Yep, I broke down again and put up the girls' mini window air conditioner on their coop. (Some of you remember when I posted doing this some years ago. ) Well, the girls were looking overheated and following me around making sad faces, and I know we have a few really hot days coming, so I figured I would either have to let them in the house to poop all over the living room or dig up that mini air conditioner again.



After we started it up, the temp in the coop dropped ten degrees in about fifteen minutes. The girls kept running into the coop and checking the thermometer on the wall in there. They were smiling and happy to go in early for the evening. Last time we did this during a heat wave, their egg production increased drastically. They also liked to go relax in the nest boxes for a long time each day and listen to their chicken radio!

Aaaaaahhhhhh!

Catherine and Patrice take such good care of their chickens, that when good chooks die, they opt out of heaven and instead reincarnate on their farms.

Keith

And here I thought I was getting soft putting a fan in mine to blow on them. Geez, mine will want to move in with your girls. I had two of the guineas today that learned what cars were too. I am bummed but they wouldn't stay off the road.

All chooks should be so well loved.

The heat has been insane across most of the country, and I have hoped that humans have looked after the comfort of the wee ones.

There are some other folks who also install AC in their coops, fans, sprinklers on timers on shade areas outside, even putting ice in the water .

And I know they love some cold watermelon or yogurt, too !

Well done, Patrice. Now gather those eggies !

It is funny you mention sprinklers Sharon. The chickens don't seem to enjoy it but the Guineas LOVE running through the mist of the hose as I spray down the apple and plum trees where they dust during the day. They seem to enjoy their afternoon "shower". They sure have personalities.

Thanks, Keith! They're all welcome here. Especially the good ones.

Sorry to hear about your guineas, Rob. It's funny that they like the mist. Our girls don't mind walking around in a light rain, but they don't run through a sprinkler. They love to drink super cold water though, and they love ice cold melon, like Sharon said. In fact, I gave them some cold cantaloupe and yogurt this afternoon and they made that disappear in a hurry! They will guzzle ice water! I was thinking it would be fun to drop a bag of ice in their "water feature."

Thanks, Sharon. I'll be back with the egg report!

Good job!

This weather is hard on all sorts of critters, myself included. Supposed to be 100 here on Wednesday, we don't often see that in Wisconsin.
Sorry to hear about your guineas too Rob. Hope it was an accident and not some folks trying to hit them, I've seen that a few times.
Supposed to cool down into the 70's by the weekend but no rain in sight, it's been terrible dry here. Fall is just around the corner!

Zim

It is incredibly dry here too. I believe we are around 6 inches below normal for precip. The swamps are dry and the bears aren't hungry.

When I had my chooks, they loved to stand in cool water from the hose. On warm days they would lounge on the shady side of the cabin. When I’d run a trickle of water from the hose on that side, they loved standing around with their feet in the water, smiling and talking news of the day Smart kiddos !

Just out of curiosity, how does a chicken " smile"? I am sorry Sharon.

Lol that’s how, Scott !

160, I should have clarified that….it’s all “seen “ in contented purs and clucks in the voice

I just installed a new coop heater today. Its been a cool wet summer here in Western AK.

I had a hen hatch a chick and its been chilly for the little guy, she has to sit on it wherever they go to keep it warm.

That chick is lucky, there was a weasel attacking the nest the day they were hatching. It had bit pieces out of all of the eggs, and only one chick made it alive.

You must have got all our cool and wet. I had over $500.00 power bill from running air conditioner and fans 24/7. I hear the caribou are super fat this summer no mosquitos hardly its been too hot for them.

I just hope mine don't see this thread as all they have is a double fan mounted into the wall of their coop , pushing air in from the outside

County Fair week here is often the hottest of the year , got a real break this year in the weather for Fair.

we have fans in the rabbit and poultry barn but it is most common to freeze water bottles and keep 2 in the cage with each rabbit or bird

they can lay on them as they like to cool off

you just wash and re-freeze the bottles keeping them in rotation all week as you check your animals it has gotten a lot of animals through fair week over the years

Ok Michael. Get a fan, the kind you hold in your hand , the folded paper kind, your beverage of choice, take your chair, sit in the shade, enjoy the view and fan them .

Problem solved.

Thanks, Flipper!

Sharon, it's funny that Rob asked how chickens smile but didn't ask how they talk news of the day!!!

Rob, years ago while my dad was still alive and we first got chickens, he came over and ran all of the electrical wiring, outlets and devices in their coop. Somehow, the girls were able to get phone or internet access, establish credit, and have UPS deliver a GPS unit to their coop which they ordered as a thank-you gift for my dad. They signed the card, so I know it was them. Go figure!

Nice one, 330! That's just how our Buff Orpingtons looked when they ate Zim's cauliflower plants before he could get them into the garden!

Jeff, I hope you got that weasel. All that work and waiting. What are you using for a heater for chicks? Some really nice ones available these days.

There's still a lot to be said for fresh air, Scuba! I usually have a small exhaust fan pulling air through. (Not at the moment though!)

Great idea, Pete. Some years back, we had a streak of hot weather (before I bought the air conditioner), and I bought a block of ice, wrapped it in a T-shirt and set it in their run. One of the little Buff Orpingtons sat her fat yellow self right on top of it. She was smiling. Refreezing and changing out water bottles would make a lot of sense. I think the size of waterer we have in their coop would allow a 16oz frozen water bottle to sit inside of it. That might be something I could do, that is assuming I don't have it air conditioned to 70 degrees already! Their "water feature" outside will be a different story. We have some leftover bagged ice here that I might just dump right in their fountain...if they decide to come out of their coop today !

Patrice, I thought of that too in answering Rob last night !