Bird Bath

[georgiaboy]

Greetings all. Been curious. Do chickens enjoy a bird-bath? I live in South Georgia and it gets pretty hot and sometimes very humid here. I add ice to their water every day to help keep it cool for them and give them something curious to deal with. They have plenty of shade, but I worry they still may get over heated. I noticed on a couple of the very hot days here, egg production dropped like a rock.

I was thinking of a small hard plastic kiddie pool, filling it only about 6 inches deep. The flock is full grown, so I would not think any would drown themselves in that shallow of a pool. I realize that I would have to empty the pool every couple of days just to keep the skeeters from setting up shop and help the water to stay cool (not that it would stay cool for too long with the heat).

Just a note: was not sure where to post this, but I figured it had to do with watering so to speak.

If there is a better forum for this post, please let me know where to move it to. Thanks all!!

 

[kla37]

Mine only like water that is really warm with bubbles, and then a nice blow dry! I have heard of other people's chickens walking in shallow water, but I don't know if they all do it. Mine roll in dirt in the shade when they're hot.

 

[KenK]

It has been miserably hot this past week or so and I love hot weather. Poor chickens are laying in the shade and panting.

 

[GiddyMoon]

About twice a day I take a glass baking dish filled with ice, sprinkled with frozen veggies and place it in their pen. They go crazy for the frozen veggies, they drink the water, they stand in it, fling it, play in it..some do, some don't. I need to get in the habit of filling more pans with ice, sprinkling veggies, then top off with water...the ice keeps the veggies on top..then refreezing..this helps a lot with keeping them cooled down.

If you do a search, many people use mister systems or tubs of water with ice in it for their babes during the summer

 

[georgiaboy]

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Wow, your ladies are really pampered! Mine have been making shallow bowls in the dirt to stay cool too.


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I know what you mean, it's not even summer yet!!


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I like this idea. Will have to try it.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

Never having seen chickens bathing themselves or frolicing in water as so many on this forum have seemed to witness I have a request.
Please take a quick video with your cell phone or digital camera and post it on YouTube or somewhere so that those of us who have been around millions of chickens in our lives can go to the grave having seen it all.

 

[GiddyMoon]

I completely do not get that some people have chickens who do not like water. I come from a town in CA that has hundreds of feral free range chickens..and it was the norm that they would bath, play, drink in the rain. W e watched it many times.

 

[jmagill]

I have seen chickens walk through puddles and dip their heads in water and they are fine in the rain. I however have never seen them bath in water. They will however dig a hole in the dirt, spread themselves out and cool themselves that way.

 

[GiddyMoon]

I think people are misunderstanding the word "bathe" I have seen the chickens flick water on their backs, or let the water get on them from the rain and then preen their feathers. Just as they do in dirt, which is how they bathe. They don't bathe differently in the water than they do in the dirt.

 

[jmagill]

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I think they do. When they are dust bathing they are purposely getting the dust down to their skin and throughout their down to kill off bugs and mites. They do not do that with water.