Help - Omlet Eglu owners - how to ventilate the roost?

[Bawkbok]

In anticipation of the coming heatwave I've done the second tray, and installed a new lower-profile fan under the right side, a "frameless" fan, which leaves more room underneath. They've piled the litter up pretty high there. I moved the fan that hangs down low over to the left side for now.

I tied the fan cage to inch square sticks with strong 12 gauge nylon rope.
View attachment 4153762
I had wanted to tie the fan to the top of the sticks and have it rest on them but that made the top of the fan just about a half an inch too high. Strong but flat metal supports of some kind would work perfectly.

Much better clearance here underneath!
View attachment 4153763

The top of the fan is right under the middle of the tray. As you can see from my previous posts the tray has hardware cloth covered by nylon porch screening, so dust can collect but no big items like litter or poop gets through.
On low the fan is what I would call medium speed, but the HC & screening cuts that down some, and the roost bars are two to three inches away too, and the chickens another inch given the roost bars thickness. My lead hen situated herself right over this last night.
View attachment 4153764

To secure the sticks, I put two little eye screws on each end of the longer (toward the center of the coop) stick - on the side of the stick, to not interfere with the tray for clearance. Then tightly zip-tied the sticks to the frame tubes. I only had two eye screws and found that the other stick may not need anything, the whole get-up was firmly held. These are all prototypes essentially and I'm figuring it out as I go.

The cord can nicely rest on the tube out of the way. I chose a corded fan with a mechanical switch, so I can leave it on low and turn the fan on and off via the power source. I have the power basically hooked to a wifi device controllable by my phone.
View attachment 4153765
(The wood on the left of the pic is the long stick I used for the hanging fan.)

Then the cord goes behind the tray guides and up.
View attachment 4153766

This is great, thank you for sharing. Appreciate the pictures from all angles. What brand of fan is that you are using?
So if the fan blows directly on their bottoms all night, if your air is wet and humid like ours will this be a problem for respiratory issues or is your air dry at night?

For us, it's too hot to rig something up at this point - triple digit indexes, and we don't want to stress the girls further, but when this heat breaks (even 5 degrees would be good) we'll be back to augmentation. In the interim, we are removing the trays completely at night and running a large box fan directly over the back openings and it reaches the upper vents as well, blowing in and the internal fan blows out - not sure how effective it is but it must be doing an ok job as when I go out at midnight to listen, I don't hear anything which is good. I listen for vocal cord clucks which our lead hen does when over heated.

 

[Bawkbok]

@ChicoryBlue
@thecatumbrella

Do you close the man / auto door over night or do you leave it open for further ventilation during extreme heat?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

What brand of fan is that you are using?

Black & Decker 9 inch "frameless" fan, got it on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WP6CY4G?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

So if the fan blows directly on their bottoms all night, if your air is wet and humid like ours will this be a problem for respiratory issues or is your air dry at night?

I have not thought that moving air, humid or dry, would cause respiratory issues, or be bad for existing ones, if that's what you're thinking? Generally humid air is bad in my climate when the temperatures go down, as it can cause frostbite. The way I'm arranging it, the hens can move into or out of the column of air.

But Hazel, 5 years old, does have some latent thing that comes up now and then, possibly CRD unfortunately. She does better in the cool air, and pants easily in the heat, she may have some damage to her air sacs which would give her the equivalent of COPD. I can keep monitoring to see if the fans make it worse, but so far, she seemed more comfortable with the fans. Last night she planted herself right over the straight-up fan and was sleeping soundly.

Do you close the man / auto door over night or do you leave it open for further ventilation during extreme heat?

Closed, yes. I have a lot of predators and the coop is my last line of defense. I have electric poultry fencing around the whole complex. The coop front leads to the wire low run and then two Walk-In Runs, with one WIR door open to a netted aviary. The netting of the aviary, 2 inches for the roof and inch netting for the sides, is a small deterrent. If I go away for a day or sometimes into the evening I may close that WIR aviary door. The coop itself is not under the aviary and only has the electric fencing for a deterrent.

BTW I'm not crazy about the back side panels, I think the far edges where they meet the green coop are not well secured. A strong claw into that seam could pull the little panel off from the lower corner (I feel I could when I tested it). The metal "hook" at the base is too far toward the center. I may try a hasp lock or something on each side.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Do you close the man / auto door over night or do you leave it open for further ventilation during extreme heat?

I debated this tonight. I just replaced the front window with hardware cloth, so I'm going to see how it does with the door shut.

Now that I think about it, I can do some testing this week. The girls are coming inside for at least Monday-Tuesday. With the coop empty, I'll get temp readings with the door shut one night and open the next.

Will report back if it makes a difference!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Here's a pic of the below-coop clearance compared to using the clip-on fan this way. I am thinking of supporting / hanging the clip-on in a different way.

Also, it occurred to me that maybe the low-profile fan's upward air could be diffused more generally into the coop instead of so directly aimed up by using the cut-out piece above it, resting on little blocks above the hardware cloth. Higher or lower blocks could tip the piece in any desired direction, aiming it one way or another.

Alternatively, the fan could be a good exhaust fan pointed out the window, though that would take up some roost space and I would probably cover the back grill with HC.

 

[Bawkbok]

BTW I'm not crazy about the back side panels, I think the far edges where they meet the green coop are not well secured. A strong claw into that seam could pull the little panel off from the lower corner (I feel I could when I tested it). The metal "hook" at the base is too far toward the center. I may try a hasp lock or something on each side.

I agree. I saw a huge palmetto bug crawl right through the top crack of the back door one night and it creeped me out. I hope it didn't torment them all night. The sides as you mention, do not sit flush up against the sides, far too much play. If you do the lock thing, I'd be interested in hearing how you attached them and how they perform.
Thanks for the update.

 

[Bawkbok]

I debated this tonight. I just replaced the front window with hardware cloth, so I'm going to see how it does with the door shut.

Now that I think about it, I can do some testing this week. The girls are coming inside for at least Monday-Tuesday. With the coop empty, I'll get temp readings with the door shut one night and open the next.

Will report back if it makes a difference!

That would be awesome. Even though you're half a country away, I'd be curious as to the temperature difference.

 

[Bawkbok]

We left the auto door open all night last night and three fans running, one inside and two outside under and in front of the coop. It was hot, muggy and stale air without any breeze at all. they were panting hard. I was a little concerned about predators, mostly rats and mice but I was more concerned about them surviving the night to take the risk. Living in suburbia with people all around we have less predators than a rural setting. All was well and even though they don't see well at night, with the door open, I believe there is enough ambient light with all the neighbor lights around that light up the yard, that they would be able to find their way out if necessary. At this point, it's about weighing one risk against another.

I'm grateful for Solstice - closer to shorter days and autumn - for that is November.