Arizona Chickens

[chickluvinfreak]

Along with giving them ice water to drink, you can try sliding some ice packs or frozen bottles of water under their bedding. The frozen bottles have worked best for me because as the chicks uncover the bottles they become curious, stand on top of them and begin to pick off the pine shavings to see what's underneath. Eventually they learn that the bottles = relief from the heat and pile on top of them to rest. 

Thanks, I put some frozen water bottles out for them earlier but they haven't used them yet. Hopefully that and ice water should help them until their old enough for misters and wading pools. Do you think frozen scrambled egg popsicles are ok? Their only a few days old and I don't want to give them too many treats.

 

[DesertChic]

Thanks, I put some frozen water bottles out for them earlier but they haven't used them yet. Hopefully that and ice water should help them until their old enough for misters and wading pools. Do you think frozen scrambled egg popsicles are ok? Their only a few days old and I don't want to give them too many treats.

Absolutely! The protein from eggs is very, very good for chicks! My best batches of chicks have been the ones who received regular feedings of crumbles, hard-boiled eggs on a daily basis. (I hard-boil instead of scramble. Just a personal preference and really no different from scrambling them.

) That said, I'm not even sure you'd have to freeze them. Refrigerating them might be sufficient.

 

[chickluvinfreak]

Absolutely! The protein from eggs is very, very good for chicks! My best batches of chicks have been the ones who received regular feedings of crumbles, hard-boiled eggs on a daily basis. (I hard-boil instead of scramble. Just a personal preference and really no different from scrambling them.   ) That said, I'm not even sure you'd have to freeze them. Refrigerating them might be sufficient.

Thanks,I'll have to make them some.

 

[cyborg]

Well, I just finished installing the mister system in the run, and it is an unqualified success! I ran a 50' hose from my hose bib to the run. Inside the run, I installed a Y fitting to the end of the hose, with one side of the Y going to the drip system, and the other to a permanent inside the run 50' hose. No more dragging the hose thru the gate every day!
I ended up using about 120' of 1/2" drip tubing, 30 fogger nozzles, and various end fittings and a tee fitting, all told about $60 at your local BORG. (Big Orange Retail Giant, or Home Depot).
I zip tied the drip hose to the walls, about 5 1/2 feet above ground level, and installed the fogger nozzles about every 2-3 feet along the run. These foggers use .8 gph, and the mist evaporates before it hits the ground. Subjectively, I'd say the run is about 15-20 degrees cooler. Chickens are loving it!

 

[ejcrist]

Well, I just finished installing the mister system in the run, and it is an unqualified success! I ran a 50' hose from my hose bib to the run. Inside the run, I installed a Y fitting to the end of the hose, with one side of the Y going to the drip system, and the other to a permanent inside the run 50' hose. No more dragging the hose thru the gate every day!
I ended up using about 120' of 1/2" drip tubing, 30 fogger nozzles, and various end fittings and a tee fitting, all told about $60 at your local BORG. (Big Orange Retail Giant, or Home Depot).
I zip tied the drip hose to the walls, about 5 1/2 feet above ground level, and installed the fogger nozzles about every 2-3 feet along the run. These foggers use .8 gph, and the mist evaporates before it hits the ground. Subjectively, I'd say the run is about 15-20 degrees cooler. Chickens are loving it!

Sounds like it worked out pretty good. I just installed a kit in my coop yesterday too. I got the kit at Homeless Depot as well. It took a few minutes to figure out how to put her together but she went up in about all of 10 minutes. It really does cool the area down quite a bit. I only ran one line down the center of my run but mine is only 10' wide so I think that'll work ok. If I need more I'll just get some more tubing and mist heads and run it around the inside perimeter or something but I think I'll be good-to-go the way it is. Mine is attached to the crossbeams about 6' off the ground. I think the new systems will help this upcoming week for sure. It certainly won't hurt.

 

[Banaynaychicken]

I did some photographying of my babies when they were little. such cuties. They are no where near this little anymore though. They have gotten big, both are fully feathered out, and the Polish, Dory, her crown has almost completely grown in.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
You must have gotten all of those 0.8 gph fogger nozzles. There was nothing but an empty box of them at my Big Orange Box store this afternoon. All they had was 5-7 gallon per hour fog misters. I went to their Big Blue Box competition and picked up a portable patio mister system with six nozzles and 10-12' of mist line. Hope it works.

 

[cyborg]

Quote:
You must have gotten all of those 0.8 gph fogger nozzles. There was nothing but an empty box of them at my Big Orange Box store this afternoon. All they had was 5-7 gallon per hour fog misters. I went to their Big Blue Box competition and picked up a portable patio mister system with six nozzles and 10-12' of mist line. Hope it works.
Sorry about that. If you went to the BORG on Costco Drive, I AM the guilty party. But thanks for the heads up, I was planning on stopping there tomorrow and picking up a few more. I have to go to the VA hospital tomorrow, so I'll check out the BORG on Irvington and I-19.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
You must have gotten all of those 0.8 gph fogger nozzles. There was nothing but an empty box of them at my Big Orange Box store this afternoon. All they had was 5-7 gallon per hour fog misters. I went to their Big Blue Box competition and picked up a portable patio mister system with six nozzles and 10-12' of mist line. Hope it works.
Sorry about that. If you went to the BORG on Costco Drive, I AM the guilty party. But thanks for the heads up, I was planning on stopping there tomorrow and picking up a few more. I have to go to the VA hospital tomorrow, so I'll check out the BORG on Irvington and I-19.

The BORG on Irvington and I-19 was out of fogger nozzles this afternoon. Worth checking anyway. They may have re-stocked overnight. I didn't have time to ask when they were going to get more in. You never know.

The portable patio mister system works great and took all of 10 minutes to put up. The chickens are going to like it. I put it in the hottest run. It worked better than the "professional" quality system I had installed in another run a few years ago. (That one never did work right and I eventually pulled it out.) I think I'll pick up a couple more portable systems for the other pens. Even though the portable systems are kind of flimsy they ought to last through this coming heat wave, and maybe for one or two more if I take them down in between. Then I can figure out a more permanent solution. Which I hopefully won't need until next year.

 

[cyborg]

So, I went back to the BORG on Costco Dr. Cleaned 'em out yesterday, but by browsing the other nearby boxes, I scored 2 more bags of the .8 gph foggers!