Misting fan

[sunflour]

You know you are a chicken lover when you order an outdoor misting fan just for your chickens!

Yes, I just ordered an outdoor fan which attaches to the garden hose to keep my pets cooler. And I know they will love it!!!

It will be here in 2 days.

I'm in Georgia and the heat indexes are quite high, today my pet girls showed some minor signs of heat stress, hooked up a small fan, and decided to order a larger outdoor one that hooks up to the hose to keep them cooler. Know they will appreciate it.!

How many chickens get their own fans??

 

[N F C]

Sounds like a good idea, let us know how it works out for your girls.

It was terribly hot here in north FL too. Of course, it rained late afternoon so we will have even more humidity tomorrow, YEAH! So looking forward to fall.

 

[txredchick]

My husband installed a PVC misting system within the girls run. Was 101 today & I catch our hens lined up in front of their misters during the day for a cool off. They love it !

 

[sunflour]

Sounds like a good idea, let us know how it works out for your girls.

It was terribly hot here in north FL too. Of course, it rained late afternoon so we will have even more humidity tomorrow, YEAH! So looking forward to fall.

I'll let y'all know how it goes. Ditto the can't wait til Fall!

 

[sunflour]

My husband installed a PVC misting system within the girls run. Was 101 today & I catch our hens lined up in front of their misters during the day for a cool off. They love it !

Sure hope my gals appreciate their mister, can't wait til it arrives.

 

[aart]

If your climate is humid, a mister might not offer the relief it does in a low humidity climate....tho moving air is always good.

A shallow pan of ice water for them to wade in and/or dampening the ground in a shaded area can help too.

Best of Luck...let us know how it works out!

 

[sunflour]

If your climate is humid, a mister might not offer the relief it does in a low humidity climate....tho moving air is always good.

A shallow pan of ice water for them to wade in and/or dampening the ground in a shaded area can help too.

Best of Luck...let us know how it works out!

Thanks for info about mister not a good idea and glad I posted my plan and got your advice. It made me look further into heat relief ideas!

Fan arrived this am, had to put it together but have it in operation ---Without Misting---.
The girls were tolerating a small fan the past 2 days, but BOY did they fuss about the new one. Took only 10-15 minutes and they have accepted it.

Now to try to introduce other cooling ideas. They are so CHICKEN I have to add new things slowly.

I have scrambled egg popcycles in the freezer and melons in the frig for pm treats.
Want to add a pan of ice water later today -
Getting plastic bottles to freeze water and place in front of the fan.

Again, thank you for your post. It made me expand my research, and found a lot of great ideas. One thing I would not have thought about was the ice water pan to cool their feet and i their wattles. And certainly had not realized that misting could cause problems.

 

[aart]

Quote: I don't know that it would cause problems, just might not be the relief that it would in a drier climate where the evaporative cooling effect would function.
Frozen bottles in front of fan would make cooler feeling air without adding any humidity, the condensation that will form on the frozen bottles is humidity already present in the air.

 

[aldarita]

I live in South Texas and it is very humid here. Last year, we installed misters in our chicken run (48 feet long x 12 feet wide). The misters system had a pump that was pumping 240 PSI, which is what they call medium pressure misters. I did not like this system because there was a lot of water in the run ,it made everything wet so I was afraid all that moisture was going to get the chickens sick by not drying fast enough and getting bacteria build up. This year we got a high pressure system and it made a whole lot of difference. Yes, it is true that high humidity makes the misters inefficient, so I don't turn them on when the humidity is over 60%. Usually around 1PM the humidity gets below 60 and the lower it gets, the better the misters work. The mist is so fine, it looks like fog and it evaporates before it gets to the ground so the sand in the run doesn't even get damp like it did with the previous system. So far I am very glad we installed them. It has been 100F for several days in a roll (without the heat index). I also have fans all over the place that I turn on when the misters are off. I know the fans are just moving hot air around but it has to give the chickens some relief because they hang around them
My conclusion is that as far as the misters don't make the environment too moist or wet, you should have them and turn them on when the humidity is bellow 60.
At first my girls freaked out when I turn them on ,but after 2 or 3 days they were fine with them. Now they stayed in the run in the hottest part of the day and go out when the sun starts to set.

I cannot wait for summer to be over, it is always so hard on my chickens.
I hope my experience helps you with your decision of using your misting fan.

 

[aart]

I live in South Texas and it is very humid here. Last year, we installed misters in our chicken run (48 feet long x 12 feet wide). The misters system had a pump that was pumping 240 PSI, which is what they call medium pressure misters. I did not like this system because there was a lot of water in the run ,it made everything wet so I was afraid all that moisture was going to get the chickens sick by not drying fast enough and getting bacteria build up. This year we got a high pressure system and it made a whole lot of difference. Yes, it is true that high humidity makes the misters inefficient, so I don't turn them on when the humidity is over 60%. Usually around 1PM the humidity gets below 60 and the lower it gets, the better the misters work. The mist is so fine, it looks like fog and it evaporates before it gets to the ground so the sand in the run doesn't even get damp like it did with the previous system. So far I am very glad we installed them. It has been 100F for several days in a roll (without the heat index). I also have fans all over the place that I turn on when the misters are off. I know the fans are just moving hot air around but it has to give the chickens some relief because they hang around them
My conclusion is that as far as the misters don't make the environment too moist or wet, you should have them and turn them on when the humidity is bellow 60.
At first my girls freaked out when I turn them on ,but after 2 or 3 days they were fine with them. Now they stayed in the run in the hottest part of the day and go out when the sun starts to set.

I cannot wait for summer to be over, it is always so hard on my chickens.
I hope my experience helps you with your decision of using your misting fan.

Thanks for sharing your experience. So the higher pressure system makes for a finer mist? I wonder if just different spray heads would do the trick?

In my old life when I worked in an engineering department, we were working with spray heads and there are all different kinds that have specs on volumes of fluid, pressures, spray patterns, etc.