QUICK TIPS - Help Your Chickens Beat the Heat!!

hey everyone welcome back to Tara's homestead today I want to give you guys a couple quick tips on how to help your chickens when the weather gets super hot we are at the end of May right now and we are on our third day of over a hundred degrees it's crazy it's very unseasonally warm so it's been a little shock to everyone's system one thing with chickens is they don't sweat so they're like dogs you're gonna see them panting you're gonna see them holding their wings out that's like a sign that they're hot and it's fine if they're panting and they're holding their wings out it's ok it means that they're working to cool themselves off but you also want to help them cool themselves off because if it gets too hot and they don't have shade and water and some other things they could overheat but don't panic if you're seeing those signs but ok let me show you guys a few simple things you can do to help your chickens out when it gets really hot outside ok so tip number one is probably pretty obvious have shade so my run has this huge shade over it and I also find I have this bush in here that is a baby Bush right now so it's still got a long ways to go but I will show you the reason I planted this in here if you're able to free-range I highly recommend letting your chickens free-range on hot days and the reason is they will do their best to find a cool area so the reason I planted that Bush in our chicken run is because this is the same bush and this is where all the chickens go when it gets hot let me show you [Music] okay you see them they're all in here they love this bush they love being in the shade they love taking dust baths in there so that's exactly why I planted one in there run so tip number one shade tip number two fresh water every day I normally can get away with switching the water every three days possibly but when it gets this hot they get fresh water every day I also put electrolytes and probiotics in their water I don't have the packaging to take a video but I will try to put a picture across so you guys can see what I'm talking about there is a hen booster which is great for laying hens and there is also a chick booster which is great for chicks they both have probiotics they both have electrolytes it just is going to give your chickens a little extra boost that they need especially during this kind of heat another thing I will say is have multiple waterers if you can so I have one in their main coop and then because I know this is where they like to hang out when it gets really hot I also have another water over here so that way they've got a few different waters so I found putting a water er next to the area that I know they like to be in the shade definitely helps because their other water is over in their run which is whether used to having it but I don't want to have to make them walk all the way over there I know it probably seems silly but when it's 105 degrees I want to keep them in the shade as much as I can alright tip number three have a well-ventilated coop I will admit my coop does not have the best ventilation I've actually when I got it it had no windows it was just this shed so I actually added two windows to this coop since I got it and when it's hot I open it up so it can air out hopefully all day verse just stay in a hotbox but this is something to keep in mind when you're designing your chicken coop as well is try to get a chicken coop that has really really good ventilation and I'm in the process of getting new chicken coops and they will definitely have that but like I said this didn't have any windows in it when I got it and I added two windows and I have the door open so I do the best I can with that tip number four freeze water jugs soda jugs milk jugs anything this one's kind of like a slushie right now it's not all the way frozen we used to do this when I had pet rabbits we'd freeze them and the rabbits would lay right next to them these I also try to keep in the same area that I know the chickens like to stay in but it's just one other thing that a chicken can kind of lay next to and help help cool them off a little bit so I just put a few of these out and sometimes they'll lay next to them sometimes they won't but it gets the ground wet and they like that okay tip number five probably the chicken's favorite give them cold or frozen fruits and vegetables chickens love fruits and vegetables you can freeze them put him in little like cupcake holders and freeze them not the paper ones but like the metal pan you know you can cut up watermelon and freeze it grapes are great squash is great so many different things you can do a quick google search of what fruits aren't good for chickens but most of them are fine and the chickens will go crazy over it the one thing is so I have a watermelon here obviously um I've cut it up into a lot of pieces because there is a pecking order with chickens and if you just cut it in like two different pieces depending on how many chickens you have it might not be enough so I'm gonna lay these out for the ladies and you'll see how much they love them so I'm gonna scatter these chunks a little bit I also have multiple coops so I like to make sure that everyone gets a piece these are my rescues they don't quite get free range to get a nice big space but not full free range got it give some to the bantams that little noise Roscoe is making is him letting the girls know he found something good you found something good buddy look I'm sorry ladies they're like excuse me we're trying to eat here they've already eaten it down [Music] okay a couple more pieces the chicks are hanging out over here in the shade of the pear trees so I want to put a couple pieces over here would you guys like a little bit of watermelon you're gonna eat that one in the bowl these are my three Cornish cross hens or chickens looks like to our hands and ones a rooster these are meat birds for anyone that doesn't know and I got him by accident as day-old chicks they were labeled as egg layers obviously not what do you guys think of the watermelon you're gonna go for it he is like I'm not sure about this yet no all right well I'm gonna leave it there cuz someone will eat it put the other ones back where the big flock hangs out oh one for you mama let's see if the chicks will eat it here let's try this I think I'm a little too close to the door for her to put her head down [Music] one last piece for the big girls ready for your bonus tip the goods grub Li's and fill up fill up a kiddie pool throw some grubs in there and all the girls will come running trust me what do you guys think my advice is if this is the first time you're doing it fill the water up high enough where they can just reach over the edge and then over time you can put the water a little less and eventually they'll jump in there but I found the first time every year I got to make it really full otherwise they're not brave enough to get in that yummy happy girls shoes excuse me can I just just get some straight goods here all right so I hope those 5 easy steps helped you guys get through a heatwave or really hot weather there are definitely other things you can do some people do misters some people have kiddie pools there's a whole bunch of stuff but I just wanted to give five easy tips that hopefully anybody can do and hopefully most of stuff you have on hand I know we weren't quite prepared for this heatwave but all the girls are doing great and yeah apparently summer is here if you guys enjoyed this video remember to hit that thumbs up button and the subscribe button it means so much to me and I will catch you guys on the next video [Music]

Channel: Tara's Homestead

Views: 3,541

Keywords: backyard chickens, homestead, urban farming, chickens, quick tips, heat wave, summer, chicken tips, new to chickens

Id: XM74RL4fq64

Length: 10min 55sec (655 seconds)

Published: Thu May 28 2020