Fans for Coop Ventilation

[IndyLindy66]

My daughter and husband are building a chicken tractor for her new 4H chicks. My husband had the thought to add a fan in the top of the gable to pull the hot air out. But I have read that a regular fan may be hazardous to the chickens as the dust and such will build up and could cause a fire. Any suggestions? We live in South Florida so they will definitely need someway to cool off while in the coop.

 

[chiques chicks]

Vents low and high and will create natural air movement. Being in south Florida, I would think an open air coop with shelter from wind and rain should be fine. I'm thinking a framework with wire, a roof for shade and two sides covered in some sort of rain blocking material.

 

[IndyLindy66]

They used pvc pipe and wire for 90 percent then are using plywood to enclose at night with a tarp over the roof for shade during the day. They were trying to keep it light weight to pull around the yard.

 

[N F C]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I used to live in south FL, I'm in north/central FL now. Our heat and humidity can make chickens really uncomfortable but there are more ways of keeping them cool than a fan (although it's helpful, we use one in our coop).

These are some of the things we do for our birds:
* Give them all the shade (man-made and natural) you can
* Plenty of fresh drinking water and extra waterers
* You can put frozen water bottles in their waterers to cool the water. You can also change out their water a couple times a day as it does warm up with rising outside temps throughout the day
* Give them cooling treats like watermelon, cucumbers, frozen berries or vegetables
* They like to wade when they are hot so we put a plastic dishwashing pan filled with water for them to stand in (some use kiddie pools but our birds won't use one)
* I'll hose down their run floor a couple times a day, they love that
* I try to avoid getting them excited during the hottest part of the day and only let them out for supervised free-range time in the morning and late afternoon

Some of these might work for you. Your set up is different from mine as you are using a tractor and I have a coop/run set up but figure out what works best for you. Good luck!

 

[IndyLindy66]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. We are new to chickens and don't want to unintentionally hurt them.

 

[N F C]

You're more than welcome @IndyLindy66 ! Actually, heat is harder on chickens than cold (all those feathers are good insulators for warmth but chickens don't sweat to cool off). Always feel free to ask questions, everyone is here to help each other.

And if you'd like, you could drop by the FL state thread and ask for more suggestions or just to introduce yourself:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/305793/florida-always-sunny-side-up

 

[chiques chicks]

I would have suggested the PVC and wire hoop house for your location.
A tarp over one end and the top and sides covering perhaps ¾ of it for shade should be plenty. Lightweight, easy to move. Some five gallon buckets on their side for nest boxes when the time comes and roosts toward the closed end should work great.

I actually have a similar setup for my turkey, hoop house and tarp, for the summer in Pennsylvania. It is quite larger, 30x12, and there is a small coop for the winter, but they work well, are inexpensive, and are movable!

As stated, heat is worse than cold, water and shade, perhaps even a mister in the heat of summer.