Fan During the Day in the Coop?

[sierranomad]

Greetings:

I live in an area that gets very hot during the summer and so I'm going to put a fan in the coop on one of those temp sensors that switch on when it hits 78*.

This will be my first year with chickens. Just wondering whether they will be in the coop at all during the day? I don't want my fan running all day if the chickens won't be in there anyway.

In case the following information is needed to know about their being in the coop: my run will be 15x20. I will provide plenty of shade and water.

Thank you,

Jon

 

[N F C]

It gets hot here in north Florida too and we leave a fan on in the coop continuously. It's hung up so it doesn't blow directly on the chickens but it really helps move the air around and keep it from getting so stuffy and humid inside. The girls do go in the coop throughout the day because that's where their nesting boxes are and some of them will take as long as 45 minutes to lay. At night the coop is locked up and even with the ventilation, it gets warm in there.

Some of our girls are already feeling the heat and I sure don't want them to be stressed from being too hot so the fan helps with that.

 

[Sonya9]

Mine only use the coop for laying and sleeping. They have a covered area next to the coop that they hang out in during the day for naps or to get out of the weather when not grazing in the run.

I don't use a fan but I did put two large windows with flaps in to keep things cooler, when the nights get warm both flaps stay open all night to create a breeze around the roosts, if it is raining the flaps are partially open.

 

[sierranomad]

Thank you both for your helpful replies.

 

[Folly's place]

I insulated my coop walls and roof, and have shade trees south and west. I also have a fan on during hot weather. The insulated roof really helps in summer heat, and having lots of ventilation is essential. Mary

 

[Blooie]

We compromised. We found kitchen exhaust fan designed for older mobile homes. It has a fan motor and a pull chain. So we can either just open it for ventilation or open it and run it for more air flow. On really hot days we leave it running whether the chickens are in there or not....anything we can do to keep the temps down a little will help later on in the day when they go into the coop for the evening. Boy, has that worked slick for us! Warning: Dust will accumulate on the blades and in the motor of whatever fan you decide to use, so do watch for that and clean it regularly. Dry dust clogging a hot motor can spell trouble.


The exhaust fan above the people door, open but not running in this shot. During the winter we tried to run it for a couple of hours a week just to pull any accumulated humid air out. It helps that it's up so high. It pulls air from the open windows, the open pop door, and the vent we installed near the floor on the opposite side of the coop so the flow takes the cooler, lower air from the lowest levels and moves it up through the coop on it's way out through the fan. One of the best parts of our coop, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[N F C]

@Blooie , that's a great idea!

 

[sierranomad]

Great ideas, thanks! I will see what I can implement.

 

[Blooie]

Thanks. I love that fan. The beauty of it being made for older mobile homes is that those don't have 2x4 or 2x6 framing. It's more like 1x2 - ask me, I live in one, which is how I happened to check online for parts for old mobile homes! Those fans are designed for the thinner walls, which means they go in pretty easily in a building like a chicken coop!

 

[sierranomad]

Interesting!