Fans for cooling

[fc]

I'm new to chickens. It gets really hot and sticky in SC. I'm wondering if a ceiling fan in my coop would be good for the chickens? Thoughts?

 

[franklinchickens]

Not having had a ceiling fan, I can't say for sure but I'd worry about a chicken jumping up and getting caught in it. We have a fan in ours that is set up on a ledge, and it's one that has a cover on it. We made sure to get one that even if they stuck a beak in it, it wouldn't touch the blades. Perhaps it's just me being paranoid but all I could see was lopped off body parts! We mounted a little shelf up in the corner and wired in a space for an extension cord. Then I put an ice pack behind it overnight while it is running. Seems to work pretty well.

 

[dawg53]

My chicken house is 3 feet off the ground on stilts. It has small screened windows. It has a screened entrance (to keep mosquitos out) and I placed a small garage type fan with the fan base setting on a cinderblock on the outside of the entrance to their house. I turn it down to low speed at night. During the day, I pull the screen back to the entrance and turn the fan to high speed...it works great, keeping a gentle breeze blowing through their house night and day.

 

[fc]

Do your birds ever get near the fan to keep cool, or do they ignore it?
I wonder how much heat they can handle before they die? I know large combs help with cooling. My brother in TX has Rhode Island Reds that tolerate TX heat, but I have Welsummer, Sussex, and Penedesca.
Thanks for the responses.

 

[Judy]

I considered one and decided too many things could go wrong, and went with a box fan. One of my excellent decisions. I have it blowing out the downwind side of the coop.

Box fans are cheap and we just mount it up high with a couple of screws so it's easy to replace. They burns out or wear out in a few months, so this part is very convenient. And the moving parts can't hurt the chickens.

There is always the danger of fire. I have a metal coop and leave the pop door open, so hopefully at least the chickens would get out. Had a very destructive house fire in the family a few months ago. Probable cause: faulty ceiling fan. So maybe I'm prejudiced. Not that a box fan couldn't cause a fire, of course.