Body Temperature of Chickens: How Do They Regulate?
We are all working hard to beat the heat. This includes our feathered friends as well. Today, we are going to discuss how chickens regulate their body temperature and some of the best ways we can help them deal with hot summer weather.
What is the Normal Body Temperature of a Chicken?
The body temperature of chickens is naturally quite warm. The internal body temperature of a healthy adult chicken is about 105F°. Poultry cannot sweat, so they rely on other methods to regulate their temperature. Chickens will use their feathers, breath, and even their blood to help regulate their body temperature.
How Do Chickens Regulate Their Temperature?
The most common way for a chicken to regulate their body temperature is with their feathers. During cold weather, birds will fluff up their feathers and trap warm air against their 105F° bodies to help keep them warm. In the summer, however, you may see your birds do the opposite. Their feathers will often stay sleek against their bodies, or you may catch your birds standing in a nice breeze that ruffles them and pulls any trapped heat away from them.
Similar to your dog or cat, a chicken will also pant when it is hot. The technical term for panting is gular flutter, one of the most effective ways for poultry to cool themselves. The act of gular flutter evaporates warm moisture (remember, their internal body temperature is HOT!) from the bird’s respiratory system to help keep them cool. Chickens also have large numbers of air sacs inside their body cavity. When a chicken inhales, it can push that cooler external air deep into their abdominal cavity. Since the external air is usually cooler than their internal 105F° body temperature, that cooler external air and the accompanying gular flutter can help dissipate lots of heat and help your chickens stay comfortable during the hot summer months.
Chickens will also use their blood to help cool themselves. Have you ever noticed that the combs and wattles on your chickens are usually bright red in the summer? Combs and wattles are highly vascularized, and chickens will engorge those blood vessels with warm blood during warm weather. When a nice breeze or a cool mist runs over those engorged blood vessels, heat is pulled away from the chicken’s body in the process. This is called evaporative cooling.
How To Keep Chickens Cool in the Summer
Now that we know how chickens regulate their body temperature let’s talk about the best ways we can help them beat the heat this summer.
- Fresh, cool water:
The very best way to help your chickens stay cool is lots and lots of fresh, cool water. As noted above, gular flutter and breathing dissipate a large volume of moisture. Replacing that moisture with plenty of clean, cool drinking water is extremely important. Generally, drinking water should be refreshed daily in the summertime. Once the temperature of the water exceeds the internal body temperature of the birds (105F°), the chickens won’t drink it. Make sure the water that you are putting out for your chickens is cool and clean. Water from the tap or a frost-free spigot is usually the best offering. If getting water from a garden hose or a rain barrel, make sure the water is cool to the touch. Hoses and rain barrels left in the sun can get very hot, and you may need a cooler water source to help your chickens beat the heat. On very hot days, frozen water bottles added to your waterers’ can act as giant ice cubes and help keep water cooler for longer periods. Make sure your waterers are kept in a shady location – ideally inside the chicken coop – and are emptied and cleaned regularly to prevent algae growth.
- Plenty of Shade:
Shade is also an extremely important factor to consider during the summer months. Your chickens will still love going outside in the summer. However, they should be able to get out of direct sunlight when the temperatures start to creep upward during the day. Shade trees, awnings, and tarps are great ways to provide plenty of shade for your birds. During most of the summer, I find that my birds are most active at the same time that I am - early morning and late evening. Chickens love to rest under a shady tree on a hot day, just like you and I do!
- Airflow and Ventilation:
Ventilation and breezes are also really important tools to help your chickens stay comfortable this summer. If you have electricity in your coop, a fan rated for barns and/or outdoor buildings is a great way to provide airflow. However, if you don’t have electricity in your chicken coop (like me!), proper ventilation can help supply refreshing summer breezes. A lot of ventilation is essential to keep air moving across your birds, allowing them to dissipate heat through evaporative cooling. Place windows and doors on your coop in a manner that allows natural breezes to flow through the coop. It’s also important to make sure the breezes are reaching the birds. Ventilation at the top of a coop may provide a great escape from rising warm air, but unless the breeze can actually flow over the birds, that ventilation may provide little relief when it comes to regulating body temperature. Openings and windows close to the ground or the roosts are great tools to help summer breezes reach your birds.
Chickens are remarkably adaptable animals and can handle most seasonal changes very well. We can help our chickens stay cool this summer with just a few simple practices. Cold water, nice shade, and a pleasant breeze are your best tools for helping your birds stay comfortable, healthy, and thriving all summer long!
Keeping poultry is such a wonderful experience and the rewards are many! At Kalmbach Feeds, we are always here to help. If you have any questions about the nutrient needs of your birds, feed options, or general poultry keeping, please let us know. We are so excited to continue writing about all of the topics that are important to you and can’t wait to continue learning about your flocks. Stay tuned, and thank you for choosing Kalmbach Feeds!
