Fan in the coop?

[gonehencrazy]

So it's pretty warm in Pa right now and I just starting making my young pullets sleep in the large coop with the hens. Generally the coop door is open all night but I had closed it to make sure everyone stayed in for two nights (temps were much cooler at the time). Well yesterday something killed one of my three month old leghorns when I didn't lock them in because all seemed peaceful. So I decide to close the coop up again. There are two windows but I feel like it's hot in there.

Does anyone have any experience putting a small fan in the coop to keep them cool? We have electric in the coop already so they have heated water in winter. My brother is a certified electrician.

 

[SueT]

We keep a little fan in our coop.

It's outside the little ones' pen. They like to lounge in front of it. The big girls don't bother it. A lot of people have a more permanent setup, mounting larger fans in the wall or windows of the coop.
We don't leave it on a night. It gets down into the 70's or 80's at night.

 

[amynrichie]

I have a box fan suspended from the ceiling. It does help to drop the temperature in the coop on really hot days.

 

[SueT]

Look through forum archives on dealing with hot weather...there are lots and lots of great ideas here.

 

[gonehencrazy]

Thank you. I'm not too worried about the day time because they are out and about under lots of shade. But they seemed to be panting in the coop last night.

 

[Sea2Ski]

Where in PA are you?
Chester county PA here....

 

[gonehencrazy]

I live in Lancaster county on the line of Berks.

 

[aart]

I have a box fan hanging inside of the high east window that I turn on later in the day to blow some cooler air into coop and hotter air out.
It works pretty good, the east side of coop is shaded most of the day so it stays cooler over there.
It's not sealed tight to the window, so isn't as efficient as it could be, but it does help for sure.
I turn it off when I lock up at night, not willing to risk an electrical fiasco by letting it run all night.

Even tho I have lots of windows and ventilation open all day, coop is in full sun from about 12-1pm on,
and the west sun just cooks it until about 7-8pm, despite a shade cloth that shields part of coop and run.