Air Conditioned coop?

[TheCluckandStrut]

Good morning, chicken family.
I've read through many posts about managing heat and improving coop ventilation, but I haven’t found an answer to my specific situation.


We converted a prefab shed into a coop. It’s 8'x12' with a 4' feed room, leaving an 8'x8' space for the chickens. The ceiling is insulated, and there are four windows, six eave vents, four wall vents along the 12' side, and a vent at each peak. I’ve installed one fan at the peak blowing outward, and although the feed room is walled off, the top of that wall and the entry door are covered with hardware cloth (see photos), so airflow throughout the building seems good. I’ve also added a fan inside the coop to circulate air.


The problem is heat.
Despite all the ventilation, temperatures inside the coop still hit the mid to upper 90s during the day. We’ve tried leaving the main door open for more airflow, but it hasn’t helped much. By the time the hens go in to roost, it’s still in the low 90s. It has to be miserable in there.


We’re considering installing a window AC unit in the feed room to run for a couple of hours before sunset to cool the coop before roosting time, then turning it off at night.


My question is:
Do the chickens really need this level of cooling, or are my wife and I just being too cautious?


I’d really appreciate your thoughts.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

They will get more out of being able to dig into cool dirt to dust bathe and cool off and from deep shade. I wouldn’t install an actual ac unit because chicken dust will clog it up in no time. Can you plant some trees to shade the shed eventually?

 

[dearmeghann]

I get wanting an AC unit, we tried a portable one last year and it worked okay. I think additional shade outside might be helpful in the long-run. Does it get direct sun all day? Could you put up some solar shade clothes over the run?

Also, is there a way to provide more ventilation in the back? From the photos, it appears that there is good ventilation in the front, and possibly the sides as well. Depending on the "breeze" (we haven't had much of that lately), you might need some more vents in the back for a cross breeze. I also think a window fan in one window drawing air in, and a window fan drawing air out, would help circulate air.

 

[TheCluckandStrut]

They will get more out of being able to dig into cool dirt to dust bathe and cool off and from deep shade. I wouldn’t install an actual ac unit because chicken dust will clog it up in no time. Can you plant some trees to shade the shed eventually?

It's shaded until until about 2:30-3:00 and then it gets the late afternoon sun. It's on the property line, so can't plant trees.
Makes since about the AC unit and the dust. Thanks for that info.

 

[TheCluckandStrut]

I get wanting an AC unit, we tried a portable one last year and it worked okay. I think additional shade outside might be helpful in the long-run. Does it get direct sun all day? Could you put up some solar shade clothes over the run?

Also, is there a way to provide more ventilation in the back? From the photos, it appears that there is good ventilation in the front, and possibly the sides as well. Depending on the "breeze" (we haven't had much of that lately), you might need some more vents in the back for a cross breeze. I also think a window fan in one window drawing air in, and a window fan drawing air out, would help circulate air.

The direct sunlight begins to hit about 2:30-3:00. The run isn't the problem, though we are adding a shade to the side of the run. We hope it will block more sun from entering the windows in the late afternoon, even though we keep the curtains closed to prevent that.

As mentioned, you can't see all the ventilation in the pics. I do have a fan bringing air out and the windows are open, as well as a fan hanging from the rafters, so there is cross-ventilation. We have also left the main door open to help with the ventilation.

 

[eikome]

A ridge vent may help. Hot air rises, even if you have open windows on the sides, there's no way for the hot air trapped up by the ceiling to get out. The gable-end vents don't look large enough for ample cross air flow at the roofline. If you can't put in a passive flow ridge vent, maybe a powered gable-end fan could help pull the hot air out.

Also, reducing the solar gain of the building would help. Paint it a lighter/reflective color. Hang up shade cloth that will block the afternoon sun from hitting the building. Plant a large tree that would provide shade in the afternoon. Insulate the interior side that gets hit with the sun. Add UV blocking film to the windows. etc. Good luck!

 

[TheCluckandStrut]

A ridge vent may help. Hot air rises, even if you have open windows on the sides, there's no way for the hot air trapped up by the ceiling to get out. The gable-end vents don't look large enough for ample cross air flow at the roofline. If you can't put in a passive flow ridge vent, maybe a powered gable-end fan could help pull the hot air out.

Also, reducing the solar gain of the building would help. Paint it a lighter/reflective color. Hang up shade cloth that will block the afternoon sun from hitting the building. Plant a large tree that would provide shade in the afternoon. Insulate the interior side that gets hit with the sun. Add UV blocking film to the windows. etc. Good luck!

I tried to get a ridge vent installed when it was built, but they wouldn't do it. I did install eave vents so taht air flows up from the eaves to the top allowing air to flow outward throught the gable vents as it is intended to work. I fdo have a powered fan at one end of the gable that stays on 24/7 pulling air out as well.

The tree idea is out of the question as the coop sits on the property line, but the other ideas may be fruitful.
In particular the UV blocking film and insulating the interior.

Thanks for your input.

 

[AnneCanne]

Hang up shade cloth that will block the afternoon sun from hitting the building.

This. My coop is in an area that doesn't offer any shade, and the afternoon sun just cooks everything. Here's some of what I've tried with varying degrees of success:

1. I put up shade cloths like these (attached to T-Posts) and made sure the shade blocked the coop from the afternoon sun. On extra hot days, I hosed off the shade cloth in the evenings, so that the air going through the cloth (either from wind or from a fan) was a bit cooler too.
   
   
2. I have added "summer" windows (covered in HWC) on all 4 sides that I can either board over in winter, or swap out for one with no window. Last summer, I added some awnings out of PVC and scrap sun shade fabric for the "summer" egg doors to keep the sun off (this door faces west).
   
   
   
   
3. Hose off the roof to bring down the temperature a bit that way, (as long as the water doesn't run into coop).
   
   
4. I know a lot of people swear by vining plants, but I've not found a way to keep the chickens out of the plants I want to grow up the trellis that I add in summer. So now I just put up the sad, empty trellis for some shade (as shown in above photo!).
   
   
5. I personally would hesitate to add more insulation, as you'll just trap the heat in with all the open windows and afternoon sun heating up the air.

Not coop related, but I've found that on really hot days (which for us is over 100 in actual temp), offering them some plain pedialyte/electrolyte water in the evenings, which seems to help them recover a bit overnight.

 

[TheCluckandStrut]

Just purchased this sun shade cloth from Lowes (https://low.es/4elzigf) to place on the run that allows the sun into those three windows at the front of the coop.
Going to look into placing some type of awening on the window on that end. Those should help a lot.
Great ideas!
Thanks.