Excessive heat warning...keeping chickens cool

I don't spray mine but they enjoy the mister. I have it on a timer so I can set it to run for a couple hours in the afternoon and it will turn off on its own. Between that, a very shallow pool to walk through, shade, frozen water pan, and refrigerated food scraps, they seem to be doing okay.

I wish my chickens would tolerant a mister.  When I had a mister they would avoid it like the plague.  We have very hard water, so they are hard to maintain, but definitely help cool the temperature down.  If they would use it, it would be worth it because I'm not normally home during the day.  

My understanding is that the mister will cool the surrounding air, so the chickens needn't be directly in it to have some positive effect, much like a swamp cooler. Obviously this is only true in dry climates. I have a mister fan combo that's powered by a rechargeable battery. I'm hoping it will be enough this year. When it's really hot my chickens don't like to leave their coop, so I tend to leave their frozen treats inside.

So it's looks like at least a week of over 100's here. Today the high was 104, the next two days are likely 110. I have my mister/fan battery charging. The whole summer I have been adding 2-2 cup ice cubes to their water at 3:00. They seem to drink a lot more water if it's cool. I often freeze bananas for them as well. Anyone else have suggestions that have been working for them.

Hi Stacey I have a little kiddy pool I put about 3" of water in. On super hot days I put a frozen 2 leader bottle in to keep it cool all day. Most of them just drink out of it, but some will stand in it.   I also put a frozen 2 leader bottle in there water. I have found it keeps the water cool all day.  Frozen veggies.  I stop feeding them scratch. I read since it's full of carbohydrates it causes the chickens body to heat up when they are digesting it.  I have also changed the grains I ferment.  I used to do oats, wheat, and barley.  I can't remember why, but read I should only do oats in the summer.  
Probably the most important thing is when I add chickens to my flock I make sure it's heat tolerant.  It sounds pretty obvious, but I didn't always think of such things.  I have a couple of Salmon Faverolle.  They are so cute, and sweet, and have made it for about 5 summers now.  They are the ones I see standing in the pool.  I always feel sorry for them they are so fluffy with very small comb and waddles.  Still they have managed to survive.
Good luck to you.

I strung a mister though the tree branches by my coop.  If temp hits 90 I hook the hose up to it.  Really cools down the area.

I have a second coop that I run a sprinkler nearby.  It is in the pine trees and the temps really drop after that for several hours.  The girls definately like it.  Seems to bring bugs out also and it is fun to watch them chasing the bugs.

Different year same problem.  It hasn't been very yet, but I just checked the 10 day forecast and all 10 day are over 100 two of the days are supposed to be 113.  They have plenty of shade, a fan on 24/7. Today I rinsed out the pool. I put cement blocks in it, and a corrugated steel panel over it to keep it in shade.  I don't know if it will help, but my thought is the water will keep the cement blocks cool, and they don't have to get wet.  We will see if they use it. I need to freeze some water bottles.
Good luck everyone.

My protocol for hot weather (which is mostly just me fussing) is to put out an additional waterer.

I will add ice to try and keep the water cooler than the ambient temperature. My hens have a shaded space in their run that is underneath there coop and they seem to do well. I'll try and give them treats of water rich vegetation to make sure they stay hydrated. We skip the grain and scratch mixes!

I just spray down with a hose the heavily mulched area under the mulberry tree.  The chickens dig, dig, dig deeply and then 'dust bathe' there enjoying the cool ground.

Last year I set out a baby pool for the geese. The chickens enjoy it too. It's in the shade of one of the oaks, and I dump it daily/rinse/refill a couple of inches.

It's been hotter than usual, but we're going through some pop-up showers which cool things off (while raising humidity). The birds are spending most of their time trying to stay dry instead of escaping the heat - it's damp enough it keeps them coolish.

Lots of shade and lots of water. Fermented damp feed keeps their hydration up.

I still toss out cracked corn.
Scratch doesn't make them hot - burning off the complex carbohydrates makes them hot by boosting their metabolism - so I don't worry about it and do my best to make sure everyone is behaving and eating well.

The geese have made it very clear that their continued good (for goose) behavior is dependent on being fed a portion of corn by hand daily. The surprise goslings have started eating from my hand, too. It's good training for coming when called and being handled, but I get a very noisy Angry Goose Gang chasing me around the yard if they don't get their corn portion.

I have been paying extra attention to creating spaces for my chickens to get out of the sunlight when the heat/humidity index is up.

I have strategically placed straw bales outside of my enclosed run to help create shaded spots throughout the day that the chickens can get out of the sun. I try to set them up near known dust bath spots and have noticed my hens have appreciated it. I also have set up perch-able spots around to let the girls get up and catch the wind to help cool them down.

This is the time of year when I start pulling my pea plants from my garden as they have started to die back and add the greenery into my chicken run. Not only do the chickens strip the greenery of anything tasty, but it helps provide them some moisture as well. My bantams like to hide in the vines when the chickens decide they are not interesting anymore.

I really like the mister ideas found in this thread, I just have to figure out how to rig one up.

Have a look at Australian Broard Cast, a program vg , called Landline
This man created mobile chicken coup, solar panels on roof
Chichens have fresh gtass always, umder cobet as the shade moves along by elrctric  motor
Food and water travel on the frame also
The sides are shade material and soft

I'm also in Central Texas. I have only 5 hens, now going on 7 years old. Relatively small coop and run, but totally enclosed. I have shadecloth on all sides of the run, and 2 box fans at right angles for the run. Last few days, with 100° Temps, I hose down the shadeclth 3-4x a day. I have small thermometers in the coop and run, and the hosing takes the temp down about 5°. The ambient temperature feels much more comfortable.

I have a large dust bath with sand, food greade diatomaceous earth and coop refresher. I have 4 footbaths--14" plastic trays from Amazon, actually planter liners. I bought 6" concrete papers to put inside the footbaths. My hens LOVE standing in these. They feel safe because they're so shallow. I bring the hose in to clean them every day. Wish I knew how to post a photo... I make a gallon of electrolyte water at a time (many recipes online), and keep it in refrigerator. I use a small hanging waterer, with 6 or 7 ice cubes and use only a few inches of this water. I wash and change it every day. When it gets hot, mid afternoon, I use a pie plate, barely cover it with their organic feed, add 3 ice cubes, and cover the pellets with electrolyte water. Sprinkle organic cayenne or garlic powder on top. They clean the bowl by bedtime. I freeze watermelon in small slices, and give them a few as an evening refresh before bed.

The coop has Gans in 3 of the 4 windows, and I have a 6"fan hanging in front of the preferred nesting box, which seems to help, because I don't see as much open-mouth breathing since I began this. I also have a silver car window shade over the outside of the coop where the nesting boxes are, and I spray this and the roof when I spray the side shadecloths.

My friend accuses me of micromanaging my chickens, lol. I don't care. I'm an animal rescuer. And do the same with my rescued cats and pittie. I'm an ethical vegan, and my chickens are pets. Except for giving an occasional egg to my pets, or cooking them to feed back to the hens, I give the eggs to my neighbors. So my situation may be different than most of you nice people here. But I've never lost a hen to heatstroke. A neighbor does free-range, and lost 7 of his 9 chickens to heatstroke. This breaks my heart. He just doesn't set up any shade or fans.

I let my chooks free range where there's shade, and I run the hose to give them some water to wade in and wet dirt to scratch up.  I've never seen them get into a pool or big pan of water, but they get crazy excited to see water running on the ground, and a nice puddle to scratch around in. I have a short row of lilacs and chokecherry bushes, and I rotate which section of that I soak for the chickens, so there's always at least one bush that is damp and shady for them.