Five Things your Chickens DON'T Need this Summer
While providing shade and cool water are important when the temperature rises, there are several things you should NOT do for your chickens as the weather heats up. Here are five things your chickens don't need this summer.
Chicken keepers always seem to get far more worried about their chickens during the cold winter months than in the summer, but in reality, heat is far harder on chickens than the cold. Chickens will do just fine in temperatures down to zero and even below.
With just a dry, draft-free coop filled with some nice bedding to help insulate it, scratch grains before bed and an optimal number of chickens for the size coop, they do a pretty decent job of keeping themselves warm.
But once the temperatures start to rise and approach 80 degrees or so, chickens start to feel the effects of the heat.
Hot weather care in the form of cold water, electrolytes during an extreme heat wave, plenty of shade, maybe fans if you live in the extreme South, a ventilated coop and hydrating treats are all beneficial.
But there are a couple of things that you really need to avoid.
Five Things Your Chickens DON'T Need this Summer
1. No scratch grains or dried corn.
2. No gravity-style or PVC or nipple waterers.
In the summer, chickens cool off by standing in shallow water and dunking their heads and combs in the water. Their combs act as radiators to help them expel excess body heat.
If you do use gravity or nipple waterers, consider setting out some additional water in tubs in the summer for your chickens to stand in.
3. No dunking, misting or spraying down your chickens. No letting them "swim" in your pool.
4. No chasing the chickens!
5. Don't lock your chickens inside the coop during the day.
This is a terrible idea. Let me repeat that. This is a TERRIBLE idea. It's too hot inside the coop in the summer during the day. Not only that, you'll be left with a huge mess and some pretty bored chickens.
When we lived in Virginia, our coop would often still be hovering around 90 degrees F at dusk when it was time to lock up - and that was with all the doors and windows open all day! Even here in Maine our coop temperature can rise to the mid 80s in the heat of the summer. That's way too hot for chickens to endure.
Your chickens will figure out soon enough where home is. No need to lock them in. They need fresh air and exercise and sunlight, not to be locked inside the coop.
Remembering these few simple tips should help your chickens get through the summer more comfortably.
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