Installed swamp cooler in coop - Questions about moisture issues

[sphillips]

Hey all! My husband put a swamp cooler in the coop yesterday, it's been over 100 everyday for weeks now, and my chickens are really suffering. Here's my coop setup: First off, it's an old metal barn (12x12) side set up for the chickens, and the roof is about 6' high. I have a screen door (without glass, just wire covering the opening), and three large, long openings along the roof on two sides, the pop door, and some ventilation holes cut on one wall high up. The roof of the coop is insulated. Yesterday afternoon it was 105 degrees in the coop. I'm not understanding why it's still getting so hot in there. I think there's plenty of ventilation, but it seems still too hot. Do I not have enough ventilation/openings? Anyway, I've been using lots of ice jugs and water for them to wade in, and they've been hanging in there with the heat. I got the coop down to 82 degrees yesterday afternoon with the cooler, and everyone seemed a lot happier, including me! My question now is do I need to be concerned about additional moisture in the coop with running the cooler? The relative humidity outside ranges from 5-10%, but I keep the feed and water inside the coop, and was wondering if I need to be concerned about mold in the feed. Also, I have a dirt floor in the coop, (big pile of sand outside to be put in eventually), but the cooler seems to stir up a lot of dust, and I'm concerned about air quality. Seems that when I finally get one problem solved, I worry about the resulting issues. Sorry so long, just want to figure out if everything is good for my chickens, or if we need to change things more.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Everyone panics to warm chickens up when old man winter arrives (which hardy chickens can cope with easily.)

Heat is the real killer!

Most find out too late!

Swamp Cooler check the link out:

 

[aart]

I would think that with the relative humidity so low that the moisture inside the coop will not last long.

Might want to look at open air coops to learn how other deal with very hot climates.

Advanced search>titles only>open air coops

 

[chfite]

Do the chickens stay in the coop all the time?

Chris

 

[sphillips]

The chickens do have access to an outside run, the windows and doors stay open on the coop all day. The cooler is set on low (it's a large one), and it keeps the temp about 10 degrees lower than outside, right around 90 - 92 degrees. The chickens seem comfortable at that temp, no panting, and everyone is busy. They tend to stay inside most of the day, and go out early in the morning, or late in the afternoon.

 

[AZDesertBanty]

I live in Arizona and was wondering how i could keep them cool... I have yet to get back into poultry but I never thought about using a swamp cooler for them... that will be another thing to add to my barn plans :-D

 

[sphillips]

The swamp cooler has been a life saver. It's just an old one that we had in the garage. I keep all the windows etc open on the coop, but it blows enough cool air to keep the chickens comfortable. I was hesitant at first, as I'd read that you need to let your chickens adjust to extremes, and not make them 'too comfortable'. They were uncomfortable, and I just felt like there was no reason to not make them as comfortable as possible. I only run it during the hottest part of the day, and since yesterday when we had a good break in the heat, I didn't have to run it at all. If you live in a climate that will accommodate a swamp cooler, I highly recommend it. Worth it to me to not worry about losing any chickens to the heat.