Effective Chicken Cooling

[Chicken.Lytle]

My chickens get most of their heat protection from passive cooling (shade cloth, tarp, elevated coop). I am trying to keep them hydrated internally and externally.

They really hate the hose, even though I use the finest mist I can manage. I am interested in using a mister, but I have some concerns. Will it use a lot of water? Will the water heat up in the hose? Will the chickens use it to cool down or will they run and hide?

Somebody suggested putting bottles of frozen water in the run. How effective is that?

Update: Tried a mister. Success!

 

[Dominique11]

Well my chickens love staying out in the rain and so on hot days I turn the sprinkler on and let them run into it.

 

[MamiPollo]

I do use the bottles of frozen water and they seem to like them. They hang out under the bushes in the afternoon when it gets the hottest, and I just stick one of the ice bottles in there with them. One of them likes to "lick" the condensation off the outside of the bottle and I have one who will sit right up against the thing.

I also freeze water bottles and put them in a small bucket of water under the bush with them, to make it easier to get a cool drink.

 

[Tambo26]

I've been using frozen jugs of water in the coop. Didnt really make that much of a difference in the temperature in the coop until I set a fan up behind them. The first night I did that, the coop ended up being 9 degrees cooler than my own house!

 

[kichohana]

I got one of these:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...Flow=3&catalogId=10053&langId=-1&ddkey=Search

I put it in their covered run and it did quite a bit as far as cooling down the temp. I'm not sure the water flow rate though. I have it on a timer and ran it for an hour on, hour off. Worth it for me whatever the cost - I lost one of my girls to the excessive heat on Friday.

 

[JayniPalmer]

I have a mister ( the snake looking type) inside the run part of my coop with a box fan on the outside blowing the mist on my chicks. The water in the hose does get very hot but it doesn't feel hot due to the fan blowing it. My chicks seem to really like it and I also put the gallon jug of frozen water in a large galvanized pan of water about 4" deep. They love to stand in them (I have 2 pans) and just stand around them. I also an oscillating fan inside the coop to help keep the air flowing. So far they seem to do well. It's been 100-109 here in Stillwater, OK and my girls and one boy seem to be tolerating it well. There shouldn't be much water usage either due to you only have to turn your hose on 1/2 way if that. Hope this helps.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

I bought a couple misters and set them in the runs. The misters work, but the chickens have mixed feelings about getting droplets of water on their delicate bodies.