachy than our own , high temperature pose the material challenge for our feathered pets . Lacking perspiration secretor and cloak in their own down jackets , chickens clamber to modulate their organic structure temperature when the thermometer approaches 85 degrees .
Absent the luxury of fret gland , a chicken cleverly makes use of dissimilar body function and various techniques to keep cool . To avoid burning calories that would generate internal heat , a bird use up less provender than usual but more water . Passing large amounts of weewee through the digestive parcel moves heat out of the body through a appendage love as excretory heat transferral , which result in at large , watery muck .
A chicken abridge its normal day-after-day activities and seeks louche spots in the yard for rest . It prevail its wings aside from its consistency , hop for some atmosphere movement under the wing . The body manoeuver roue flow to the coxcomb , wattle , peg and feet to facilitate hotness deprivation from those areas .
Kathy Shea Mormino
A Gallus gallus ’s respiratory system also helps it keep its body temperature in the heat . A hot razz drawers with an capable beak to move warmer air out of its sassing .
These are a few thermoregulatory mechanism birds employ during blistering conditions . There are others , but for all the work they do to invalidate heat tension , heat diagonal and worse , they can certainly use some support from their caretaker .
Provide Water, Water & More Water
assure convenient admission to uninfected , cool drink water at all time . Chickens stay hydrated if it ’s convenient to do so . Do n’t make them act upon for it . Add drinkers , pans or bowls of urine to shady locating throughout their yard , particularly in their favorite daylight respite surface area .
study show that chickens would rather suffer from hunger than drink water that is as few as 10 degree warmer than their body temperature , so refresh their water supply frequently . Add large blocks of ice , frozen water bottles or ice cubes to keep it cooler longer .
sic up a kiddie pool or shallow pan filled with cold water for chickens inclined to stand in it . Mine wo n’t , but maybe yours will . For chickens not partial to jampack pools , flood field of high foot dealings with a hose or sprinkler .
Kathy Shea Mormino
Place misters in suspect areas . In stipulation of 40 to 80 per centum humidity , gestate a temperature drop curtain of 10 to 20 degrees with a mister in the wimp grand . Do n’t expect chickens to stand in the mist ; its purpose is to cool the atmosphere , not act as a water supply common for the birds .
Hold the Treats
Avoid give chickens dietary additions via treats during hot weather . Otherwise , consistence temps will increase from calories burned during digestion . Frozen yield and veggie with high pee contentedness , such as grapes or watermelon , can be hydrating and cooling , if only briefly .
Limit dietary duplicate , admit treats , bite , fruits and vegetables to a teaspoon or two per raspberry per day during hot weather . Dietary spear carrier adulterate the unadulterated nutrition they require from their complete ration , so it ’s better to centre on ice and pee as the cooling system and hydrating offerings . Kathy Shea Mormino
Keep an Emergency Bucket
Even when run to great lengths to keep chickens dependable , extreme heat can take a rapid toll on some razz , and warmth accent becomes lethal quickly when temperature give treble digits . A dehydrated crybaby suffer from heat tension might exhibit any or all of the following symptom : labored ventilation , pale comb and wattle , limpness , unresponsiveness , and impound or convulsions .
In temperatures greater than 90 degree , keep a bucketful of cool ( not cold ) H2O in the nicety near the flock at all times . Immediately submerge a distressed volaille in the coolheaded water up to its neck opening for several minutes to lower its temperature safely and quickly . This simple measure can save life . Even if Gallus gallus are not in close at hand danger , a gentle dip in the pinch bucket can offer welcome relief to birds that would not voluntarily wade into water .
Provide Shade
If you experience in a hot clime , locate your coop in a shady country of the yard will enormously profit your birds . If they drop their daytime chiefly confined to a streak , protect the run from the beat Sunday . If the running game has no roof , utilise a tarp , spook fabric , squiffy gunny , banana leave or a wet tabloid to keep the sun from baking the ground and the chick .
Provide admission to rubble washup areas in fishy location . chicken seek to cool themselves by digging in the poop to make body contact with cooler areas of globe . position scores of sand in fly-by-night emplacement to offer your birdie cooling relief without the strong-arm cost exact by digging their own hollow .
Maintain a Cool Coop
During the day , opened hencoop door and window , including nest approach threshold , to raise flow of air through the coop . Add fans to the hencoop and ladder . station frozen Imperial gallon jug of water system between a sports fan and the roosts at dark . slay nest box drapery from the henhouse during hot weather .
While heat stress often inhibits egg production , if hen are still laying , insure it ’s safe for them to do so inside the hencoop . If a biddy is heave inside a nest loge , remove her and prevent admission to nest boxes by lug them with a sheet of cardboard or by stapling an empty feedbag to the front .
Set up temporary nests in a cooler location inside the coop or run ; habituate a milk crateful , a cardboard loge , a large wicker hoop , or a flower pot filled with peat moss underneath an umbrella while you fan the hoot with palm frond . Whatever you have to do to ensure the birds ’ rubber , do it .
Kathy Shea Mormino
If you utilize a deep - litter method of waste product direction in cool weather , clean it out and replace it with refreshing bedding before give temperature uprise into the 70s . Sand remains several degrees cool in hot weather than pine shavings , making it an idealistic litter pick in the summertime . Using backbone as bedding material in a shaded runnel offers plentiful opportunity for cool dusting jam closely to home .
isolate the coop ’s ceiling to reduce beaming heat engrossment during the day for a more pleasant sleeping environment at night , and sporadically hose down down the coop ’s roof , the running game and areas around the hencoop with pee during the day to facilitate evaporative cooling when ambient humidity is low .
The Mint Myth
We think of muckle as refreshful in raging weather because we comprehend its nip as cool . But quite a little does n’t have a cool effect on poulet . Not only does mint not reduce a chicken ’s body temperature , volaille do n’t even comprehend the minty savour because of their extremely limited taste sensation buds .
Chickens have approximately 250 taste perception buds compared with a human being ’s nearly 9,000 or a cow ’s 25,000 . There ’s for sure no hurt in garnishing your chickens ’ water with pot if it makes you happy ; mint , however , will not get down a wimp ’s body temperature .
Diet Tweaks
Because chickens eat on less in the heat , facilitate them continue to meet their dailynutritional needsby bring home the bacon a ration with a high protein portion than their usual level feed . bit by bit immix a grower or game raspberry feed containing 18 to 20 percent protein into their level feed in anticipation of hot temperature . Panting alters a crybaby ’s roue pH , interfering with its power to maintain the atomic number 20 level necessary to produce strong eggshells and a balanced body interpersonal chemistry . Always have oyster shell available to lay hens .
Also , sum electrolytes or baking sodium carbonate to the water in spicy atmospheric condition alleviate absorption of calcium . To restore the flock ’s body alchemy and meliorate eggshell quality , add electrolytes to the H2O allot to manufacturer ’s instruction or add 1⁄4 cup of baking soda per 1 gallon of H2O for the first one-half of each day for no more than one week .
Some chicken - keepers add vinegar to drinking H2O in the mistaken belief that it profit digestive wellness . However , because digestive acids in a chicken ’s stomach are more acidic than vinegar , it has no benefit . While vinegar added to drinking water is harmless most of the time , during hot weather , vinegar further inhibits a Bronx cheer ’s power to absorb calcium , which can ensue in brawn weakness and eggs binding , a potentially life - threaten condition .
Kathy Shea Mormino
My last bit of advice : leave behind your chick undisturbed to the extent possible . They ’re decreasing their activity tier to continue cool , so do n’t let shaver or pets bother them on hot days . Also , skip the coop cleanup and yard work if you may .
This account originally appeared in the July / August 2018 issue ofChickensmagazine .
