Chickens & Heat Stress: How to Identify, Prevent, & Treat (2024)

While their feathers are beautiful, all that fluff is tough on ourbackyard flocks. Unlike people, chickens don’t have sweat glands, nor do their feathers allow for arefreshingbreezetocool the skin and decrease their body temperature. Because of that, it’s important to stay vigilant about keeping your flockcool in the summer to prevent heat stress.Learn all about recognizing, preventing, and treating heat stress in your flock so you can keep them healthy this summer!

What is heat stress?

Heat stress is additional stressa chicken’sbodyexperiencesdue to it being unable to maintain a normal body temperature.As a chicken’s body temperature rises, pressure on all the other body systems increase.A chicken’s normal body temperature is around 104°F, so a chicken does a lot better in colder weather than it does in hot weather!Having such a high body temperature to start with makes heat related ailments much more prevalent for chickens. Not only isituncomfortable for a chicken, but heat stress canalsodamageorgans, cause egg deformation, and even lead to death.

Genetics, feather coverage, age, weight, andflock maintenanceall affect a chicken’s heat tolerance.Chicken breeds that have large combs and wattles and are lightly feathered are more heat tolerant then heavily feathered chicken breeds. As a chicken ages, it becomes more susceptible to ailments and more sensitive to environmental changes, such as an increase in temperatures.

8 Signs of Heat Stress

Knowing how to spot signs of heat stress is the key to keeping your chickens safe and healthy over the summer. Here’s some tell-tale signs of heat stress:

1. Panting& Rapid Breathing- Chickens pant by opening their beaks and engaging in rapid breathing. Much like dogs, chickens release heat by panting to dissipate internal heat. Look out for panting (beaks open) and rapid breathing as beginning signs of heat stress.

2. Pale Comb & Wattles-The combs and wattles are a chicken’s only direct access of skin to air, so a lot of extra body heat leaves through those extremities. This heat dissipation can often make the skin color turn paler. Keeping the wattles and comb cool will help your chicken regulate its body temperature.

3. Wings Outstretched & Feathers Erect- Air is our planet’s best insulator. When chickens overheat, they’ll stretch out their wings and lift their feathers in hopes of catching a cool breeze. They hold their wings away from their body to release trapped heat and to allow air flow against their skin.

4. More Lounging & Less Roaming- Activity generates heat, so you may notice your chickens lounging around the enclosure or yard during hot weather. They may roam less and not move around as much in general. This decrease in activity does not necessarily mean lethargy, which we will discuss later.

5. Stopped Eating & Increase Drinking- Your flock will start drinking A LOT more water during hot weather. You may also notice your flock is less willing to eat as much feed as they normally do. The digestion process does generate some internal heat, so a chicken may eat less if she is experiencing more amplified heat stress.

6. Diarrhea-All ofthe extra water that a chicken consumes during hot weather can lead to watery diarrhea. While not necessarily bad, it does result in less body moisture which leads to a loss of electrolytes and possibly dehydration.

7. Decrease in Egg Production- When a hen’s body is under lots of stress to keep cool, she will stop producing eggs. Aside from the stress of trying to stay cool, eggs are also mostly water. When a hen is dehydrated, she won’t have enough body moisture to continue properly producing eggs.

8. Droopiness & Lethargic-Achicken suffering from more severe heat stress will appear very lethargic and lay down, not moving. If you have a chicken showing these signs, then it is time to take immediate action.Droopiness and lethargy are precursors to heat stroke, which is a very serious condition. We’ll cover this later in the article as there are specific steps involved in an emergency intervention.

Preventing Heat Stress in Chickens

Depending on where you live, you may not need to employ more than one or two ways to help keep your chickensstaycool. However, in certainhotterparts of thecountry,you’ll want to make sure you do a feweggstrathings to help keep your chickens safe.Here are some practical ways to helppreventheat stress in chickens:

ProvideRefreshing Water

Water is our best friend when it comes to cooling down. Serve it freely and plentifully to your flock so they can drink as much as they need. Chickens are greatself-regulatorsandwill eat and drink as much as they need. Remember to place feed and water in a shaded, coolarea. For extra comfort, add some ice to cool their water.However, don’t go too heavy on the ice because icy cold water can be a shock to a body that is very hot.

AvoidOvercrowding

Overcrowding means thatachicken’s natural body heat (104°F) is multiplied by all itsflockmatesbody temperatures as well. That’s a lot of unwanted heat generated that can lead to heat stress, increased pecking, and even cannibalism.Overcrowding is dangerous to flock health no matter what the weather is like!The good news is it’s completely avoidable. Simply provide enough space for your chickens to retreat from each other and the heat.Having a large, airy enclosure helps prevent overcrowding as doesfree rangingyour flockduring the summer. If your chickens do have to stay penned up during the summer, allow at least 8 square feet of enclosure space per chicken.

UseFans&IncreaseCoopVentilation

Natural airflow can help keep the ambient temperatures lower in the coop.Make sure there is plenty of air flow andventilation in the coop. Prop doors and windows open. If you have doors on the next boxes, you may even want to prop those open too. While ventilation is very important, you also need to keep predator safety in mind. You might need to use a metal grate to block the windows or doors, if you didn’t have one built in already.At a minimum, make sure that your coop has enough ventilation to allow the hot air to escape and bring in any breezes.

If you’re able to run electricity to your yard, you can set up a fan for the chickens in their enclosure or the coop.A fan will be your flock’sfavorite addition to the coop, allowing them to get a precious breeze under their fluffy down. They’ll love it even more if you place frozen gallon jugs of water in front of it to reallyblow cool air around.

MakeFrozenTreats &EncourageHydration

Sipping ice water cools us from the inside out and helps regulate our body temperature. The same principle applies to your flock. Providing cool water can reduce stress on your flock and help them regulate their internal body temperature.

HoseDown theCoop andSurroundingAreas

Cold water helps cool things down by absorbing some of the heat itself.Hose down the coop roofand wet the perimeter of the coop andenclosureto make those areas cooler and more refreshing for your flock. This will aid in lowering the overall ambient temperatureof the surrounding area.

Also, wet the ground in any areas they like to hang out during the day. On a particularly hot day when temperatures are well over 90°˚F to 100°˚F, water things down as often as you can.Don’t forget to water their favorite dust-bathing areas. Chickens not only dust bathe to keep their skin and feathers clean,theyalso do it to help regulate their body temperatures. By providing themwithdampened and cooled dirt to dust bathe in, they can keep themselves cool when they kick the wet dirtonto their skin.

Provideyourchickens with extra sources of drinking water, including tubs they can step in to keep cool as needed.

SetUpMisters

If theeggstrashade andhosed down cooparen'tdoing the trick, particularly if you live in areas where summers can getreally hot, you should consider getting misters.

Misters can cool the ambient temperature by quite a bit, and even as much as 20 to 30 degrees!

Your local home improvement storeshouldsell free-standing misters that can attach to a hose. You can also buy misting system kits that you can mount inyour flock’srun or hangout area. If you’re particularly handy, you can DIY your own misting system.

If you are DIYing, make sure you find fine-spray nozzles that spray.Usuallythey are rated with something like “0.5 GPH” or “1 GPH”(GPH = gallons per hour). The rating tells you how much water is sprayed out of the nozzle per hour. You’ll want to choose one that sprays a very fine mist and uses as little water as possible. The idea is to mist, not irrigate.

RecognizingHeatStrokein Chickens

Heat stroke is when a chicken’s body reaches a lethaltemperatureand can’t cool down fast enough. The body’s systems and organs will start shutting down due to the high body temperature anddehydration. Eventually,heat stroke will lead to death. Here are somesigns that indicate heat stress has turned into heat stroke:

Keep a Cool Flock!

Learning how to recognize, prevent, and treat heat stress in chickens is essential for keeping your flock healthy and cool this summer! Chickensare able tohandle cooler temperatures much better than hot weather, so it isa good idea toimplementsome extra measures during the summerfor keeping your chickens cool. Your chickens will appreciate preventative measures such as plenty of shade, healthy and refreshing snacks, and plenty of cool drinking water.When you do recognize severe heat stress or heat stroke in one of your flock members, knowing how to treat it could save your chicken’s life! Preparedness and prevention are the key thingsto keep in mind when helping your flock stay cool this summer!