Swamp cooler in pen

[aart]

Often times both me and the chickens would be taking advantage of them!

Even in Maine?!
I experienced misters in AZ on vacation, I was amazed...really wished they worked here.

 

[NatJ]

Can you make the cooler blow in one half of the coop but not the other? Then the hens could choose where they want to be. Same for ice, baths, and wading: maybe set it up so the hens can choose what to do.

In my experience, hens are fairly good at moving to one place or another, according to what's comfortable. For example, I've seen hens sit in the shade under a bush until a cloud covers the sun, then run out to eat grass and bugs while it's cooler, then run back to the shady bush when the sun comes out again.

 

[iwltfum]

Even in Maine?!
I experienced misters in AZ on vacation, I was amazed...really wished they worked here.

I have gotten them out of storage here in Maine occasionally, but I used them 5 months a year in CO

 

[azygous]

Misters! I would love to have a mister set-up. But they use an astonishing amount of water. This is a problem in an area such as mine where I'm even lucky as all get-out to have piped water to my place. For the first ten years I lived here on my mountain, I had to haul home every drop of water I used. Now, I have to pay quite a lot of money for the convenience of a water line fifteen miles from town supplying my water.

For desert dwellers, this situation is a common one. Water is getting in shorter supply as western states experience long term drought. It seems the areas that are hot and dry enough where you'd need misters are places where water is not in abundant supply.

A swamp cooler uses a tiny fraction of the water a mister does since it mostly recycles the water.

 

[iwltfum]

Misters! I would love to have a mister set-up. But they use an astonishing amount of water. This is a problem in an area such as mine where I'm even lucky as all get-out to have piped water to my place. For the first ten years I lived here on my mountain, I had to haul home every drop of water I used. Now, I have to pay quite a lot of money for the convenience of a water line fifteen miles from town supplying my water.

For desert dwellers, this situation is a common one. Water is getting in shorter supply as western states experience long term drought. It seems the areas that are hot and dry enough where you'd need misters are places where water is not in abundant supply.

A swamp cooler uses a tiny fraction of the water a mister does since it mostly recycles the water.

Oh yeah. I did forget about water being a potential issue. Our "misters" were actually foggers that used about 1/5th the water than typical misters. Ours ran at less than 1 gallon per hour at full pressure, I made sure of that. We did have a surprisingly productive well in the canyon though since we lived between a heavily irrigated alfalfa field and the irrigation ditch. If water is an issue, digging a small pond might help with the heat issue, if that is at all possible; or using one of those plastic pond forms from the hardware store and burming it in. The chickens could use that to cool down and it conserves water and provides habitat for delicious grubs and bugs and also naturally cools down the area around it.

 

[Aunt Angus]

My chickens were afraid of the misters I installed for them - haha! I can be out there with power tools, and they don't even react. Turn on those misters, and they all run and cower!

 

[aart]

Misters! I would love to have a mister set-up. But they use an astonishing amount of water. This is a problem in an area such as mine where I'm even lucky as all get-out to have piped water to my place. For the first ten years I lived here on my mountain, I had to haul home every drop of water I used. Now, I have to pay quite a lot of money for the convenience of a water line fifteen miles from town supplying my water.

For desert dwellers, this situation is a common one. Water is getting in shorter supply as western states experience long term drought. It seems the areas that are hot and dry enough where you'd need misters are places where water is not in abundant supply.

A swamp cooler uses a tiny fraction of the water a mister does since it mostly recycles the water.

Very good point!
We just sell all our water to nestle for bottling

 

[Pecky03]

Can you make the cooler blow in one half of the coop but not the other? Then the hens could choose where they want to be. Same for ice, baths, and wading: maybe set it up so the hens can choose what to do.

In my experience, hens are fairly good at moving to one place or another, according to what's comfortable. For example, I've seen hens sit in the shade under a bush until a cloud covers the sun, then run out to eat grass and bugs while it's cooler, then run back to the shady bush when the sun comes out again.

The fans on the swamp cooler Oscillate... so it’s not constantly blowing directly on them. I’ll put that oxine in the reservoir of the swamp cooler and hopefully that’ll help with any respiratory issues. We have a heat advisory so it looks like it’s gonna have to run day and night.

 

[Pecky03]

I had a swamp cooler at one time and I know they can be vectors of mold and fungus. I think it's a terrific idea to have the swamp cooler in the coop or run but you should avoid aiming it directly at the chickens.

Have you heard of Oxine? You can find it on the internet. It's a disinfectant and anti-fungal, and unlike bleach, it won't harm motor parts. I would put a little in the reservoir every few days to counter mold spores. The Oxine would be misting in the air over the chickens, and this would be beneficial. It's perfectly safe.

Hi I finally got the oxine. I just want to make sure I’m doing it right and not hurting the chickens... so I should just put a capful in the water reservoir. Do I turn it on right away or let it sit? I haven’t used it in a few days cus it’s been so nice out. Thank u for ur advise. So appreciated.

 

[azygous]

Just dump the capfull right into the reservoir. Oxine is used in vaporizers to treat chickens sick with respiratory illness. It won't hurt them. However, adding citric acid to Oxine can make it very dangerous. Just stay away from that mixture unless you need to deep clean something. Then you would follow the directions to keep safe. Plain Oxine is perfectly safe in wet or dry forms.