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Alright, so today we are going to talk about Summer Care -Caring for Chickens in the High
Summer Heat, especially here in Texas where we are. It is very important to care for your
chickens in the summer heat. Much more important even the winter times when it freezes; the
chickens are made for the colder weather here, but not made for the Texas summer heat.
So as you can see our chickens, it is pretty warm out here today. Getting near one-hundred
degrees now, and they are already starting to slightly pant, and that is a normal thing
for the summer. But, anytime it's over about 90 degrees or 85 degrees and up, is the time
to really pay attention to your chickens. They can have heat stroke, heat-induced stress,
or even death can occur when they become overheated
Now, their normal body temperature is usually 104°F to 107°F, is their normal chicken
body temperature. The chickens they do NOT sweat, they pant, just like a dog does. And
they lose their heat through their comb, waddle; like a radiator and is released through there,
usually. And they also can release their heat from their legs, droppings, and lightly of
the spreading of their wings. They will open their wing a little bit and breeze comes through
there as well.
Now, they also like, cool down in their dust bath. If you have seen my previous video The"
Dust Bath" the chicken will cool themselves down by digging down into the soil, and the
dirt and cool themselves off also.
Now they will eat much less during the hot summer time They will drink much more They
will find naturally, on their own, find a lot more shaded spaces to sleep and rest and
they will forage much less and may slow down or even stop laying eggs in the summer
Now the heavy-bodied breads, like cooler weather more. These are like the heritage type breeds.
All of our chickens here are a heritage type heavy-bodied chicken The light-bodied chicken
is more like a Mediterranean type birds, similar to like a Leghorn. And they will do much better
in a warmer climate
So make sure you give them plenty of space to sleep in their house at night They don't
want to be all crammed-up inside there, they will put off a lot of body heat, so make sure
there is plenty of space for them to sleep and have your coop also vented for heat and
to vent out the heat and moisture inside Also most definitely think about where you are
going to put your chicken coop and run, as we have, when we put it up here we put it
under this Crape Myrtle tree next to the fence and most of this is shaded throughout the
day here as you can see, some of it is in the sun, but you can also put a roof or covering
over some of the run as we have done here as well. On the back side of the run is all
covered for shade. So make sure also there is plenty of good airflow, windows or fans
you can even put in the coop as you can see here we have some vents on the top here and
also on the sides
Now as far as feeding the chickens in the summertime, Do not give them any corn and
no scratch. So the scratch and the corn, do not use these in the summer. This is much
slower to break down in their body system, and will actually heat up their bodies as
it breaks down, much better for the wintertime It is better to give them melons or berries
and freeze them as well to keep them cool. Also leafy greens they will use the water
out of the leafy greens cool them down as well.
We still give our chicken the layer feed as we normally do all year long free-range free-choice
whenever they want to come to it. We do not give them the scratch or the corn in the summer,
as well as the treats that they love. The mealworms, they go crazy for, limit these
as much as possible as well as the sunflower seeds and safflower seeds
One thing also, do not use apple cider vinegar in the summertime. A lot of people like to
use this in the water add it to the water, but during the summer do not add apple cider
vinegar, instead you may want to use some electrolytes. This is what we use for ours
to keep them cool and hydrated through the summer as well This will help them keep...
it's like Gatorade for chickens, pretty much. So this is a really great item to use
in your water
One thing to keep in mind in water, I like this one-galloon water I have here. It is
easy to measure the electrolytes and we frequently change the water anyways, so there is no worry
of running out of water here. As you can see we have the electrolytes added as well as
ice this is nice and cold water. Your chickens will not drink hot or warm water, they will
for surely run to this cold water during the summer. Also as you can see here we have it
in a shaded area under a nice big mulberry tree
Another watering option in the summer that is really great is this, get one of these
insulated coolers here, and you can get one of these attachments, this is a nipple watering
system and you can fill this up this thermos with ice cold water This thing will keep cool
all day, and put under a shaded area and they will have nice ice cold water all day long
in a setup like this. So this is something to think keep that in the shade and you will
have nice, fresh cold water all throughout summer for your chickens
AS you can see here's one kinda laying in the dirt in the dust bath trying to keep cool
in the shade Very important to keep your chicken cool also the water, make sure you keep it
clean. Pathogens are very active in the summertime so they need to be clean and cool and change
very frequently to prevent any disease or illnesses to your hens.
Now to spot overheating, if they are gasping or there is a labored panting they're not
moving, lethargic, staggering, there is a constant wing spreading. The wings are spread
constantly all the time then it is probably time to take some action. One way is you can
wrap them in a cool wet towel. Or also submerge them in cool, but not cold water all the way
down to their neck to bring their temperature down. So make sure do not overheat you don�t
want to give them shock.
So as you can see out here we have a lot of vegetation and plants around our shed here
and our chickens love this. They are out here most of the day under all of this foliage
and if I can get closer to show you, you can kinda see them all laying underneath here
and they are just chilling out under all of this shaded area where it is nice and cool.
One thing you can also do it to hose down any areas where they stay in the summertime
to keep the soil, and the air much cooler as evaporative cooling will do.
So they love watermelon, this is a great way to cool them down, ice cold. They will come
over here and they will just eat this whole thing up and the way down to the rind. This
is a great easy way for them to cool down in the summertime
It�s not easy caring for chicken in the high heat conditions, but a little bit of
adjustments can make a big difference in their comfort level and their ability to survive
the summer. So make to really think about caring for your chickens and hens in the extreme
heat of the summertime. This is when most amount of problems will occur in the summer
from overheating. So, thanks for watching. Make it a great day!