Temperatures are rising!! How do you keep your chickens cool in the coop, run, and or brooders?!?!

[Hennypenny1984]

In the Phoenix area here. The weather is usually extremely hot in the triple digits until mid to late September when it will dip down to 95-97 during the day. Their coop is under the back patio cover unfortunately facing South but there are some big bushes in front of it and they are out all early morning in the yard. When the sun starts getting intense they go to where it's shady and when it's the hottest part of the day they go back to their pen where the larger Hessaire swamp cooler runs 24/7. A couple times during a really excessive heat (114°+) I set up a couple of exercise pens in the family room over an old vinyl tablecloth and attached old sheets with those mini clamps from home depot and put my old doggie door insert in the sliding glass door and they all came in and laid down. They were all quiet and polite (highly unusual). I put some spa type music on for them and they stayed in there for the worst heat of the day. This was before they were laying. I had to keep wiping up their poop with paper towels or it would've been pretty out of control. Later I fashioned a square hole in the box the swamper came in and shoved it up on the outside of the doggie door and put a fan on the inside (inside my house) and used it like a vent to get the a/c from the house to blow directly into their coop. It worked out great for those hottest days. I freeze those plastic water pitchers over night and put the frozen block in their hanging water with the nipples. I also freeze the water the night before in the gallon chicken waterers (Wal-Mart). I think the most important thing to do this fall is get more fast growing tall bushes on the south face of their pen.

 

[RiKaRy]

South-eastern North Carolina. Very humid and very hot from May to about mid-October. Highs can reach 110 with humidity 70%-96%. It's miserable. The minute you step outside you are soaked with sweat. That's what worries me is chickens don't sweat. The only way anyone stands the heat around here is in the water or in the ac. I just set out little pools with about 2 inches of water in them and a few are having a ball but the others are scared of it. I'm sure they'll get use to it in time. Misters are on they have dirt baths everywhere in the shade. Fans blowing and their run is entirely open fence except the tarps on top. I may change out the tarps for something more breathable tomorrow, just need to find something to replace them with.

I use the screening for ponds during the summer. Plenty of air flow without scrimping on shade. About $15 at Lowes.