KEEPING COOP COOL????

[NickyNawlins]

It gets really hot and humid where I live so would it be best if I install a ventilation fan in my coop so it will stay dry and kinda cool? I plan on getting some Buff Orpingtons...

 

[Poison Ivy]

I hang a 20" fan in the corner of my coop. It helps keep the temps down. Last year it was reaching temps of a 100* inside. Once I hung the fan it brought them down to the 80's-90's.

 

[Jolyn]

Quote:
I'm thinking i'll need to do something like that too. It gets pretty hot here.

 

[EllyMae]

I've used a misting type fan for my rabbits...I wonder if that could be used for chickens? Anyone know?

 

[Dawn419]

Check out 10 Tips for a Cooler Coop. Lots of great ideas in there!


Dawn

 

[DaveMN]

if you don't have electricity or want to run electric to the coop you could go with a solar powered roof vent like on of these http://store.sundancesolar.com/soouli.html which run from less then 100 and go higher.
I found that by adding a turbine roof vent that a lot of heat came out of the garage, worked much better than a regular roof vent.

 

[digitS']

I know very little about humidity - here, the humidity level often drops below 20% during Summer afternoons. Even after a snowy Winter and a cool Spring, it isn't hard for me to remember our searing mid-Summer days, however.

Dawn, the "10 Tips for a Cooler Coop" has good information for cooling a pre-existing coop.

For those folks thinking about construction design it may help to realize that the roof can be a somewhat seperate part of the structure. In other words, the coop can be essentially a box-shaped room and the roof an umbrella above it.

Houses with a well-ventilated attics will have ceilings that are a good deal cooler than they would be without that ventilation above. The sun beating down on a roof would heat the entire building otherwise. You may want to build a ceiling in your coop and open the area under the roof as much as possible to the outdoor air.

Inside the coop - Passive ventilation will work best if the air intake is low on a wall and the outlet is near the ceiling. A larger outlet will help move air while the inlet vent need not be so large since the hot air exiting the room will "pull" outside air thru the inlet. I can open the "chicken door" at ground level to allow cool air in and open a large net-covered window, that reaches all the way to the ceiling, to let hot air out.

Steve