Dunking Chickens in water to cool them off?

[maf2008]

I have an chicken automatic water fountian and cooloing watering system! This is so easy and I will never have to lug another hose to the coop and clean out the nasty chicken waters with alge! Please try this soon!

You will only need 5 things......

1) a garden hose (you maybe have one)
2) a timer (get at the garden center)
3) a "bubbler waterer sprinkler" (round ring kind by the water hoses)
4) a cinder or concrete block (lots of styles and sizes)
5) a hot water pan (this is a shallow round pan that fits under your hot water heater and you can get in metal or plastic. Its 2 inches deep and 3 feet in circumfrence.

Put the soaker/bubbler on top of the cinder/concrete block screw in the hose. (you may want to add wire to keep it from falling off) Place the hot water pan under the bottom and turn on the hose.

Its that easy. My chickens are the coolest chicks in town!
I let the pan overflow for a few minutes so the chickens can cool thier feet. I am adding some old bath tiles around the base so they will be even cooler on their feet
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[mom2chicksandpups]

We have been running a fan near our chicken pens. It does seem to help and they tend to gather near the fans during the hottest part of the day. We turn them off at night when it's not so hot.

I gave mine some cool watermelon out of the fridge today. I was actually worried they would not eat it because it was cold, but they jumped right on it!

 

[nhnanna]

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Do you have a picture of this? thanks

 

[NicInNC]

The area is completely shaded except for one corner. We're not doing anymore baths.

 

[Debbienmousey]

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Yeah, our chickens like to "wade" in water too. We also have an old kiddie pool in their run, although I've never seen them in it. (We can't fill it all the way, we can only fill it about 1/2 in. because we have 3 week old chicks running around and our friends have had chicks get in the pool and drown. We do not want this for our babies)

But, our hose has a leak and we have an area in the yard where the water pools. The hens often step in this pool and scratch around in it. I think it feels nice to their feet.

 

[patvetzal]

We live in the country on a lake surrounded by bush. We have two RIRs and one leghorn that we decided to let free range this summer. When we had them confined to their pen we often found them huddled under it when it rained. Now the RIRs head for the garden, driveway, lawn etc, anywhere that they might find some dew worms exposed. Only in a heavy downpour do they seek shelter, then they moan and grump about the rain until it lets up a bit. If we walk accross the yard to look for them it only takes a minute or so for them to find us.

 

[gocrow77]

Mine free range. I have a kiddie pool and a few other water sources available to them at all times. I have been known to sit my silkies in it if it is lukewarm ( not when it is ice cold right from the well, but after it has warmed up just a bit _ I think the shock of being so hot then dunked in very cold water would hurt them )and they don't pant as badly afterwards. I also use the hose to soak their favorite hangouts, shady areas, and dust baths. It all helps. I place the silkies in the wading pool if it is really hot because they seem to have the hardest time with the heat. I also soak down the top of my coop with water a few times a day when it's super hot. They need some kind of relief and everyone here has great tips.

 

[Felicitations]

I'm wondering if any of you use solar powered fans? Do they exist? Where can I get one? My Jersey Giant likes to stand in a bowl of water but the others like to cool off by digging deeply into shaded, moist soil. We've had 107F days this week so the poor things wander around with their beaks open.

 

[ging3rhoffman]

I take a couple of plastic milk jugs filled with water and then frozen out to the chicken run and they will lay beside them to cool off. I noticed a post on here that said that their horses got hotter after they hosed them down. My horses have never gotten hotter..you could see the relief...they will stand for me while i hose them down. Cold water cant heat anything up. Try it again, they will love you for it.

 

[siroiszoo]

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My horses love it too, but I use the sweat scrapper on them after to get the excess water off or put them in front of a fan or both. Not to mention that just getting the sweat salts off of them makes them feel 100% better.

What vets have explained to me, especially in an area where the humidity is high and water doesn't evaporate easily, is after the initial cooling effect the horses body temperture heats the water on their body and actually causes them to be warmer instead of cooler. I live where the humidity averages 67% or higher daily.

This is a partial quote from an article from The Horse magazine. It is referring to cooling a horse down in a humid environment after a workout:

In warm weather, copiously bathe his head, neck, and legs with cool water. Large blood vessels in these locations flush heat to the skin surface, and rapid evaporative cooling is achieved by continual sponging of these areas. Apply cool water and as it heats up, scrape it off of major muscle groups, such as over the loin and hindquarters. Draping wet towels over the head and neck might be counter-productive to cooling as the towels serve to insulate the horse rather than allowing heat to escape, particularly if the water on them remains warm.

So to me it would seem that the principle would be the same for a chicken, dog, etc. But, that's just my experience from my part of the world. It seems plenty of people with silkies do very well with soaking their birds. Just an opinion, though.

I did notice that my birds loved standing in the cool running water that was coming from a trough I over flowed last night. Made me feel bad when I saw what pleasure they got from it. Since they don't like the wading pool I put out or the frozen jugs of water, I'll have to flood my troughs more often.