It’s been hot around here (David Bowie is panting). So this is how we keep our girls cool. A kiddie pool filled with muddy water. The trick is the mud. They refused to stand in it when it was just water. All of them loiter around the pool during the hottest part of the day taking turns dipping their toes in the cooling mud.
Mud might have tasty bugs in it whereas water is for the ducks! My flock (in southern AZ) takes mud-baths when it’s hot. They also loved a jury-rig mister system (irrigation sprayer head attached to spaghetti line) we put along their run’s fence.
Neat idea. I’ll make a muddy puddle area for my chickens when the summer heat arrives. Do enjoy your posts!
I will try this in Ohio when it gets really steamy this summer. The girls love dirt baths so mud makes complete sense on hot days- My only issue is Jake and Milo may like it too.
A couple of years ago I built my compost heap in the chook pen. I keep it wet every day and they like to work in it for hours each day. During our last summer’s heatwave conditions of 43C down under I noticed our chooks spent almost all day in the moist compost fluffing it up over themselves. I was sure it had a cooling effect on them.