Home

Help your Chickens Beat the Heat This Summer

Forget the ice cubes and frozen water bottles, if your chickens live in triple digits, ice is going to melt in minutes and be of no help at all.  In Arizona, we have to be much more clever than that!

Mist systems aren’t always helpful because some chickens will avoid them, but I still use them. The best way to help your chickens survive the heat is to give them a more natural way to keep cool. Dig them a shallow pond and put a hose on a slow drip. This will bring up worms, and that’s a sure way to keep chickens interested in staying right where you want them. You don’t have to go through a lot of trouble, keep it simple. Watch the sun, and make sure your little oasis will be in the shade during the hottest part of the day.
Put a drinker in different places so there is always water in the shade. If you can’t find suitable shade, make some. Make use of mesh shade tarps, shade cloth, shade sails, etc. Be creative, I found an old pallet, covered it with shade cloth, leaned it up against a fence, and put a drinker under it.

shade cloth

Today it is 107, and by the end of the month it will be 115+, these are brutal temperatures and can be fatal to chickens. With something as simple as a shallow pond, they will be fine. Wherever you live, there is dirt, water, and I’m guessing you own a shovel… it’s that easy!
Tip: if you have bushes or trees by your chickens, spray them with water during the day. Your chickens will be drawn to the cool air around the trees and have a chance to recover from the heat.

cool the air
Back to Chicken Keeping Resources HOME PAGE

Free Roam or a Chicken Coop?

Making the decision to free-roam your chickens has benefits for you and your flock, but there are also risks to consider.

Two Hens

Wondering how big a chore it would be to have a few chickens? Maybe you already have a backyard flock and find them a bit overwhelming to care for. Truth is, I think we’re all a little guilty of fussing over our birds more than we need to. We worry about predators and try to keep them safe by locking them up in a coop, then, watch them unhappily pace their walls of confinement.
Chickens that are allowed to free roam will be busy looking for bugs and scratching around in the dirt. They will require much less upkeep, lower your feed bill, and have a much cleaner coop. In my opinion, coops are for laying eggs and a nighttime safe haven. I lock up my flock at night and do the best I can to protect them from predators. At dawn, I let them out and hope for the best. That may be a little risky, but let’s face it, so is driving in your car.
If you don’t have the free roaming option, then a coop is going to require some work on your part. Even just a couple hens are dirty, and after just a few days the coop will need to be cleaned. Coops can be hot in the summer and freezing cold in winter. Cleaning the coop, feeding, watering, and picking eggs probably aren’t going to make your list of favorite things to do in inclement weather.
Chickens are actually pretty smart, they managed to find food, shelter, and are capable of hiding from danger. They huddle together to stay warm in the winter and are smart enough to dig holes in the dirt to stay cool during the summer months.
I provide a safe place for my flock at night and enjoy watching my chickens enjoy their freedom during the day.

Back to Chicken Keeping Resources HOME PAGE

Creative Chicken Set-up Ideas

Choosing a Chicken Coop

It’s fun setting up a chicken coop, here are over 500 ideas to make your coop more functional and easier to maintain. Be creative, you’ll be spending lots of time with your chickens, make it a place you want to be too.

Visit Chicken Coop & Set up Ideas
Back to Chicken Keeping Resources HOME PAGE