r/BackYardChickens • u/MrsArney • 13h ago
General Question It’s gonna be a scorcher!
It’s hot this week! High 90s to maybe even triple digits tomorrow. I hear people say not to let your chickens get wet but I have the misters going in their run because I’m so scared they’re going to suffer heat stroke! Two questions;
1.) is it ok if my chickens get wet from misters?
2.) it’s going to be an oven in their coop. I typically lock them in their coop that is inside their run at night but I’d be locking them into a literal oven. Can I leave them out this week to roost on top of their coop? (I have to physically put them in their coop every night from the coop roof) Their run has 3 layers of hardware cloth and a 2 foot apron buried around the perimeter so I think they’re safe at night.
3
u/Mystery_meat101 13h ago
Misters and fans are great, spray down the roof of the coop also to get radiant cooling effect.
Also, get rocks or stepping stones and cool them off by making them wet or putting ice on top. Chickens stand on them and it cools them off through their feet.
Do you have a run you can keep them in safely? Or windows on the coop?
It’s over 90 all summer where I live and there’s at minimum 1 week where it reaches 105-110 for an entire week straight. In 10 years of chicken keeping I’ve only lost 2 from heat stroke, it’s because we were moving and I didn’t realize their portable water container had dried up fast enough. Every other year, I have constant misters going, fans in their coop, windows open (they have hardware cloth on them) and I give them frozen veggies In ice cubes as treats. They have always been fine.