5 Simple Ways to Keep Chickens Cool in Summer

5 Simple Ways to Keep Chickens Cool in Summer is for those who live in scorching climates like me. These 5 tips will cool your chickens off and help out majorly.

Chickens Can’t Sweat

Summer is here, and so is the heat. If you own chickens, knowing how to properly care for them in summer is important.

The first reason chickens need extra support in the summer is that chickens can’t sweat. They release heat by panting, through their waddles, combs, and feet, and opening their wings.

In, order to keep your sweet chickens happy, make sure to follow these simple steps!

5 Ways to Cool Chickens Down In the Summer

1. Hydrate
2. Provide Cool Shade
3. Provide a Dust Bath Area
4. Give Frozen Treats
5. Add a Kiddie Pool

1. Provide Clean Cool Water

Above all, the most important way to care for your flock is by providing fresh, cool water. Water is essential to keep them cool, and alive. Chickens already run at a high body temperature of 106-107 Degrees Fahrenheit. It is important to keep them regulated internally when outside temps are just as high.

Ways to keep hydrating fun and entertaining is to add ice, or frozen berries into their water! It’s a special treat and a way to hydrate simultaneously!

They will probably not find all the berries that sink to the bottom of the pan unless you empty some of the water, but they will have nice berry-flavored water to hydrate with.

So, remember that if your flock is out of water, they are in danger! Heat stroke, heat stress, or even death can occur if they are not hydrated.

2. Provide Shade With a Mister

One thing I noticed about chickens is that they prefer shade, even when it is not super hot. They are always camped out under trees, or shade structures when they relax and dust bathe.

This is partly because they are insulated in heat already with an internal body temp of 106-107 F. They also instinctually gravitate to it because they are descendants of junglefowl.

These prey animals are safe from flying predators when hidden under the shade of trees or some protection.

As you can see in the photo above, the hose makes a damp spot on the ground for them to walk through. They can cool off in this small puddle if they choose.

Add a Mister:

A genius way to cool off your chickens is to have a mister placed in front of a box fan. As you can see from the photo above, my LGD enjoys it too. I walk outside to see some chickens have been misted and are damp from standing here. It is a great option for them as well!

3. Provide a Dust Bath Area

I have a broody hen who I put in the chicken prison (a dog crate) overnight to try and break her free from her broodiness. I can’t handle any more chickens right now lol. When I opened the door, she ran straight to their dust bath. It was a sweltering day & she wanted to cool off in the dust bath.

The dust layer on their skin helps control mites and pests and leaves a layer on their skin so they can feel better.

A dust bath is cooling, and relaxing for them. It is also fun to watch them fluff, dig, and roll in the dirt.

4. Cool Treats

To keep stress levels down, I give my girls things they love. Frozen treats in their water or this frozen berry bowl, and cold cut fruit or even frozen food scraps.

Scratch Grains

I also find that my chickens still crave their scratch grains but I give them a little less since they have to work harder to digest grains.

These are some leftover whole oat hulls that I made cookies for my sheep with!

Interestingly, I did some research & found that chickens appeared about 3000 years ago in Northern China and India around rice, millet, and grain farms. “Scientists found a “striking” correlation between the spread of dry rice farming, millet, and other grains—and the appearance of chickens. The researchers propose that the rice seeds drew wild jungle fowl to rice fields, where the birds nested in thickets at the edge of the fields and got used to humans.”¹

They love their scratch grains, let me tell ya!

5. Kiddie Pool Time!

Chickens love to perch on various objects. Once I put out the kiddie pool this summer, a few perched on the edge but didn’t want to jump in. They don’t like to get wet all the way, but it is good to get their feet wet to cool off. The kiddie pool would be great if they walked around in it, but I have yet to see them do this.

A trick I saw on Homestead and Chill is to put bricks or landing pads in the kiddie pool for the chickens to perch on.

Although they aren’t keen on taking a dip in the pool, my girls love walking around in the irrigation water when we turn it on in the pasture every two weeks. This helps both the chickens and the dogs cool off!

Below is a video tour of how I keep my chickens and broody hens cool in the summer.

1. Gibbons, Anne How the wild jungle fowl became the chicken Science.org ↩︎