Heat wave / is this enough to help?

[sweetpumpkinfarm]

In southern california & having a heat wave thru weekend getting up to 103/5 in day & cooling to 80’s at night.

My girls are in a covered run that has natural shade 90% of day & also a large space in run thats under the coop and always shady—its where their dustbath is & I run a fan into that fully shaded area all day. They have electrolyte water, reg water & mid day a frozen brick in a tray of water & frozen treats: watermelon & lettuce (their fav) frozen with wTer in muffin tins.

I have a small battery operated fan in their coop at night which is ventilated with 2 windows of medium size (hardware cloth). They pant a bit & some more than others but are all eating and drinking & up & about (annoyingly not by fan as much as I’d like but they will plant themselves there to cool down).

Should I ever being them inside? I’m a new chicken mama & these are my 3 month old babies so I’m super anxious about them in the heat…their run is sand & I plan on spraying it down with hose tomorrow as well. Some pics from earlier in summer for ref..the window you see in coop is same as the other one which faces towards the yard.

 

[FrostRanger]

You're doing more than enough, I have those temps here in summer with very high humidity. My birds do fine, I don't have breeds known for their heat hardiness but I haven't had any incidents related to heat. I just make sure they have adequate shade, water and ventilation. The only other thing I'd suggest that has worked well for me is some shallow pans of water to use as foot baths. A chicken's feet are one of their few exposed areas so best take advantage of it

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

That sounds like one of the best set-ups I've heard of, to be honest. The shade is the biggest thing, and mine loooove when I get the dirt in their run wet. Their behavior will be your biggest indicator of their happiness. If they're panting a lot, holding their wings out, closing their eyes, etc., you might want to bring them inside for a bit. Mine have been fine in temps higher than that, but it also cools down a lot more at night here than there.

You'll want to know the signs of heatstroke, though with those temperatures and your set-up I don't think you'll have to worry about that. I've only lost hens to heatstroke when it was 116+ and they were laying eggs. Yours should be just fine.

 

[sweetpumpkinfarm]

You're doing more than enough, I have those temps here in summer with very high humidity. My birds do fine, I don't have breeds known for their heat hardiness but I haven't had any incidents related to heat. I just make sure they have adequate shade, water and ventilation. The only other thing I'd suggest that has worked well for me is some shallow pans of water to use as foot baths. A chicken's feet are one of their few exposed areas so best take advantage of it

thank you! I leave a pan of cool water with a frozen brick & some will stand on brick but none seem to stand in the water but hoping they try!!! I’m adding more bricks tomorrow.

 

[sweetpumpkinfarm]

That sounds like one of the best set-ups I've heard of, to be honest. The shade is the biggest thing, and mine loooove when I get the dirt in their run wet. Their behavior will be your biggest indicator of their happiness. If they're panting a lot, holding their wings out, closing their eyes, etc., you might want to bring them inside for a bit. Mine have been fine in temps higher than that, but it also cools down a lot more at night here than there.

You'll want to know the signs of heatstroke, though with those temperatures and your set-up I don't think you'll have to worry about that. I've only lost hens to heatstroke when it was 116+ and they were laying eggs. Yours should be just fine.

Thank you! This makes me feel better and great reminder about wings away from their body—my girls havent done that yet so good sign they are handling it better than me haha!