Misting fan

[sunflour]

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 the input. The new fan without mist does just blow hot air and gallon jug of ice in front made no real difference. Will cheek humidity levels and see if the mister function will work.

I placed a bird bath type dish in the run and added a ice & water . Baited it with treats - basil, lettuce, and later dried worms. By the evening they all were "fishing" for treats and with each bob drank the cool water. By evening with only ice and water in the dish, they hung out at the dish - drinking and enjoying the breeze from the fan. And did not show open mouth, wings out!! BUT it is so hot here that ice melts so fast. I have some blocks of ice ready for today - they should last longer than ice cubes.

I have frozen treats, cool watermelon ready for today. The 5 of 6 who enjoyed the watermelon yesterday faired better than the one who doesn't like watermelon!

Their coop/run is partly under tree canopy, but the morning to noon sun comes in the entire front 1/2 of the structure - today I plan to get a coolaroo outdoor shade to cover the front side to block morning sun til sun is high enough for the roof to shade the area.


We are used to hot summers in Georgia, but did not have to deal with this last year - it rained or was cloudy with below average temps - bad for gardens but good for for young pullets. But we're back to rare rains and very hot days without our usual summer breezes. I'm usually a planner, but this heat wave caught me off guard.

 

[aart]

Thanks for the input. The new fan without mist does just blow hot air and gallon jug of ice in front made no real difference. Will cheek humidity levels and see if the mister function will work.

I placed a bird bath type dish in the run and added a ice & water . Baited it with treats - basil, lettuce, and later dried worms. By the evening they all were "fishing" for treats and with each bob drank the cool water. By evening with only ice and water in the dish, they hung out at the dish - drinking and enjoying the breeze from the fan. And did not show open mouth, wings out!! BUT it is so hot here that ice melts so fast. I have some blocks of ice ready for today - they should last longer than ice cubes.

I have frozen treats, cool watermelon ready for today. The 5 of 6 who enjoyed the watermelon yesterday faired better than the one who doesn't like watermelon!

Their coop/run is partly under tree canopy, but the morning to noon sun comes in the entire front 1/2 of the structure - today I plan to get a coolaroo outdoor shade to cover the front side to block morning sun til sun is high enough for the roof to shade the area.


We are used to hot summers in Georgia, but did not have to deal with this last year - it rained or was cloudy with below average temps - bad for gardens but good for for young pullets. But we're back to rare rains and very hot days without our usual summer breezes. I'm usually a planner, but this heat wave caught me off guard.

That's a good sign!!

I use the coolaroo fabric too.... over one end of the run and up over the window on the west side of the coop that gets blasted by sun in the PM, it definitely helps.



Don't mean to hone in on your thread sunflour but thought I'd share my experience also. Tho my temps are nothing like Georgia or Texas, I believe it can be relative to what we(us and the chooks) are used to and have acclimated to by experience.

The humidity felt brutal here yesterday, comparatively speaking as it's been a much cooler and drier summer here than usual, only about 86 degrees, and cloudy thank goodness, but with 85% humidity and no breeze. Most the chooks were panting and few of the juniors(6mo) were panting hard and fast. Now the panting I'm seeing may also be influenced by the fact that I integrated the young and old flock about 5 days ago, it's going pretty well but still stressful and panting can be caused by stress as well as heat, so I opened up the junior run(1 coop, 2 separate runs) and that seemed to calm the juniors, plus it's deeper shade.

I set up a box fan in the coop and they were scared to death if it. I put a couple frozen bottles right in front of it and a thermometer/hygrometer about 8" in front of it...it dropped the temp down about 10 degrees and only raised the humidity 1% over a couple hours. I'm sure the temp change didn't range far in distance but it was all I could do to offer some relief other than ice water pans and I did dampen the ground in spots out in the run but no one settled into them. By the end of the day, the temps were cooling and they were getting used to the fan and the panting had decreased.

We have another few very hot days forecast so we will see how it goes. It's scary when they are panting so fast and hard, and this is my first really hot weather with them, but I guess as long as they keep moving and don't get lethargic they're OK.

 

[sunflour]

Don't mean to hone in on your thread sunflour but thought I'd share my experience also.

Thank you for "honing in", all your posts have been quite helpful.

Before getting my 6 girls last year, I had never regularly followed or participated in any forum. BYC is the most helpful, friendly and informative site I have seen. Truly, I find it surprising that those of you with lots of experience seem so patient with us new Mother Hens!

Back to heat issue: I have had only 1 get heat stressed a few weeks ago when ambient temps were only in the 80's and DH did a great job cooling her. This past week, all show open mouth and wings out, but have they go on with their daily routines and don't act stressed. I'm just trying to make sure we have no serious issues. Plan to get the shade today and have it hung by pm.

 

[aldarita]

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.

You are absolutely correct. It is the combination of the high pressure and the size of the orifices in the misters. They ones we got are 0.006 and are specially design for humid areas, drier areas like Arizona use larger orifices.

 

[aldarita]

I got an in/out door thermometer that also reads humidity. I placed it in the run and that is how I determine when to turn the misters on. Also very seldom we are getting rain in our area, it is so helpful when there is a storm even if it only lasts few minutes, it brings the temperature down about 10 degrees for few hours.
I must confess that we put an AC in the coops, we found a LG A/C 5000 BTUs in Home Depot for $119.00 and since our coops are isolated, it is working fine. I keep the temp inside around 80F but I notice that during the hottest part of the day it goes up to 85F while it is 100F outside. I just could not stand seeing the hens and pullets in the nesting boxes panting real hard while the thermometer reading is 95F inside the coop. I have fans and big windows in the coops for ventilation but still the temps were very high. The A/C also helps at night because all the radiant heat that comes from the roof being exposed to the sun for most of the day. We don't have big trees where we built our coops but have a very nice breeze most of the time.

I also give my girls cold cantaloupe and watermelon, they love both and have a big tray with water where 2 of them (so far) jump in to wet their feet (I wish more of them would follow suit but it looks like not all of them like the feeling of wet feet). My dirt boxes are deep and I keep moving the dirt to bring the coolness from the bottom up. Boy summers are so very busy at my chicken yard but I love my girls and I try to give them the best life I can possibly give them so they are happy and give us delicious eggs.

 

[sunflour]

I got an in/out door thermometer that also reads humidity. I placed it in the run and that is how I determine when to turn the misters on. Also very seldom we are getting rain in our area, it is so helpful when there is a storm even if it only lasts few minutes, it brings the temperature down about 10 degrees for few hours.
I must confess that we put an AC in the coops, we found a LG A/C 5000 BTUs in Home Depot for $119.00 and since our coops are isolated, it is working fine. I keep the temp inside around 80F but I notice that during the hottest part of the day it goes up to 85F while it is 100F outside. I just could not stand seeing the hens and pullets in the nesting boxes panting real hard while the thermometer reading is 95F inside the coop. I have fans and big windows in the coops for ventilation but still the temps were very high. The A/C also helps at night because all the radiant heat that comes from the roof being exposed to the sun for most of the day. We don't have big trees where we built our coops but have a very nice breeze most of the time.

I also give my girls cold cantaloupe and watermelon, they love both and have a big tray with water where 2 of them (so far) jump in to wet their feet (I wish more of them would follow suit but it looks like not all of them like the feeling of wet feet). My dirt boxes are deep and I keep moving the dirt to bring the coolness from the bottom up. Boy summers are so very busy at my chicken yard but I love my girls and I try to give them the best life I can possibly give them so they are happy and give us delicious eggs.

You know you love chickens when you buy A/C for the coop!

I know your girls love it!

I added a "pot sitter = bird bath top" to my run yesterday to offer iced water.. All keep exploring and drinking in hopes of new hidden floating treats. All standing around and exploring, and seem to be hoping something exciting will appear. And drink!!! One BO likes to stand in it. Today I washed it out and refilled with iced treats and cold water. She stepped right in and whoops…slid across. Guess she stepped on a piece of ice. She waited for ice to melt and stepped in again.

We had a pleasant, unexpected and unpredicted break from our heat in GA today…Cloudy on and off today and breezes and only a high less than 90 degrees!! Didn't need to try the mister yet, air from new fan is much cooler. Doubt this will hold out, Fall is a long way away.

I tried frozen treats - cooked and froze scrambled eggs and then froze Hen treats seeds + dried mealy worms in muffin pans. This really confused the group. I think the frozen treats were too hard to manage til they started melting. 4 of 6 love the watermelon, but "hold out" for lettuce, mealy worms or hoping for something better?

 

[sunflour]

UPDATE: Added a Coolaroo sunshade to the sunny side of coop and it is fabulous. Between the shade and the fan - without even needing mist - no one has shown any signs of heat stress. Not a single pant or wing sign. And the interior rooms are also significantly cooler all day. We lower it in the am and raise after sun is off the front of coop. Here's pic of coop with shade screen - fan is outside to the right of coop. The only negative is that I cannot watch what they are doing from my windows, but can check on them with 3 monitor cameras and 1 IP camera!

 

[N F C]

Looks like a really nice coop! You should think about entering the Coop Page Contest just for the fun of it. Here's the link if you want to read about it:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...mmer-2014-win-a-20-byc-store-gift-certificate

 

[sunflour]

Looks like a really nice coop! You should think about entering the Coop Page Contest just for the fun of it. Here's the link if you want to read about it:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...mmer-2014-win-a-20-byc-store-gift-certificate

Thanks for the compliment. But this was just a copy of the Wichita Cabin Coop we built 2013 and enlarged this year. Wouldn't feel right about entering a contest with plans shared to the group by someone else.

 

[aldarita]

I am glad to see that your girls are doing great with the shade. It looks like your coop has a tree shade on top so that is great. These last days we have had a break in the temp where we are so it has gotten up to 90. I might say it is some sort of relief from the 100 temp we have had. My girls are still panting but only on the hottest time of the day. One more month and we will get in the 80s Can't wait for that to happen. Keep your mist fan as an option for when it gets over 100 which is when we really should worry about heat stroke.