I have heard conflicting reports on misting and fans for chickens. now that the 110 heat is upon us, i am worried about my chickens. they have plenty of shade, but it is still hot. should i set up a misting system so they can choose to go over near it, a fan in their coop for night time? I have a "foot bath" for them, but what else do I need to make them comfortable?
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I know I have sparked several comments in relation to the heat and chicken fatalities and I only wish I had been on PPG sooner to read the plethora of advise and knowledge out here for raising chickens in AZ heat. I have a mister that I have on the chickens now at night in the coop and what a difference it has made. It has got to be 10-20 degrees cooler in the coop than outside. Now when I go out there they are not panting and they are there usual chipper selves! The temp in the coop is so much lower with the mister that even getting my eggs in the AM they are not hot to touch as they had been. I did get a small plastic wading pool at WalMart for them and stuck it under the big shade tree i have. It was $10.00, found in the outside garden area, and my only regret is that I did not have it last week to save my other girls. I have some small gatorade bottles that I fill with water and freeze and put the whole bottle in the pool like an icepack. With the water not in direct contact with the ice it melts a lot slower than the chunks of ice I was putting in.
I don't know if anyone is still interested in this topic, but I'd like to share what I have been using lately that has been very helpful. One of my girls hatched out 14 babies on 28 June and with it being so hot of course I need to keep all of them cool but don't want to make anyone sick so while I have them separated from everyone else in their own cage I have it draped on the outside with old bath towels and a few times each day I drag the hose over and soak the towels. This seems to afford them shade as well as keeping them cooler and as we get a breeze it blows the cooler air through the cage. With the infants I didn't want water being sprayed directly on them and so far mum and babies have been doing quite well.
One of my chickens died this summer due to heat stress, just as we were putting up shade cloth to cool them off. I've since bought a simple mister for the other 4 birds and they LOVE it! They aren't panting any more and run under the mister and play outside most of the day now. I also use frozen water bottles, seems to help. I just wish I had everything in place before losing one of my girls.
Thanks everyone... I will probably try a little of everything... a mister, and some ice, and a place to wade. Shade is plentiful, so hopefully, we will all get through it!
Argh! If one has lice, they all do to some degree. If it's a full-blown infestation I'm sorry to say that DE is probably not going to be strong enough to work. You may have to resort to something like Permethrin, which should definitely not be taken lightly as it kills bees and other great bugs as well. :( Though I would definitely add DE to nesting boxes, as it can't hurt. DE on the ground isn't going to do a lot of good if it's getting wet.
When I had my 'girls' they had one of the blue kiddy pools to wade in and their yard was under trees so they did very well even in high heat. I did not need to use a mister but know others who have with good success, as Michelle and Chris stated. I found it was important to keep just about 4 inches of water in the wading pool. The larger pool stayed cooler, and I used the water on the trees when changing it out. Hope that helps.
I turn on the mister when the chickens start to pant, which is generally 95-100 degrees. they have a summer home under the orange tree.. Nowadays when I turn the mister on, chickens are lined up, sitting in front of the mister, waiting. Last year I started summer using a fan blowing the mister water into the pen, but it didn't make the chickens happier, nor did the mister work more effectively with the fan. When it is over 110, generally I'll put frozen water bottles in the pen, angled to drip into the water dish as it melts, keeps the water cool enough to drink.. my chickens will snuggle up next to the frozen bottles.
several of the raising chickens books recommend no mister, but they live in a different climate.
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Good luck!
When I had my 'girls' they had one of the blue kiddy pools to wade in and their yard was under trees so they did very well even in high heat. I did not need to use a mister but know others who have with good success, as Michelle and Chris stated. I found it was important to keep just about 4 inches of water in the wading pool. The larger pool stayed cooler, and I used the water on the trees when changing it out. Hope that helps.
several of the raising chickens books recommend no mister, but they live in a different climate.