I wasn't going to do it, but we're having an awful summer here so I gave in and grabbed some misters for the chickens and quail.
I'm totally sold on their use and it's been fascinating to me to see their behavior with them over time. I thought others might find it interesting or have related input.
My environment: We've been over 100F non stop for what I feel like has to be getting close to 3 months, but lets say 2-3. We've had highs that have at least hit 115F. During that time frame I have not had a single appreciable drop of rain on my property. I keep missing any scattered showers we've had.
I started with some cheap coiled things from home depot. They were pretty fantastic. Half a gallon/hour on water usage if I remember right. I decided that's plenty affordable if I added a sprinkler timer and just had them come on during the extreme parts of the day. I "upgraded" to some other misters I grabbed on amazon that are on a stand and I estimated their usage to be maybe between 1/2-3/4 gal/hour. Still not bad. Less water than a human taking an extra shower a day even if I run them 8 hours a day.
The first day or few, none of the birds wanted a single thing to do with them lol. This is what I was expecting. I was mostly just hoping they'd accidentally be around them enough to get some benefit.
The quail took to them faster than the chickens, that shocked me a bit. After a week or so, I could tell they were intentionally going up to them to cool off. Cautiously, and quickly returning to other areas.
I'd say around the 2-3 week mark they've gone in to day spa mode on them. They lounge around them, play in them. hang out around them to get nice and damp then go lay down a while in a dry spot and return once they dry up and start getting hot again. They have a full rotation of sorts going and it's just neat to me to watch them do it. I see hardly any "gasping" during the hot parts of the days anymore so I'm convinced they are effectively keeping them cooler. They're eating more, more active all around. I guess I didn't think chickens were smart enough to make such good use of them.
What has yalls experience been like with them?
Full disclosure: I have another thread from tonight where I discovered a sick silkie, and its looking to be a heat issue. I'm thinking there were complicating factors with it though and it having heat issues doesn't invalidate the misters being beneficial imo. I have a strong suspicion what happened but I'm waiting for daylight tomorrow to confirm
I'm totally sold on their use and it's been fascinating to me to see their behavior with them over time. I thought others might find it interesting or have related input.
My environment: We've been over 100F non stop for what I feel like has to be getting close to 3 months, but lets say 2-3. We've had highs that have at least hit 115F. During that time frame I have not had a single appreciable drop of rain on my property. I keep missing any scattered showers we've had.
I started with some cheap coiled things from home depot. They were pretty fantastic. Half a gallon/hour on water usage if I remember right. I decided that's plenty affordable if I added a sprinkler timer and just had them come on during the extreme parts of the day. I "upgraded" to some other misters I grabbed on amazon that are on a stand and I estimated their usage to be maybe between 1/2-3/4 gal/hour. Still not bad. Less water than a human taking an extra shower a day even if I run them 8 hours a day.
The first day or few, none of the birds wanted a single thing to do with them lol. This is what I was expecting. I was mostly just hoping they'd accidentally be around them enough to get some benefit.
The quail took to them faster than the chickens, that shocked me a bit. After a week or so, I could tell they were intentionally going up to them to cool off. Cautiously, and quickly returning to other areas.
I'd say around the 2-3 week mark they've gone in to day spa mode on them. They lounge around them, play in them. hang out around them to get nice and damp then go lay down a while in a dry spot and return once they dry up and start getting hot again. They have a full rotation of sorts going and it's just neat to me to watch them do it. I see hardly any "gasping" during the hot parts of the days anymore so I'm convinced they are effectively keeping them cooler. They're eating more, more active all around. I guess I didn't think chickens were smart enough to make such good use of them.
What has yalls experience been like with them?
Full disclosure: I have another thread from tonight where I discovered a sick silkie, and its looking to be a heat issue. I'm thinking there were complicating factors with it though and it having heat issues doesn't invalidate the misters being beneficial imo. I have a strong suspicion what happened but I'm waiting for daylight tomorrow to confirm
