Keeping chickens cool- is my plan good?

[aart]

Ice melts incredibly fast.

Not if you use a big block of it. Lasts all day!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

 

[Jlachickens]

This is a little long but I wanted to get in all the details I could think of. Thank you so much in advance for any wisdom you can offer.

So, if you've seen my post history, you'll know that I am keeping my chickens remotely, a small property on Lake Ontario, until we can move out there permanently. You'd also notice that I am super prone to anxiety and overthinking and asking many (possibly silly) questions. The members of this forum have been really kind and thoughtful helping me out so far. So I thought I'd share my most recent concern and ask for some reassurance.

It's supposed to get pretty hot this week, and I want to make sure the measures I've taken are adequate.

The coop thermometer has never recorded an indoor temp higher than outdoor temps-- so it seems like our ventilation is effective. They also have access to a small, protected outdoor area which is about 2/3rds covered in shade cloth (no full sized run yet, but working on it).

This upcoming week, the highest temperature is Tuesday, which will be 88 with a "feels like" of 94. The "feels like" are forecasted to be 83-89 in the next 7 days. These temps are predicted to last from 11am to sunset every day.

It is not practical to drive out to the chickens daily unless absolutely necessary-- if people here think it may be necessary, then I'll definitely take that into account. We just checked on them today (Saturday). The only time I was planning on going out between now and next weekend is Tuesday, the hottest day.

I was planning to put frozen water bottles in the waterer, and frozen bottles (or maybe bigger frozen jugs?) around the coop so they can cuddle up to them if they need to cool off.

I have seen a lot of suggestions regarding hosing down the coop or hooking up fans which require electricity- all a no-go because our property is undeveloped land. They do have a small solar powered exhaust fan in the coop which pulls air in from outside. We've seen on the camera that they have been sitting in front of it sometimes, I assume to cool off.

We purposely got cold-hardy breeds (Orps and Wyandottes) because our temps can get down in the teens here in the winter. But now realizing they probably don't do great in the heat. Thankfully it at least rarely gets much hotter here than this, so if they can make it through this week they'll probably be okay in the long term.

The hottest it's been since putting them in the coop is 85F, and on that day they seemed to do totally fine, with minimal panting and still energetic.

Between the ventilation, shade, fan, and bringing water bottles on the hottest day, do you think they'll be okay? Or should I plan to check on them more than just the hottest day? Thank you so much for reading

I’d say so. They should be ok! Definitely go on hot day. I have Marans, Maran mixes, Wyandottes, Barnevelders, Dominique, Bardrock, and a Red Sex Link. My Marans, Wyandottes, and the layers (Barn/Dom) are struggling with heat the most. It was 97 degrees F in KY real feel 100-103, this seems to continue for a week+ high 80’s-90’s here has been hard. My flock is hanging in there but looking a little poorly at times.

Could you bring a storage tote of cold water to coop to dunk em’ at night? Submerged cold water dunk was welcomed by wyandottes. It’ll be mid 80’s today, my flock can make it through with frozen water, electrolytes, somewhere cooler to hang out and they come out evenings for foraging and cold snacks like frozen watermelon. Poor things struggle but you should be ok! Luckily ON CA is cooler than here and they’ll get relief

 

[FrostRanger]

Maybe keep an eye on temps.
The longer the heat stress continues, the worse off they get. Imagine hot tea or coffee on a hot 90 degree day, it’s the biggest challenge I have is cold water

Good ma'am, you severely underestimate my commitment to good tea

That said, chickens certainly don't share my enthusiasm for hot beverages and greatly prefer cool water heheh