misting system to cool up to 30degrees lower

[BoltonChicken]

From: Patandchickens:

Except, here's the thing, every summer a number of BYCers DO lose chickens because of the heat.

Historically, local chickens were descended from (obviously) the SURVIVORS... breeds/lines that did not deal well with the local climate did not stick around for your Mom and others to be acquainted with. Ditto with any particularly heat-sensitive wild birds... if they choose to locate themselves in a climate they can't survive, well, there is no next generation to repeat the mistake.

Now however people buy chickens according to purty catalog pics and have them shipped all over the country, there ARE no locally-adapted populations, and therefore yes, people actually DO have chickens die of heat-stroke.

Plus which, in the old days most chickens were relatively free-range and therefore had a greater ability to find (or dig themselves) a nice cool spot on a bad-hot day, as compared to some chickens in some peoples' coops today.

So I don't think it's unreasonable to try to deal with it as best you can.

Although of course ALSO selecting suitable breeds helps too.

Absolutely right of course! My grandmother raised Dominikers (as she called them) in the late 1800's and that is one tuff old bird. (The chicken,not my grandmother, but that was true of her too!)
I guess basically, what will kill a human will also kill a chicken. The "suitable breed" statement is right on.

From: Pinkwindsong

ya know that is sooo true .. we as these later generations were raised differently .. maybe it was the 80;s and the gen x. or maybe it was even further back to the boomers .. that decided we need convienice and comfort and we then pass this on to our children ( i know mine are much more spoiled than I was ) and our animals.. my great dane has his own full size bed.. for his comfort.. husband thinks Im crazy .. but I know it helps him and his bones and older age is not as hard on him.. its that comfort zone.. got to have it got to give it.. In my mind I know your grandma and mom are right.. its a chicken... but my heart says ooohhhh he's panting.. he's hot... she must be miserable cause I am...

Now THATS what I was getting at! You mothering-type women are to blame for all of this!

 

[Fireman Farmer]

I am from the hot and humid east coast also. There are alot of commerical chickens grown in my area. Most of those houses these days are built for tunnel ventilation. These are usally 200 to 300 feet long and have no windows and are sealed up pretty tight. There are large fans on each end of the houses, one end sucks in and the other sucks out. The end that sucks air in has a water fogging system in it. I have been in a few of these chicken houses and there is a definate tempture drop from the outside. The large fans create alot of air flow and you can feel the breeze when you open the door. You can see the mist in the air of these houses. Water absorbs heat, and the fans on the other end of the house suck it out. One of the farms near me has tunnel houses and the conventional type houses " the ones with windows" and the farmer tells me that the newer tunnel houses dont have half the problems with dead loss that the conventional houses do. Anybody that has been in one of these houses call testify that there is hardly room for the chickens to move let alone get somewhere cool.

I have a similar set up in me coop but on alot smaller scale and it works. I can drop the temp abound 10-15 degrees. The trick is getting the right amount of air flow to keep the floor from getting damp. It works for me

I agree with picking the breeds that are suited for the climate that you live in. It is easier on the chickens and easier on the owners wallet not having to deal with losing your flock

 

[mamonson]

i'm in VA and my hens are also panting and have dropped wings. i've tarped their run for shade and am thinking about running a fan. will they really use a baby pool or similar container when filled with a few inches of water? i might take the bottom half of a plastic dog crate and go for the wet sand approach as well. looking forward to others replies.

 

[opalwednesday]

I installed a misting system in my barn a few days ago. since the barn is so worn down, the girls' coop is inside. so now we have a mister line about seven feet above the ground running down the middle of the open space outside of the coop. only one of my eight hens enjoys this. the other seven suffer out the heat inside of the coop, hiding from the evil misters.

would it be scarring to lock the girls out of the coop and force them to enjoy their air conditioning? It's breaking the hundreds here and I feel really bad they they lock themselves up in the sweatlodge while the misters are on.

and on another note, the mist from two hours of the system running seems to dry up just fine by night. At four-thirty when they shut off, the ground is nice and damp/cool, which the girls love; Then it dries out and we start fresh the next day. I'm glad that we enjoy near zero percent humidity in the desert.

 

[samouw]

Although our chicken run is covered with a shade cloth, it has still been very hot and humid here in SC. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a mister that was sold by the cash registers in the garden center at Home Depot. At first, the chickens would all head inside when the mister was hooked up in the run, but now they love it! They dig out little shallow "dust baths" in the cool damp sand and run around flapping their sings under the mister spray.
I will get some pics tomorrow. It is really a sight to see.

 

[opalwednesday]

samouw, that is awesome news, thank you.

 

[cfdf]

I live in Central Texas where it is hot and humid most of the time. We are in a drought and the heat is awful. We missed Spring and went straight into summer with record breaking heat. I bought an Ocean Breeze mister and hooked it up about 6 1/2' high in my run. I don't turn it on until the temps get above 95 which is almost everyday. I have sun shade that covers my run and 2 sides. When I turn the mister on it cools the temps about 15+-. I don't turn them on full blast but it still gets the run wet. The chickens (I have all kinds from silkies to turkens) and ducks love it. Some of the mist hits the sun shade and instead of being a mist it causes a drip. I have seen the chickens trying to catch the drip to drink. They play in the puddles and scratch in the damp dirt. I have a 400 ft run so there is plenty of room for them to get out of the mist if they choose to do so. I also have 3 kiddie pools placed around. The ducks swim in 2 of them and the chickens wade in the other one. I also have a shallow tub out for them to wade in. I put ice out, feed frozen peas, spray the ducks with the water hose etc etc etc. The very best thing I did for my birds was install a water cooler/swamp cooler in their coop. It is 20+ degrees cooler inside than outside. My chickens and ducks love it. In the heat of the day they are all in the coop cooling off....so much so that I haven't even been turning on the mister. I still see the chickens and ducks go outside to get drinks and scratch around but for the most part they are in the coop. I shut the doors, windows and let her blow the cool air.(I have open vents and pop doors in the coop for the air to escape) It's quite amazing how good it works even in our humidity. Today, in the heat of the day, my daughter and I were in the coop cleaning it out. We were out there for at least 2 hours. We kept the door shut while we worked and I swear it was just as cool in there as it is in my house with the AC on. Now for the down side....since my chickens and ducks stay in there so much during the afternoon, there is a lot of poop. I find myself cleaning it more often than I did in the winter months. Last winter I used the deep litter method and it worked well. With the doors and windows shut I don't want to let the ammonia build up so I do more cleaning but I will say it is well worth it. At night I just put the water cooler on "fan only" and it keeps the coop cool...at least for now. I can't say enough good things about it. I bought mine real cheap at a garage sale. I have seen them on Craigs list as well. Just recently I saw where Atwoods has a portable water cooler/evaporative cooler/swamp cooler for around $150. If you can afford one, it would be a good investment. Now to answer the orginal question about the mister....YES... it does help. If I didn't have the cooler I would be using mine more than I am. The birds love it....just keep the water turned low on it so that it doesn't have a real heavy mist and to keep from blowing the end off the tubing. If you have a small run, last year I bought a mister for a couple of bucks at Lowes. It wasn't in the garden section. I think it was where you find tubing and such. It hooks on to your water hose and only has 1 nozzle. It is bendable and can be bent to hook on your fence run or wherever. Just be careful to NOT turn your water up too high or it will blow off your hose and bust. The snake looking misters that you find in the garden sections work good too. They have 2 nozzels on them and you can put them on the ground in your run pointed to any direction you want. They put out a good bit of water and tend to make puddles but my birds liked the puddles.