Turning on sprinklers a good idea?

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SusanD

SusanD

Chirping
Feb 20, 2015
348
5
71
Willamette Valley, Oregon
Hi,

My Dad has been turning on the sprinklers in our run for a few minutes during the middle of the day to keep our chickens cope with our current heat wave. Today was the first time I had a chance to see what it looks like, and I did notice that the sprinklers really, really put out a lot of water (they're the ones that are designed to pop up and water the ground in the mornings or late afternoon). The chickens all went to the (comparatively) dryest spot in the run and shook themselves off after the sprinklers were turned off. Do we need to worry about them getting water in their ears or other health issues or is this a workable way to cool them off?
 
A lot of people use sprinklers to keep their chickens cool, so it is a good idea.
Chickens don't really like getting wet, however. My hens will go out in the rain and they stand in this really funny position to try and get all the rain to slide off their backs.
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You can also try ice in the water, feeding cold watermelon and other fruits, and providing shallow trays of water for them to cool off their feet in.

Best of luck!
 
We picked up a nifty little item at Home Depot today. It's a personal mister. It's blue, on a twirly sort of base, and we only paid $12.00 and change for it. Got it home, set it up in the 100 degree heat. No electricity needed - the hose hooked up to it runs it. At first they hightailed it as far as they could to get away from it, but the mist is so gentle and it really did a good job of cooling the air in the run. And unlike a sprinkler it didn't totally saturate the ground around it, although it did get things wet. Suddenly now they like it!

Edited to add link so you can see what it looks like.

http://reviews.homedepot.com/1999/2...ill-personal-stand-mister-reviews/reviews.htm
 
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Oh. I had one of those. It was great. Sitting on the beach chair with your own personal sprinkler is the beat ok a hot day.
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Last edited:
Thanks all for your replies. We do have a mister, but I think my parents thought the sprinklers would cool things down even faster. I do think we could possibly get more benefit from the mister than we have been (possibly by turning it on earlier in the day (say when the temperature hits 80 instead of after it's reached 95) and and also moving it around more. I will play around with it.
 

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