Dunking chicken in cool water?

[centrarchid]

Try this. Hold a chicken that is hot being sure to touch its feet. Note how warm they feel. Take bird inside with air conditioner and let it cool down for 30 minutes or so. Feel it's feet again. You should notice something.


Most of advantages of water can be realized by allowing bird to wet its feet and shanks then have moisture evaporate. The dunking business will be stressfull and cause bird to either produce even more heat or if water too cool as noted, drop in temperature too rapidly, either not desired. The in between hard to hit.

Having birds stand on cool ground out of sun with breeze should prove adequate, especially if humidity low.

 

[aggie9296]

My hens will not voluntarily go in to water, in a pan or from sprinkler. The will get in wet dirt, though.

I had a hen that looked like she was getting heat exhaustion when the heat index was 110. I took her into the pool with me and cooled her off. She has been fine since. Of course the pool was 95 degrees at the time, so it was not a shock. That might kill them.

 

[pinkwindsong]

Quote:

I got a big kick out of the visual of them..

 

[pinkwindsong]

Quote:
LOL.. Then I would have 8 happy house chickens.

I'll take the 70 all year round.

I've only brought them in once before when it was over 100 actual temp. It's gotten warmer this afternoon and the heat index will be around 106-108. My daughters would be heartbroken if we lost their feather footed chickens due to heat exhaustion/stroke. I'm only worried about the Cochin and brahma, I brought them all in because I didn't want to split up the flock and mess with the pecking order. Pretty soon it will be cold and temps will get down to -22 and we will have 6-7 months of cold weather, so I'm not really concerned with bringing the chicks in for a day or two.

I could wet down their run and keep running water in there. I'll try that tomorrow. We don't have a plastic tub/bin for outside yet. I thought I could get them wet in the house one at a time.

have you gotten and tried a mister.. they are cheep enough at lowes or home depot. I found them at k-mart even in the yard and garden area.. I have a chicken lady just up the road and she has a mister for her girls and they love it.. it does drop the temp int he shade for them even with our humidity.. worth a look see.

)O(
Pink

 

[they'reHISchickens]

We lost a few the first heat wave of the summer. They just keeled over despite shade and plenty of water. Hubby was out refreshing their water when he noticed another one looking very unsteady with a pale comb. He didn't think, he just grabbed it and dunked it in the bucket to try to cool it down. He set it back down, the bird shook herself off and went on her way. I think a big problem was the sudden onset of high heat. There was no conditioning to it. He has noticed that some hens use the pans of water we have in various shady places just to cool off their feet.
We now have a mister ready for the next heat wave. They weren't too fond of being sprayed with a light hose spray.
I would watch their combs. The ones that actually keeled over had their combs go light pink right before.

 

[Nicole01]

Quote:
LOL.. Then I would have 8 happy house chickens.

I'll take the 70 all year round.

I've only brought them in once before when it was over 100 actual temp. It's gotten warmer this afternoon and the heat index will be around 106-108. My daughters would be heartbroken if we lost their feather footed chickens due to heat exhaustion/stroke. I'm only worried about the Cochin and brahma, I brought them all in because I didn't want to split up the flock and mess with the pecking order. Pretty soon it will be cold and temps will get down to -22 and we will have 6-7 months of cold weather, so I'm not really concerned with bringing the chicks in for a day or two.

I could wet down their run and keep running water in there. I'll try that tomorrow. We don't have a plastic tub/bin for outside yet. I thought I could get them wet in the house one at a time.

have you gotten and tried a mister.. they are cheep enough at lowes or home depot. I found them at k-mart even in the yard and garden area.. I have a chicken lady just up the road and she has a mister for her girls and they love it.. it does drop the temp int he shade for them even with our humidity.. worth a look see.

)O(
Pink

Yes, we have a mister. It's an attachment you attach to the hose. It really doesn't do much. Maybe I need a better/longer one.

 

[Nicole01]

they'reHISchickens :

We lost a few the first heat wave of the summer. They just keeled over despite shade and plenty of water. Hubby was out refreshing their water when he noticed another one looking very unsteady with a pale comb. He didn't think, he just grabbed it and dunked it in the bucket to try to cool it down. He set it back down, the bird shook herself off and went on her way. I think a big problem was the sudden onset of high heat. There was no conditioning to it. He has noticed that some hens use the pans of water we have in various shady places just to cool off their feet.
We now have a mister ready for the next heat wave. They weren't too fond of being sprayed with a light hose spray.
I would watch their combs. The ones that actually keeled over had their combs go light pink right before.

I'm so sorry you lost a few. This is what I'm afraid of. It's been a very cool summer here and the heat strikes. Their coop was still at 90 at 4am and 80 outside. I did keep them inside overnight. We let them free range last night for a bit before their bed time in the backyard. I will keep an eye on their combs. Thank you for the tip.

. It wouldn't be so bad if the dewpoint wasn't so high. The dewpoint is making it very muggy and tropical like outside. Bleh!​

 

[Black Cochin Bantams]

I agree that a mister is a good idea and can do no harm. For birds that are caged I have filled empty pop bottles with water and frozen them. Set one in the cage and they will get close to it if they want to cool down. Have used that at both the county and Iowa State fair and not lost a bird.

 

[roostersandhens]

i would put a tub of water outside so they have a choice! i did that once though they had no interest!

 

[Kjordanov]

Freeze water bottles and put them in the pen.