Hello everyone! for all of you that live in extreme hot weather and use misters in their runs I have a question. How do you deal with the moisture in the ground when you are using the misters? I recently added a mister system to my run, I placed them outside so they are not directly dripping inside the run, however the mist itself plus some of the drops that fall from the misters are making the sand (I have sand in my run) a little too wet for my liking. Now I am worried about cocci. I am not using them right now until the breeze dries the sand but temps are 100F plus heat index makes it 105F. The run is covered and there is a nice breeze most of the time, I also have several fans running all day when the breeze is not enough. My girls and chicks are panting, I put frozen water bottles in their waterers and give them cold treats every day. Do you have any concerns about the moisture on the ground using the misters? Anybody has any experience with the misters using them for a long time?. I added a booster pump that takes the water pressure up to 160psi making the droplets smaller but there is still a lot of moisture on the sand.
I use misters, but the heat in Utah is very harsh, like 110* or more daily and the water evaporates quickly. I have sand, dirt and gravel in my run and I dust and wash the birds regularly so no major problems, except the occasional escapee that sits on the porch.
If the sand is wet, but the chickens are not in standing water, they should be fine. It rained here for weeks and weeks. The sand in the run stayed wet, but no standing water. There were no problems. Chris
Keep feeding area separate from misted area. That should help control issues associated with cocci intake.