Fans inside the coop?

[aart]

Fans can help, but only to push hot air out and hopefully cooler air in.
Can also keep bugs away from birds on roost if set at the right speed and direction.

They won't really cool them off like us when we're sweaty tho.

Deep all day shade is best but....I don't have that,
but these 2 things really help to beat the heat:

I give a dose of Sav-a-Chick electrolytes/vitamins about once a week during heat waves.
It really seems to help....started this after they saved a heat stroked hen once.
Can mix up a smaller amount, just wrap the packet tight and store in a dry cool place.
Always have plain water available too.

BIG(9x14x2") chunks of ice last all day for wading, sitting, and sipping.
Much more useful to the chickens than frozen foods and treats.

Make space in your freezer!

 

[David61]

No fans for me.
While we get heat here we also get the sea breeze effect so not many day if any of no air movement. I have a shaded outside run with raised roost bar and other things to get under or on top of. I'm look for a bigger water pan/bird bath for the dogdays of August.

 

[3chicks4me]

I think I'm going to try to find some solar operated fans for my ladies...it never ends

I am also looking for a solar operated fan. Amazon has a few with poor or no ratings. Of course, I do t want to spend over $40. Let me know if you find one. I have some great solar lights, so I assume It is possible. I have a small battery operated fan, but it uses 2 AAs per day. So not ideal.

 

[Geogurl]

We are also dealing with the heat in Central Texas Hill Country - nearly 100 degrees for days on end. I found a YouTube video of an Arizona chicken keeper who keeps his flock cool in 117 degree weather and copied his concept. Attached is a photo of the cooling pad that I put together - a shallow pan (washing machine drain pan) with porous tiles. Add water and evaporation cools the tiles. Chickens can lose a lot of heat through their feet. No panting in the middle of the day and no fire danger. I rinse the pan and tiles each morning because they poop in the water then drink it. Yours doesn't have to be this large - rather luxurious for my 3 pullets.

will stand on the pads to cool

 

[RobertaD1]

What are the tiles exactly? Not sure I've seen anything like them.
@Geogurl

 

[Geogurl]

The tiles are from Home Depot - concrete landscape tiles. Actually cinderblock material bricks are more porous and might work better, also you could try sandstone slabs. The fellow in Arizona uses a mortar-mixing tub and adobe fire bricks that he got at Home Depot. His YouTube video "117 degrees in Phoenix. . ." is interesting to watch.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I am also looking for a solar operated fan. Amazon has a few with poor or no ratings. Of course, I do t want to spend over $40. Let me know if you find one. I have some great solar lights, so I assume It is possible. I have a small battery operated fan, but it uses 2 AAs per day. So not ideal.

at one point, I had the idea of using a few of those solar powered fans you see in car windows for when you are parked all day on the blacktop at school, the office, etc in a hot climate - but they were both stupid expensive and custom fitted to hang on windows - not optimal for a hen house, gave up on the plan.

If you are just a little bit handy, you could buy a 12v DC Solar panel, and connect up some computer fans in whatever size you wanted - they are variable speed, so if the voltage drops, the only thing that happens is they slow down, and the wiring to connect multiple fans is cheap, weather sealed (essentially, a molex connector) and readily available - as are the fans themselves in various sizes. And they do move some air. A single 200mm fan will move around 130cfm at top speed - that turns over air volume equal to an 8x8x8 room evey 4 minutes. They run about $14.

Ultimately, I settled on trying to choose heat tolerant breeds, and designing my hen house with a large shaded area under the run together with a sizeable ridge vent running the length of it -as the air heats up under the metal roof, it escapes thru the vent -which then draws cool air up to replace it. Its not a fan, doesn't move nearly that much air, but it does move, is mechanically simple, and as reliable as thermodynamics.

 

[WthrLady]

It gets super hot here in Texas and this is my first summer with chickens. I have a little fan inside the coop along with a box fan pointing in their run. My husband is concerned that it will cause fires. Hast anyone experienced an issue with fans? I was wanting the little fan inside to run inside during the night and the box fan during the day. Here is a picture of inside the coop.

A barn grade fan I would use. Their housings are protected and can deal with the dust and dirt of a barn/shed/coop as well as moisture issues. I would NOT use a household fan.

 

[WthrLady]

Livestock fans exist, and are meant to handle the dust without the fire hazard of a household fan. You can buy a roof turbine vent (or two) - they can be electric or not. The non-electric would be moved by wind and/or by the rising heat in the coop. Some people employ misters in a shady area for a cool moist area, but not all chickens love to get wet, so use it only in an area, not the whole run.

Correct. And sometimes the misters raise the dewpoint and make the heat worse. It is not always a cooling solution. If the dewpoint is already high, adding MORE moisture to the air is just making it much worse.

 

[aart]

I use a box fan in an east window to blow cooler air into the coop late in day.
Never leave it running overnight, I turn it off when I lock up after dark.
It does help.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/window-fan-mount.75608/