Ceiling fan? Heating the coop?

ND Sue

Songster
10 Years
Sep 20, 2009
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ND
We're in the process of building our coop. Well... my husband and his friend are! I am the person who is new to chickens and found 3 chickens that were apparently dropped off at our previously chickenless farm.

I have been reading up on ventilation and when we install the lights, I was wondering if a ceiling fan and light set would be a good idea? I have a few left over from when we installed them in the barn in the horse's stalls. So I have them already...

Then I will also be putting in a heat lamp for use if needed. We're in ND, so the winters are awful!
I'm still researching if we should heat or not and if so, what type of heat. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

So far, we just have the outside done. 8X12 and will insulate. I like the feed room idea and will do that.

Looking forward to any ideas! Thanks!
 
It would be safer to use a regular, enclosed barn fan or box fan so nobody gets hurt. Unless you are positive you can make it so there is no possible way they could get up to where it is. And if it's that high it's not going to help much. I can't advise you on winter heating because it's fairly temperate where I am although when we have days on end when it's cold and damp I do hang the heat lamp up becasue they love to "sun" bath under it for a bit each day. Good luck and enjoy your new girls!
 
I hope the ceiling fans you put in the horse barn were industrial/agricultural type, not the kind you'd use in a house - the kind made for houses do not last long or well in a dusty semi-outdoors environment like a horse (or chicken) barn, and can become a fire hazard as they "die".

I would not put one in a chicken coop in ND. (*concievably* in a very hot climate where you need not only several open sides of the coop plus lotsa shade but also a manmade breeze -- though honestly I am not sure a ceiling fan is the best way to achieve that).

you might take a look at my Cold Coop page (link in .sig below) for some suggestions about winter coop temperatures and ways to deal with it.

GOod luck, have fun,

Pat
 
Yes, they are the type meant for outdoors and I had 2 extra. I think I may put one in the feed room area (for MY benefit in the summer! And nix the one I was thinking could go in the chicken area.

Thanks for your comments! I did print off your articles on ventilation and cold climate coops for my husband to study up on! Today they will put on shingles and add a people door on the chicken side for easier cleaning for me.

We also have left over vinyl siding that I wanted to use. That should be ok, shouldn't it? Or are chickens drawn to pecking at siding?
 
Just be careful the first time you turn it on -- my chickens think the ceiling fan is the rare Greater Northern Rotary Eagle, and it causes major panic
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(I did not install the fan nor do I use it except when I hit the wrong switch by mistake, it's left from the building being a dog breeding/boarding kennel before we moved here)

Vinyl siding is fine, they will not peck through it
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Pat
 
Mine are actually in the aisle not the pens. In a typical backyard coop I would think it'd be unlikely/difficult for a chicken to fly sufficiently straight up to the ceiling to get in trouble with an active ceiling fan, but I dunno, it could happen I suppose.

Be worth going over it with a damp cloth before turning it on for the first time of the year, as it will catch a vast amount of dust that you do not necessarily want to be fanning around
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Pat
 

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