Off grid A/C for the chickens?

[Stephine]

I am certain there is a big difference between chickens that can free range and have access to shade under trees and bushes and can dig holes to lie in, or find the cool concrete of a barn or anything like that, and those that are confined to their coop and run. Also between 110 degree heat and 95. Also between chickens that have had a chance to acclimate and those that haven't because the weather changed quickly. Those that have a chance to cool down each night and those that have to put up with hot days and nights.
Of course chickens can die from heat stress. If yours have no trouble with it, count yourself - and your chickens - lucky. For those whose chickens are struggling, we need to find solutions...

 

[3riverschick]

Off the Grid ..
do you have access to a misting system ?I know you got water. is it in a position where you can make a misting system to spray a fine mist over the coop? they have such a system at the wild animal park in San Diego .it sprays a fine Mist which pretty much evaporates by the time it gets to the ground but it cools the air by about 30 degrees .people walk under it all the time it's great Karen

 

[Stephine]

Off the Grid ..
do you have access to a misting system ?I know you got water. is it in a position where you can make a misting system to spray a fine mist over the coop? they have such a system at the wild animal park in San Diego .it sprays a fine Mist which pretty much evaporates by the time it gets to the ground but it cools the air by about 30 degrees .people walk under it all the time it's great Karen

Yes, I do have a mister set up, but I must be doing something wrong - it is not getting the temperature down very much at all. I wonder if the water comes out too warm? It goes through a garden hose that I keep in the shade as much as possible, and the mister hose lies on top of the hardware cloth that covers the run, covered by shade cloth, but the water comes out warm. The flow is so low that it has a long time to warm up. I am thinking about buying a short white hose and hanging the misters from the top beam inside the run instead - maybe that will help a little bit. Otherwise I really don't know why the mist doesn't help very much (really, I have a thermometer there and it gives me 2-3 degrees less, in something like 13% humidity ).