The girls are doing their best to cope with the tremendous heat in Atlanta right now. This is the hottest it has been since I lived here.
Living in Houston for over two years prior to moving to Atlanta made the Atlanta summer feel like springtime.
When I first moved to Atlanta I didn't notice the heat at all and I often wondered why everyone was complaining of the heat so much. But when you live in Houston and get used to that thick heat, any other hot climate is a cake walk.
So we have this tremendous heat that is good for the plants but not so good for the chickens. These Chix favor weather that is about 72 degrees and they can die in extreme heat, so I have been taking measures to keep them cool.
Since I am now semi-proficient in keeping chickens cool, here are my best tips:
- Watering the ground they walk on to cool their hot feet – chickens have very hot feet normally and their hot tootsies are used to keep them warm in the winter when they sit on them
- Putting a fan outside their coop at night to give them a little breeze – this is only advisable if you are positive it won't rain during the night
- Feeding them watermelon – watermelon cools body temperature in humans quickly, so why not chickens?
- Blowing on them when they walk by – it makes me hot but gives them a quick breeze
- Telling them stories of events that happened with the Eskimos in Alaska
- Encouraging them to meditate and imagine themselves in 72 degree heat
- Being flat out dishonest… "Girls, it is only about 75 outside. You are imagining it's 98 degrees."
- Reminding them how good their life is because they are not panting in a cage like other chickens in Africa and China
- Putting ice in their water feeder (which melts in 5 minutes) – this does nothing really, but makes me feel like I am supporting them
- Not scolding them when they eat another jalapeno pepper or any other ripening vegetables - they get special treatment when they are feeling like roasted chickens
From the video below you can see first hand how chickens pant in the extreme heat.
Hang in there girls, the summer has just begun.
